By what death he should die. — Better, by what manner of death... (Comp. John 18:32.) The words are the Apostle’s interpretation of the saying of our Lord. He remembers it as he has recorded it twice before (John 3:14; John 8:28), but he adds here words (“from the earth”) which supply another thought, though the two thoughts are not inconsistent. The words bear the double sense, and looking back upon the fact of the Crucifixion, he sees in that a lifting up which was part of the great moral victory over the world, and in the very cross of shame he sees the throne of glory.
Related Commentaries of John 12:33
John 12:33
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.