John 2:20 records the reaction of the Jewish leaders when Jesus made a bold claim about the Jerusalem temple. They object that the building has taken forty-six years to construct and they cannot see how it could be rebuilt in three days, so they take his words as absurd. The verse is spoken by “the Jews” (in John’s usage, the Jewish leaders and authorities in Jerusalem) and is addressed to Jesus, who had just told them to destroy the temple and that he would raise it up in three days.
The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?”
John 2:20 (WEB)
What John 2:20 Means
The leaders begin with a simple fact: “It took forty-six years to build this temple.” Herod’s expansion of the temple complex was a massive project that began around 20 or 19 BC and was still ongoing in Jesus’ day, so the number is a realistic sense of how long the work had taken. Their point is that the building is enormous and enduring, and that anyone claiming to restore it in three days is speaking nonsense. The sentence is more of an incredulous complaint than a question about engineering.
Then comes the question: “Will you raise it up in three days?” They are asking, in effect, what right Jesus has to make such a promise and how he could possibly keep it. The verse does not show them grasping that Jesus is speaking about something other than stone and mortar. It shows them stuck on the literal level, which is why the verse works as a turning point in the passage rather than as a statement of Jesus’ purpose.
What the verse does not promise is any quick fix for the temple or any exact timetable for construction. It is a snapshot of misunderstanding. The leaders are not wrong about the forty-six years, and their skepticism is understandable. Their error lies in assuming that Jesus was talking about the building they could see.
The Context of John 2:20
John’s Gospel was written late in the first century, traditionally attributed to the apostle John, and it is addressed to a wide audience that needed to understand who Jesus was. This episode, placed near the beginning of the book, is one of several “signs” John records, and the temple cleansing that precedes our verse shows Jesus confronting the commerce going on in the temple courts. The Jewish leaders respond by asking for a sign that would justify his authority to act this way.
Verses 21 and 22 are essential for reading John 2:20 correctly. John explains that Jesus “spoke of the temple of his body,” and that after the resurrection his disciples remembered these words and believed. So the leaders’ objection is a misreading that the narrator himself corrects. The verse therefore shows us both the blindness of the people who heard Jesus and the later understanding that came through the resurrection.
Key Phrases in John 2:20
Matthew 26:61
And said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’”
(WEB)
This verse records the charge brought against Jesus at his trial, which refers back to his words about the temple. Reading it alongside John 2:20 shows how his statement about the temple was distorted and misunderstood by those who opposed him.
Ephesians 2:21
In whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord…
(WEB)
Paul describes believers as being joined together into a holy temple in the Lord, which helps explain the spiritual meaning of the temple language. It deepens the picture of Jesus as the one in whom God’s dwelling place is being built.
A Short Prayer From John 2:20
Lord, when things I have built or hoped for seem beyond repair, I confess that I often look only at what I can see and start to doubt what you can do. Open my eyes the way you opened the eyes of your disciples after the resurrection, so that I can see your purposes more clearly than my fears allow. Help me to trust your timing and your power, and to believe that you are able to raise up what has been broken. Give me patience in the waiting and hope in the rebuilding. Amen.
