The Jews therefore answered and said to him, What sign shewest thou to us, that thou doest these things?
Jesus has just driven the traders out of the temple, and no one has resisted Him. Now His opponents find their voice. They do not dispute what He did — they demand His credentials for doing it.
On the surface the challenge looked fair. The traders were not obvious criminals, and one writer explains why their presence seemed defensible:
A challenge now comes from the Jews, the persistent opponents of the Lord Jesus in this Gospel. Here we meet them in opposition for the first time. No doubt the Lord's act had taken them completely by surprise, and at first they said nothing. But, recovering themselves, they asked Him what sign He showed them, since He was doing these things. What had just taken place was not merely unusual but, in their experience, unique. What proof, then, could He give them that He had authority to act this way? Everyone agreed that the oxen, the sheep and the doves were there to provide victims for sacrifices to the God of Israel. The money-changers were there for the convenience of the crowd of worshippers from far away. Why, then, should He drive all of them out of the sacred precincts?
Yet this was not honest enquiry. They could find nothing wrong with the act itself:
Though unable to resist, the Jews question what credentials He had for doing such things. They cry for a sign, though they cannot deny the moral rightness of His action. But He will not satisfy this idle curiosity. The sign would be one — an infinitely powerful one — that they would not want.
Another writer puts it more sharply still: the authority of what He had just done should itself have settled the matter.
The Jews, however, challenged what He did and demanded a sign, as though the irresistible authority of His action was not sign enough.
The real issue was who He was. Everything turns on His right to call the temple His Father's house:
He had cleansed the temple, His Father's house, which they had turned into a place of trade. He had asserted His right to clear that house. He turned out of it every defiling thing. He could not do it in any other character except as the Son of God. As the Son, His zeal proved His right to cleanse that house from all defilement, and those money-making, wretched Jews challenged Him at once: what authority have you to do that?
His reply pointed away from the building they were standing in. The place where God dwelt was no longer that structure but the body of the One speaking to them:
In reply He gave them the great sign of His own death and resurrection, only expressed in symbolic language. The fact was that the Temple, as God's dwelling-place, was about to be replaced by Himself. His body was a far more wonderful "Temple" than the one that had stood on Mount Moriah. The Word dwelt among us in flesh, and so "God was in Christ" in a far deeper and more intimate way.
Their violence could reach His body, but no further:
The Temple at Jerusalem could be corrupted. The Temple of the Lord's body could not be corrupted, though men could use violence to try to destroy it. Again and again they tried to stone the Lord. At last, when the hour had come, they were allowed to "destroy" the temple of His body. Man's wickedness becomes one more occasion to display His glory as the Son, and His superiority over all others. Man may destroy, but he cannot raise the dead.
The disciples understood His answer only after He rose from the dead:
The sign that He would give was His own resurrection-power. He would raise not others only but His own body, the true Temple in which alone God was, for the Word was God. What they boasted in had only a name without God. It is resurrection that marks Him out as Son of God in power. When He was raised, the disciples remembered His saying. They found even stronger confirmation of their faith in both Scripture and His word. His resurrection is the basic truth both of the gospel and of our distinctive place as Christians.
- Challenge. They could not deny that clearing the temple was right, so they questioned His credentials instead. The demand for a sign was idle curiosity, not honest enquiry.
- Title. Only the Son of God could call that house His Father's house and cleanse it. The question of authority was really a question about who He was.
- Sign. He answered with His own death and resurrection, spoken in symbolic language.
- Temple. His body was about to replace the building as the dwelling-place of God.
- Proof. Men were allowed to destroy that temple, but they could not raise the dead. His resurrection became the foundation of the disciples' faith.
Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Jesus had just driven the traders out of the temple courts, and the challenge that followed was about authority: what right did He have to do it? One writer traces the logic of the exchange:
He had cleansed the temple, His Father's house, which they had turned into a place of business. He had asserted His right to clear that house. Those money-making, wretched Jews challenged Him at once: What sign do you show us if you do these things? He could not do it in any other character except as the Son of God. As the Son, His zeal proved His right to cleanse that house of every defilement.
John supplies the key in the next verses: the building He meant was Himself. The word He chose is worth noticing.
There is another word used for temple (Greek, naos). It means the inner, more sacred part of the temple, where only the priests could enter. Above all it means the holiest place of all, where only the high priest could enter once a year. This was the word the Lord used when He spoke of the temple of His body. He meant His condition as Man of flesh and blood on this earth.
