Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 23:17

"Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold?" — Matthew 23:17 (ASV)

The temple that sanctifieth the gold. To sanctify is to make holy. The gold had no holiness except what it derived from the temple. If in any other place, it would be no more holy than any other gold. It was foolish, then, to suppose that it was more holy than the temple from which it received all the sanctity which it possessed.