John 2:19
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Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Destroy this temple, &c.--(See on Mar 14:58-59).
Open source ↗In the close of the foregoing chapter we had an account of the first disciples whom Jesus called, Andrew and Peter, Philip and Nathanael. These were the first-fruits to God and to the Lamb, Rev 14:4. Now, in this chapter, we have, I. The account of the first miracle which Jesus wrought - turning water into wine, at Cana of Galilee (Joh 2:1-11), and his appearing at Capernaum (Joh 2:12). II. The account of the first passover he kept at Jerusalem after he began his public ministry; his driving the buyers and sellers out of the temple (Joh 2:13-17); and the sign he gave to those who quarrelled with him for it (Joh 2:18-22), with an account of some almost believers, that followed him, thereupon, for some time (Joh 2:23-25), but he knew them too well to put any confidence in them.
Open source ↗2:19-21 Destroy this temple: Herod the Great began reconstructing the Temple’s magnificent structure in 20 BC, and work on it continued until AD 64. This explains why Jesus’ audience was amazed when he claimed he could destroy and rebuild it in a few days. However, Jesus spoke figuratively of his own body as the temple where God was present (see 1:14, 51)—his body was destroyed and restored in three days through the resurrection, rendering the Jerusalem Temple and its services obsolete. Later, at his trial, Jesus’ symbolic reference to destroying the Temple was used as evidence of blasphemy (Mark 14:58).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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“We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’”
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses.
You killed the Author of life, but God raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses of the fact.
But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.