What Jesus Said
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”
Where It Comes From
“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them... But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”
Original Language Note
Jesus uses "naos" (ναός) for temple — the inner sanctuary, the dwelling place of God — not "hieron" (ἱερόν), the temple complex. This is theologically significant: Jesus is claiming to be the inner sanctuary where God dwells.
The Context
After cleansing the temple of money-changers, the Jewish leaders demanded a sign of Jesus' authority to do such things. His response — "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" — was misunderstood by His opponents but later remembered by His disciples after His resurrection.
Seeing Christ
The temple was where God dwelt among His people. Its architecture — outer court, inner court, Holy Place, Most Holy Place — created layers of separation between sinful humanity and the holy God. But Jesus' body was the true temple: "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). When His body was destroyed and raised, the veil of separation was torn. Now believers are "the temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16). Access to God is no longer through a building but through a Person.
Answering the Skeptic
This statement was twisted by false witnesses at Jesus' trial (Matthew 26:61, Mark 14:58), showing that His opponents heard the words but missed the meaning. The misunderstanding actually proves the authenticity of the account — the disciples recorded the accusation and then explained what Jesus actually meant. This is the opposite of what fabricators would do.