ContradictionsReading order 530Bible context 2 min read
Did Jesus say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"?
John affirms a temple saying, but the testimony called false changes both who destroys it and what temple is meant.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Major
- A major event or claim with wider implications.
The false accusation changes both the destroyer and the temple's identity, so John's related saying does not validate it.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Jesus promises to raise the destroyed temple of his body
Jesus answered and said unto them, 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.
John 2:19-21
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:John 2
False witnesses say Jesus threatened to destroy the temple
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.