The building in Jerusalem was no longer where God could be found:
The sign He would give was His own resurrection power, raising not merely others but His own body, the true temple in which alone God was (for the Word was God). The one they boasted in had only a name without God.
The word "Destroy" is a permission. It points to what men would be allowed to do to Him.
Men could corrupt the temple at Jerusalem. They could not corrupt the temple of the Lord's body, though they could use violence to try to destroy it. Again and again they tried to stone the Lord. At last, when the hour had come, they were allowed to "destroy" the temple of His body. Man's wickedness becomes one more occasion to show His glory as the Son, and His greatness above all others. Man may destroy, but he cannot raise the dead. His resurrection will be the declaration in power that He is the Son of God.
Here He says He will raise it Himself. Scripture also says God raised Him. Both are held together.
His resurrection was both through the power of God and by Himself. God raised Him up, and He raised Himself up. This statement belongs to this Gospel in particular, where we see Him as the Son of God. We find the same statement in chapter 10:18 — "I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again."
Others add that raising this temple is an act of the same order as creation itself:
He purifies the temple, His Father's house. But He does this as the God of the temple. This was building houses as God alone can build them: "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God." To build by creation, or by resurrection as here, is divine architecture. Jesus is a divine builder.
Years later these words were dragged into the court that condemned Him — twisted just enough to be false.
"We heard Him say," two witnesses claimed, "I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands." What the Lord said was different. Within three days of that examination before Caiaphas, His words came true. The Jews put Him to death. They destroyed the temple of His body. On the third day He rose again. Even the two witnesses did not agree with each other.
One writer draws the lesson: "How much harm is done by misrepresenting what someone said, even without meaning to."
Neither the crowd nor His own followers grasped it at the time. Understanding came with the event.
They ignore His first words about their destroying the temple. They mock His raising it up in three days. He does not explain, but John explains for our benefit. His own body was indeed the true temple of God. God's glory had left the temple in the days of Ezekiel, but in Christ that glory dwelt in fullness. When it happened, the disciples remembered His words. Those words became precious to them, and confirmed the Old Testament Scriptures too.
- Challenge. They asked what right He had to cleanse the temple. He answered with one sign: His death and resurrection.
- Temple. The word He used is the inner sanctuary, the place of God's dwelling. His body, not the building in Jerusalem, was where God dwelt.
- Destroy. Men could corrupt the old house. The true one they could only destroy, and only when they were allowed to.
- Raise. "I will raise it up" is divine architecture: God raised Him, and He raised Himself, marking Him out as Son of God.
- Remember. His accusers twisted the words. His friends missed them. Then He rose, the disciples remembered, and His words confirmed the Scriptures.
The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple building, and thou wilt raise it up in three days?
The scene is Jerusalem at Passover, just after Jesus has driven the traders out of the temple courts. The leaders demand proof of His authority. He answers with a word about destroying and raising a temple. They reply with arithmetic: a building site of forty-six years against a promise of three days.
The number came from a building project everyone in the city had watched. Herod began it, and workmen kept adding to it long after it opened.
At first the Jews were unsure of his intentions, for it seemed sacrilegious that an Idumean, a heathen king, should rebuild the sacred temple. But Herod soon showed he was in earnest. He gathered ten thousand wagons to carry the stones needed for such an undertaking, and called up ten thousand skilled workmen for the job. The efforts were so huge that in a year and six months the temple opened, to great rejoicing among the Jews. The building kept receiving additions from time to time. That explains their remark about the forty-six years. But He was speaking about the temple of His body.
Two questions matter more than the years: who built this house, and who ran it?
Herod was not God's man to build Him a house, nor were the leaders of the Jews fit men to carry on His worship. To the disciples the Lord declared that not one stone would be left on another.
Their boast counted the years of labour. It could not count whether God was there.
His own body was the true temple of God. God's glory had left the temple in the days of the prophet Ezekiel. But in Christ that glory dwelt in fullness.
The verse opens with "the Jews." In this Gospel that name marks a settled opposition, and here they think they have closed the matter.
A challenge comes from the Jews. In this Gospel they are the persistent opponents of the Lord Jesus, and here we meet them in opposition for the first time. To His questioners His reply seemed absurd. "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" They gave this answer, we can well imagine, with feelings of triumph. They thought themselves wise and prudent. Which of them could accept such an answer as proof? Would anyone take up the hard work of forty-six years again and finish it in three days? Let the ignorant crowd believe that. How could the educated men of Jerusalem accept it?
