Charles Ellicott Commentary John 2:19

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." — John 2:19 (ASV)

Here, as in Matthew 12:38, a sign is given referring to His resurrection. The sign is in its nature an enigma, meaningless to the one who does not seek to understand it, but full of meaning for the one who earnestly examines what is signified, and in such a form that it impresses itself on the memory and educates the moral powers.

We have had an example of this enigmatic teaching in John 1:15; John 1:27; John 1:30. We will meet with others. (John 16:25.) The enigma turns in the present case upon the double sense of the word “temple.” It meant the sacred shrine of the Deity, the Holy and Most Holy place, as distinct from the wider Temple area.

But the true shrine of the Deity was the body of the Incarnate Word. The Temple of wood and stone was only the representative of the Divine Presence. That Presence was then actually among them.

They had no reverence for the one; for, like its outer courts, it had become a house of merchandise and was fast becoming a den of thieves. This very demand for an outward sign, while all around them a spiritual power was felt, shows they had as little reverence for the other.

They will destroy the real shrine; even the shrine of wood and stone will not be left to represent a Presence no longer among them. He will raise up the temple of His body the third day, and in that resurrection will be the foundation stone of the spiritual temple for the world.

The use of the word “temple” by the Jews in this double sense is attested by their interpretation of the Old Testament. We have an example of the use of “tabernacle” in a parallel sense in John 1:14 (compare 2 Peter 1:13–14), and the full idea of a spiritual worship and presence in John 4:21-24.

The sign may have been suggested by the double thought then present—the Jews destroying the sanctity of the material Temple, the disciples seeing in Him one consumed by zeal for it (compare 1 Corinthians 3:16–17).