Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 2:19

John 2:19. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple. The most important point for the understanding of this verse is the distinction between the two words which the English Bible renders ‘temple.' The word used in John 2:14-15 denotes generally the whole area within the walls, and here especially the outermost space in the sacred enclosure; while the latter signifies the holy place, and the holy of holies. The sanctity of the temple-court has been vindicated; the true temple, the sanctuary, the dwelling-place of Jehovah; has not been mentioned in the narrative until now. But even this very significant change of expression would not render the meaning plain, for the words were intended to be enigmatical to be understood after, and not before, the event which fulfilled them. If we would understand them, we must take them in connection with John 2:21, ‘But He spake of the temple of His body.' To the English reader they seem merely to convey a warning that, if the Jews go on with such profanation as that which Jesus had checked, they will bring the temple to ruin. But it is of the sanctuary that He speaks, not of the temple-court which had sustained the desecration. When therefore He says, ‘Go on in your present way, and by so doing destroy this temple,' He means that their rejection of Himself shall culminate in their consigning to destruction the temple of His body. The essence of the temple is, that it is the dwelling-place of God: His body is God's temple, for in Him ‘dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.' The material temple had been for ages the type of His body, in which God first truly manifested Himself to man. The continuance of the temple was no longer needed when the living temple was reared; but it was by the destruction or the latter that the destruction of the former was brought about, its destruction, that is, as the dwelling-place of God. In the holiest place, behind the veil, Jehovah had dwelt: when the Lord Jesus was crucified, the veil was rent, the holy of holies was thrown open, and by being thrown open was shown to be God's habitation no longer. Our Lord therefore might well use words which relate at once to His body and to the temple, such being the connection between the two.

And in three days I will raise it up. His crucifixion involved the total destruction of the Jewish temple and polity. No longer will there be a special place in which God's glory will be revealed, to which God's worshippers will come,-a place in which are national distinctions, a court of the Gentiles, a court of Israel, a court of the priests. His resurrection will establish a new temple, a new order of spiritual worship. He Himself, as raised and glorified Messiah, will be the Cornerstone of a spiritual temple, holy in the Lord. This is one of the many passages in the Gospel which show to us how perfectly all the future of His history was anticipated by our Lord (see chap. John 3:14, etc.). There is no real difficulty in the words, ‘I will raise it up;' chap. John 10:17-18, furnishes a complete explanation.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 2:19

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