Both the Jews and His own disciples missed His meaning at the time.
He answers them with a challenge: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He was speaking of His death and resurrection. It was a parable they could not interpret. They applied it falsely to Herod's building, which was still unfinished. Even the disciples understood it only when it came true. The eyes of those held by outward things were not on Him. For the time being, outward things held the eyes of true disciples too.
They compared building times. He was drawing a line between what human hands can do and what they cannot.
The temple at Jerusalem could be corrupted. No corruption was possible with the temple of the Lord's body, though men could try to destroy His body by violence. Again and again they sought to stone the Lord. At last, when the hour had come, they were permitted to "destroy" the temple of His body. Man's wickedness becomes one more occasion to show His glory as the Son, and His place above all others. Man may destroy, but he cannot raise the dead. Christ says, in effect, "When you have done your worst, when you have destroyed the temple of My body, I will raise it up."
The sign meant nothing to them that day. To the disciples it meant everything later.
The sign He would give was His own resurrection power. He would raise not just others but His own body, the true temple in which alone God was. What they boasted of had only a name without God. Resurrection marks Him out as Son of God in power. When He rose, the disciples remembered His saying. They found the strongest confirmation of their faith in both Scripture and His word. His resurrection is the basic truth of the gospel, and of our distinctive place as Christians.
- Building — Herod's temple took forty-six years and was still unfinished. The Jews were quoting a real building record, not a figure of speech.
- Builder — Herod was not God's man for the work, and the men running its worship were no fitter. God's glory had left that house long before, in Ezekiel's day.
- Blindness — their eyes were on outward things. They applied His words to Herod's stonework and missed the Person in front of them.
- Body — they could corrupt one temple, but no corruption could touch the temple of His body. Man may destroy; man cannot raise the dead.
- Belief — the sign lay on the far side of the resurrection. When He rose, the disciples remembered this saying, and it confirmed both Scripture and His word.
But *he* spoke of the temple of his body.
Jesus had just cleared the temple courts, and the leaders demanded a sign. He answered with words about a temple torn down and raised in three days — and here John tells us which temple He meant.
His hearers thought only of the stone building in front of them. One writer shows how often this happened, and how much John's note clears up.
Many times, especially in John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus said things that those who heard Him did not understand. Here in John 2 is a case in point... They did not grasp what the Lord's answer meant: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They thought only of Herod's temple.
Some dismiss John's explanation. One commentator answers them with a scholar's reply.
About such reckless treatment of this Gospel, the late Dr. Friedrich Blass remarked that we moderns should ask whether anyone today can know better than someone who lived at the time.
One writer sets the stone building beside the temple Jesus named.
In His reply the Lord shows that, now He had become man, His body was the true Temple or dwelling place of God. The Temple at Jerusalem was empty... The temple at Jerusalem could be defiled. The Temple of the Lord's body could never be defiled, though men could use violence to try to destroy it... Christ says, in effect, "When you have done your worst, when you have destroyed the temple of My body, I will raise it up." His resurrection will be the declaration in power that He is the Son of God.
Calling the temple "empty" is not about the building itself. One writer points to the time when God's glory left it.
Indeed His own body was the true temple of God, for God's glory had left the temple in the days of Ezekiel; but in Christ that glory dwelt in fullness. What a sign is the death and resurrection of Christ!
They had asked for a sign. This one was beyond any man's power to give.
He must die, then, and rise again, before the sign could come to pass. But who has power of resurrection except God? Man may, if God permits it, kill the body. There his power stops. To raise the dead belongs to God, not to man. Yet He who was a man would use that power, and use it on Himself.
He had cleansed the house as the One who owned it. The temple He now names is one He would put up Himself.
But again, He purifies the temple, His Father's house. But He does this as the God of the temple: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." This was building houses as God alone can build them... To build by creation, or by resurrection as here, is divine architecture, and Jesus is a divine builder.
God's dwelling place did not stop with the body of Jesus.
The temple in Jerusalem was the only temple God ever commanded anyone to build on earth. Israel had defiled it so badly that when the Lord Jesus came He set it aside, and spoke instead of "the temple of His body"... While God could no longer dwell in Israel's temple, He could dwell with perfect satisfaction in the body of the Lord Jesus. But since Christ has returned to glory, God is building a temple now — the Church.
