Answer
John 2:18–22 marks a transitional moment in Jesus’ ministry, illustrating both the hard-nosed skepticism of the Jewish leaders and the spiritual truths Jesus imparted to His disciples.
In context, the leaders question Jesus about His authority to cleanse the temple (John 2:13–18). Their request for a sign reveals a desire for validation of Jesus’ divine authority. In response, Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (verse 19, ESV). This statement confused His opponents, but John informs his readers that Jesus was “speaking about the temple of his body” (verse 21, ESV).
When Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” He is making a prophetic statement about His crucifixion and resurrection (see Matthew 17:22–23; Mark 9:30–32). This prediction is misconstrued by the leaders, for they believed that Jesus was referring to the physical temple where they stood: “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” (John 2:20, ESV).
The irony of their misunderstanding is furthered by the fact that the Jewish leaders played a role in the destruction of Jesus’ body. During Jesus’ trial, one of the charges levied against Him is that He promised to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days (Matthew 26:60–61; Mark 14:57–59). As He hung on the cross, Jesus’ enemies again brought up His words and mocked Him for being unable to fulfill His promise (or so they believed): “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!’” (Mark 15:29–30). They were unaware that they were helping fulfill Jesus’ promise of John 2:19, even as they derided Him for not keeping it.
In the New Testament, Jesus’ body is used as a metaphor for the church. Both the apostle Paul (Ephesians 2:19–22) and the apostle Peter (1 Peter 2:5) draw parallels between the church (the body of Christ) and a holy temple built by Jesus. This emphasizes the transformative nature of Jesus’ redemptive work, not just in His own resurrection but in the unity of all believers.
Jesus’ claim that He could and would raise Himself from the dead is a remarkable testament to His divinity (see John 10:18). The Father and Holy Spirit, too, were involved in the resurrection (John 11:25; Acts 2:24; Romans 6:4; Galatians 1:1).
The disciples only fully understood the significance of Jesus’ prediction after His crucifixion and resurrection: “When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:22, ESV). The “Scripture” they believed is likely Psalm 16:10, where the psalmist writes, “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (ESV).
Jesus’ reference to destroying the temple in John 2:19 was about the temple of His body, not the physical temple built by Zerubbabel and modified by Herod the Great. The enemies of God destroyed Jesus’ body, but, as the Life, He rose again. Jesus directs our attention away from worshiping God at specific locations (like the temple in Jerusalem) that we may “worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
