Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus uses "temple" in a shocking, double-edged way, playing on their understanding of the physical building while referring to His own body. He’s not just speaking metaphorically about resurrection; He’s declaring that He is the true dwelling place of God, the very shrine they will tear down and which He alone will restore.
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
English Standard Version (ESV)
After Jesus dramatically cleared the Temple courts, the Jewish leaders demanded a sign to prove his authority for such an action. Jesus responds with an enigmatic statement about destroying and rebuilding a temple in three days, which the leaders misunderstand as a reference to the physical Temple structure, not realizing he’s speaking about his own body and resurrection.
Jesus just powerfully cleared the Temple, and the crowd demanded a sign. His response? A cryptic statement about destroying and rebuilding a temple in three days. Why the riddle, and why this sign?
Jesus' words, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,' were deliberately enigmatic. He wasn't giving the crowd an immediate, flashy miracle to satisfy their demand for a sign. Instead, He was planting a seed of truth that would only bear fruit later.
When Jesus said 'this temple,' He wasn't talking about the grand building made of stone. What made His body uniquely a 'temple,' and why is that distinction so crucial?
The pivotal insight here is the double meaning of 'temple.' The Jews understood it as the physical structure in Jerusalem, the place of God's dwelling. But Jesus was speaking of a far greater temple: His own body.
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Jesus' words were misunderstood by the Jews then, and even His disciples didn't fully grasp them until later. How did this cryptic statement become a cornerstone of their faith?
This exchange wasn't just about Jesus clearing the Temple; it was about laying the foundation for future belief. The scholars point out that Jesus was 'sowing seeds of thought for the future.'
Understand the original words
naos · Greek Noun
The dwelling place of God’s presence on earth, originally the tabernacle and later the temple, which symbolizes God’s communion with His people; in the New Covenant, it refers to Christ’s body and subsequently the Church.
lyo · Greek Verb
The act of physically or metaphorically breaking down, causing to come to an end, or ruining something established.
egeiro · Greek Verb
To bring back to life or to lift up from a prostrate or fallen state, specifically used in the New Testament to describe the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
Jesus' words, spoken in the context of cleansing the Jerusalem Temple and amidst its ongoing reconstruction, were a profound, veiled prophecy about His own death and resurrection. The timing and the double meaning of 'temple' – the physical structure and His own body – were lost on the authorities but later understood by His disciples.
c. 20 BC - AD 63
Herod's Temple Reconstruction
King Herod the Great began a massive expansion and renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This monumental project, intended to be grander than Solomon's original Temple, took decades to complete and was still ongoing when Jesus spoke these words.
AD 27-30 (approx.)— this verse
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
During His ministry, Jesus dramatically drove out merchants and money changers from the Jerusalem Temple courts. This act, seen as a challenge to the religious authorities, prompted them to demand a sign of His authority.
AD 30-33 (approx.)
Jesus' Crucifixion
Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified by Roman authorities at the urging of Jewish leaders. His followers believed His body was placed in a tomb.
AD 30-33 (approx.)
Jesus' Resurrection
According to Christian belief, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion, fulfilling His prophecy and demonstrating His divine power over death.
AD 30-60s
Disciples Recall Jesus' Words
After Jesus' resurrection, His followers remembered His cryptic statement about destroying and rebuilding the temple in three days. They came to understand He was speaking of His own body.
AD 64
False Witness Accusation
During Jesus' trial, false witnesses twisted His words from the temple incident, claiming He said He could destroy and rebuild the temple in three days, using it as evidence against Him.
This passage echoes Jesus' statement by calling believers 'a temple of God,' directly linking the physical temple Jesus referred to with the spiritual community of God's people.
Matthew 12:39-40This is a parallel account where Jesus explicitly connects the sign of the 'Son of Man' to being 'three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,' directly referencing His resurrection as the ultimate sign.
John 10:17-18Jesus here speaks of His authority over His own life, stating He 'lays down' His life and has 'power to take it again,' which powerfully reinforces His claim in John 2:19 that He Himself would raise up the temple of His body.
1 Corinthians 6:19This verse extends the 'temple' metaphor to the individual believer's body, calling it a 'temple of the Holy Spirit,' showing how Jesus' own body, as the ultimate temple, purifies and indwells believers.
Acts 10:40Peter recounts that God 'raised him on the third day and made him to be manifested,' directly fulfilling Jesus' prophecy and attributing the resurrection to God's power, which Jesus also claimed as His own in John 2:19.
ellicottJohn 2:19: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
(19) Here, as in Matthew 12:38 , a sign is given referring to His resurrection. The sign is in its nature an enigma, meaningless to him who does not seek to understand it, but full of meaning for him who earnestly examines into the thing signified, and in such a form as impresses itself on the memory and educates the moral powers. We have had an example of this enigmatic teaching in John 1…
calvinJohn 2:18-22: "Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?"
- The Jews then answered and said to him, What sign [51] showest thou to us, that thou doest these things? 19. Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days. 20. The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? 21. But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22.…
Jesus uses "temple" in a shocking, double-edged way, playing on their understanding of the physical building while referring to His own body. He’s not just speaking metaphorically about resurrection; He’s declaring that He is the true dwelling place of God, the very shrine they will tear down and which He alone will restore.
After Jesus dramatically cleared the Temple courts, the Jewish leaders demanded a sign to prove his authority for such an action. Jesus responds with an enigmatic statement about destroying and rebuilding a temple in three days, which the leaders misunderstand as a reference to the physical Temple structure, not realizing he’s speaking about his own body and resurrection.
After Jesus dramatically cleared the Temple courts, the Jewish leaders demanded a sign to prove his authority for such an action. Jesus responds with an enigmatic statement about destroying and rebuilding a temple in three days, which the leaders misunderstand as a reference to the physical Temple structure, not realizing he’s speaking about his own body and resurrection.
"Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”" — Jesus uses "temple" in a shocking, double-edged way, playing on their understanding of the physical building while referring to His own body. He’s not just speaking metaphorically about resurrection;…
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Last reviewed October 2026