- Empty house. God's glory had left the temple in Jerusalem long before. The building they defended stood empty.
- Filled body. In Christ that glory dwelt in fullness. His body was the true temple, and it could not be defiled.
- Destroyed temple. Men did their worst to it. Killing the body was as far as their power went.
- Raised temple. Man may kill a body. Raising the dead belongs to God alone, and His resurrection declares in power that He is the Son of God.
- New house. God now builds a temple of people — the Church. The dwelling moved from stone, to Christ, to His people.
When therefore he was raised from among [the] dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
John adds this verse as a later note: the disciples heard His words about destroying and raising the temple, but nothing clicked until the day He rose. Two questions sit at the centre — why the delay, and what exactly did they end up believing?
Their failure to understand was not unusual. One writer notes that this is a running feature of John's account, and that the reason lies in who was speaking:
At the moment no one, not even His disciples, understood Him. This is another characteristic feature of John's Gospel. Friends and foes alike misunderstand Him again and again. The real meaning of these things dawned on the disciples only after His resurrection, and after the gift of the Spirit that came with it. But this again is not surprising. If the Word becomes flesh, He will speak to us in human words, true. But He will also speak of the high things He knows as the One at the Father's side. So His words are bound to hold a depth far beyond any measuring line man has — depths that only the Holy Spirit can reveal.
Their understanding turned on one event. One writer shows how much hangs on it — their grasp of this saying, and their freedom from the hold of Jewish thinking:
They had eyes, but did not see; they had ears, but did not hear, and they did not understand His glory. And sadly, not only the Jews. In understanding, the disciples were little better until He rose from the dead. The resurrection of the Lord proves His power and glory; it is just as truly the only deliverance for disciples from the grip of Jewish influence. Without it there is no divine understanding of Christ, or of His word, or of Scripture.
What the disciples recalled was the saying itself, unaltered. Set that against those who taunted Him at the cross, who threw His words back at Him in a form He never used:
When first spoken, the Jews thought He was referring to the building they were standing in. Later, on the cross, they taunted Him with what they thought He had said: "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself." They still thought He meant the Temple building, so they credited Him with words He never spoke. "Destroy this temple," is what He said. "You who would destroy the temple," is what they assumed He said. They misquoted Him, and so got it completely wrong. The disciples, on the other hand, also had to wait for the Resurrection before they had the key to His meaning. Then they remembered what He had said, and found their confidence in His words justified and strengthened. It will be the same for us, when we take God's revealed Word simply.
The verse names two things they believed: the Scripture, and what Jesus had said. One event confirmed both:
The sign He would give was His own resurrection power, raising not others only but His own body, the true Temple in which alone God was (for the Word was God)... It is resurrection that marks Him out as Son of God in power. When He was raised, the disciples remembered His saying, and they found the strongest confirmation of their faith in both Scripture and His word. His Resurrection is the basic truth both of the Gospel and of our distinct place as Christians.
Another writer notes what this did to their reading of the Old Testament:
When it became fact, however, the disciples remembered His words, which then became deeply precious to them, confirming too the Old Testament scriptures. From that time we may be sure they searched the Old Testament much more eagerly than they had ever done.
Their faith rested on Scripture and on His word, not on what they had watched happen. One writer draws the line sharply:
Faith, to be of value and have power, rests not on sight or inference, but on Scripture. So the disciples had a badly unreliable memory for the Lord's words until He was raised from the dead (John 2:22). In the same way, they felt nothing of the force and reach of the written word. Once they believed both, they entered into lasting and growing blessing from above... Faith founded on evidence may strengthen a person against Deism, Pantheism, or Atheism. But it never gave forgiveness of sins. It never led anyone to cry, "Abba, Father."
- Spoken. His words carry depths no man can measure, so friends and foes alike misunderstood Him at the time.
- Stored. The disciples kept the saying exactly as given, while His enemies at the cross threw back a version He never spoke.
- Unlocked. Resurrection is the key: without it there is no divine understanding of Christ, of His word, or of Scripture.
- Doubled. One event confirmed two witnesses at once: the written Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. It sent them back to search the Old Testament far more eagerly.
- Rested. Faith with power rests on Scripture, not on sight or reasoning. Belief built on evidence alone never gave anyone forgiveness of sins.