The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the desert (Numbers 21:4-9) becomes a “type” of the Christ, who is to come, in the Gospel of John. While the bronze serpent held up by Moses heals the Israelites of the snake bite that leads to physical death, Jesus upon the cross heals us from the wounds which lead to an eternal and spiritual death. The bronze serpent is, in allegorical terms, a symbol of the eternal life which Jesus brings to all who believe in him through his suffering on the cross. It is a model, especially as it is Jesus himself who offers the interpretation of the Numbers passage, of the spiritual interpretation of scripture, which often resides alongside, but does not obliterate, the literal meaning of the text in question. Following after this interpretation, though, is a verse, John 3:16, which is one of the best known verses in the American biblical landscape. Many know it from sporting events, where a man in a rainbow wig often held up a sign, reading simply, “John 3:16.” For those who have had contact with evangelical churches, you will know how powerful a role this verse plays in their soteriology. There is no question why this is the case: the verse is an encapsulation, a powerful brew, of the Gospel of John’s poetic cosmology behind which lies the eternal word of God, the Logos made flesh. The verse seems clear and it is. Through Christ God redeemed the world and through Him we can receive eternal life. But only verses prior to this Nicodemus had been left confused by Jesus’ claim that we must be “born again” (or “born anew”), asking if that meant he had to re-enter his Mother’s womb. As so often in the Fourth Gospel, listeners and interlocutors mistake the spiritual sense of Jesus’ words for the literal sense. Yet, it is often the case that the literal sense embodies a spiritual sense – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” It is hard to be more literal than this: real love, sacrificial and universal, in the pouring out of a Son’s true life for the sake of a life that will never end. And it is hard to miss the spiritual home-truths which were embodied in Jesus Christ: he became literal flesh so that we might have a spiritual life everlasting. John W. Martens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.