ACC ~ John 2 v19 - 21
JESUS’ WORDS HERE USED IN LATER ACCUSATIONS AT HIS TRIAL
ORIGEN: It is likely, moreover, that what has been recorded in the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark in the name of the false witness who accuses our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the Gospel [1] contains a reference to the saying, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” For he… was speaking about the temple of his body, but they, supposing that the things said here were said about the temple built from stones, accused him. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.251-52. [2]
[1] See Mt 26:61; Mk 14:58.
[2] FC 80:310; SC 157:532. Tertullian sees Christ here affirming, in his reference to his body as a temple that can be destroyed, that it is the body, not the soul, that can be destroyed in death. See On the Resurrection of the Flesh 18.
CHRIST DECLARES THE RESURRECTION HIS OWN WORK
HILARY OF POITIERS: By the power to take his soul again and to raise the temple up, he declares himself God and the resurrection his own work: yet he refers all to the authority of his Father’s command. This is not contrary to the meaning of the apostle, when he proclaims Christ, the “power of God and the wisdom of God,” [1] thus referring all the magnificence of his work to the glory of the Father. For whatever Christ does, the power and the wisdom of God does…. Christ was raised from the dead by the working of God, for he himself worked the works of God the Father with a nature indistinguishable from God’s. And our faith in the resurrection rests on the God who raised Christ from the dead. ON THE TRINITY 9.12. [2]
[1] 1 Cor 1:24.
[2] NPNF 2 9:159. See also Novatian On the Trinity 21.
THE MYSTERY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
ORIGEN: Both, however (I mean the temple and Jesus’ body), according to one interpretation, appear to me to be a type of the church, in that the church, being called a “temple,” [1] is built of living stones, becoming a spiritual house “for a holy priesthood,” [2] built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone.” [3] And through the saying, “Now you are the body of Christ and members in part,” [4] [we know] that even if the harmony of the stones of the temple appear to be destroyed, [or,] as it is written in Psalm 21, [5] all the bones of Christ appear to be scattered in persecutions and afflictions by the plots of those who wage war against the unity of the temple by persecutions—we know that the temple will be raised up and the body will arise on the third day after the day of evil that threatens it and the day of consummation that follows. For the third day will dawn in the new heaven and the new earth, [6] when these bones, the whole house of Israel, [7] shall be raised up on the great day of the Lord, once death has been conquered. [8] Consequently, the resurrection of Christ too, which followed from his passion on the cross, contains the mystery of the resurrection of the whole body of Christ. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.228-29. [9]
[1] See Eph 2:21.
[2] 1 Pet 2:5.
[3] Eph 2:20.
[4] 1 Cor 12:27.
[5] See Ps 21:15 LXX.
[6] See Rev 21:1.
[7] See Ezek 37:11.
[8] See 1 Cor 15:54.
[9] FC 80:305-6; SC 157:520.
NOT THIS BODY BUT “THIS TEMPLE”
THEODORET OF CYR: Why is it that the Evangelist did not pass over this but added a correction when he said, “He was talking about the temple of his body”? For he did not say “destroy” this body but “the temple,” in order to reveal the God who resided within [it]. “Destroy this temple,” which is much greater than the Jewish one. For the latter held the law, but the former held the lawgiver; the latter had the letter that kills, but the former had the life-giving Spirit. [1] DIALOGUE 3.61. [2]
[1] See Jn 6:63.
[2] FC 106:243.
THE CLEANSED TEMPLE OF CHRIST
BEDE: With perfect justice he banished the wicked from the temple, since the temple represented the temple of his body, in which there was no stain of any kind of sin. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.1. [1]
[1] CS 111:7.
CHRIST IS THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD
LACTANTIUS: [Christ] meant that his passion would be brief and that when he was put to death… he would raise himself up on the third day. For he himself was the true temple of God…. For when there was no justice on the earth, [God] sent a teacher, a living law, as it were, to establish his name and a new temple, to sow the seeds of true and loving worship throughout the whole earth by his words and example. DIVINE INSTITUTES 4.18, 25. [1]
[1] FC 49:291, 307-8.
Jn