7  Jesus Displays His Deity  (John 2:12–25)

After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. (2:12–25)

There is no question more important than, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Its implications are profound and its significance unparalleled. Simply posing it immediately evokes a vast array of emotions—from outright hostility to fervent adoration. Merely contemplating it is not enough—it is a question that must be answered. And answering it incorrectly no matter what the excuse, ultimately leads to eternal devastation.

Throughout history, that very question has sparked much confusion and debate. Such was even true in Jesus’ time. When He asked, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Matt. 16:13), the disciples listed several popular possibilities: “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets” (v. 14). There is, however, only one correct answer to Jesus’ question, and Peter gave it when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16).

Scripture abundantly reaffirms Peter’s assessment of Christ’s true identity. He is called “God” (John 1:1, 18; 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Heb. 1:8; 1 John 5:20), “our great God and Savior” (Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1), the “Mighty God” (Isa. 9:6), the “I AM” (John 8:58; cf. Ex. 3:14), the “first and the last” (Rev. 1:17; 22:13; cf. Isa. 44:6; 48:12), the “Lord of lords” (Rev. 17:14; cf. Deut. 10:17), and the “Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 22:13; cf. Rev. 1:8). He is one in essence with the Father (John 10:30); He exists in the form of God (Phil. 2:6) and is the “exact representation of His nature” (Heb. 1:3); He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:3; cf. Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:11; Isa. 40:28); and “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). He is the One who forgives sins (Mark 2:7, 10; cf. Isa. 43:25; Dan. 9:9), raises the dead (John 5:21; 11:25), and receives the worship reserved for God alone (Phil. 2:10 [cf. Isa. 45:23]; Matt. 14:33; cf. Matt. 4:10). Clearly, the biblical evidence leads to only one possible conclusion: Jesus Christ is God.

Despite the unmistakable clarity of Scripture, there are some skeptics who deny those clear claims. In their unbelieving opinions, the Christ of Scripture is a mythical figure, invented by His followers. The “real” or “historical” Jesus of Nazareth, they argue, was a social critic, itinerant cynic philosopher, politically correct sage—but definitely not the Messiah, the Son of God, God incarnate in human flesh. Richard N. Longenecker notes that according to the “Jesus Seminar,” for example,

In order to reach their conclusions, such skeptics audaciously question either the reliability of the New Testament or the honesty of Jesus’ disciples. But the New Testament is the most well-attested document from antiquity. There are far more early manuscripts of the New Testament in existence today than of any other ancient writing, and the time gap between them and the original documents is much shorter. Thus, “to be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament books is to allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no documents of the ancient period are as well attested bibliographically as the New Testament” (John Warwick Montgomery History and Christianity [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity 1974], 29).

The view that Jesus’ followers invented the biblical story of His life also falls far short of credibility. After all, what did they gain from it? The apostles endured arrest, beatings, imprisonment, exile, and martyrdom; and the early church faced bitter opposition punctuated by outbursts of savage persecution. Eusebius, the fourth-century church father, pointed out the absurdity of claiming that the disciples were deceivers:

The presence of numerous eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life—many of them hostile—would also have made it impossible for His disciples to spread lies about Him. For example, if He had not really risen from the dead as His followers claimed, His enemies could have simply presented His body. Had they done so, the Christian faith would have immediately collapsed (cf. 1 Cor. 15:14). Furthermore, the gospel accounts were finished while many such eyewitnesses were still alive. Had the gospel writers lied about what Jesus said or did, those eyewitnesses could have easily exposed their fabrications.

Other blasphemous views—that Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or a mystic—fare no better; they utterly fail to explain His noble character as revealed in the New Testament. For instance, church historian Philip Schaff responds to accusations that Jesus was a liar (cf. John 8:46):

It is also preposterous to view Jesus as a mystic, whose claim to be God was not remarkable since everyone is God. While such assertions are commonplace in Eastern religions, they would have been utterly foreign to first-century Judaism. Far from welcoming Jesus as an enlightened guru, the Jews were outraged by His claim to deity. As a result, they accused Him of blasphemy (10:33; cf. 5:18) and crucified Him for claiming equality with the one and only God (Matt. 26:65–66).

The only view that adequately explains Jesus’ perfect life, profound teaching, sacrificial death, and miraculous resurrection is the biblical one—namely, that Jesus came as God incarnate. All other views utterly collapse under examination.

The apostle John walked with Jesus from the outset of His earthly ministry. He saw His miracles, heard His teaching, and observed His life from an intimate vantage point shared only by Peter and James. Thus, he wrote his gospel so that his readers would understand Jesus’ true identity as God the Son in human flesh (20:31).

In this passage, John continues this theme through three vignettes that each illustrate an aspect of Christ’s deity. Individually, they show His passion for reverence, His power of resurrection, and His perception of reality. Collectively, they underscore the inscrutable reality of His divine nature.

JESUS PASSION FOR REVERENCE

After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” (2:12–17)

The Feast of Passover commemorated Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt—when the Lord killed, by His death angel, the firstborn of the Egyptians but passed over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:23–27). It was celebrated annually on the fourteenth day of Nisan (March/April). On that day, between 3:00 and 6:00 P.M., lambs were slaughtered and the Passover meal eaten. In obedience to Exodus 23:14–17, Jesus went up to Jerusalem to observe both the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread which immediately followed (cf. Ezek. 45:21; Luke 22:1; Acts 12:3–4). This is the first of three Passovers mentioned in John’s gospel (cf. 6:4; 11:55).

Upon His arrival, Jesus would have found Jerusalem teeming with Jewish pilgrims from all around the Roman world, there to celebrate this foremost of Jewish feasts. Because of the multitudes who came, Passover meant big business for Jerusalem-based merchants. In the temple complex, where they had set up shop (probably in the court of the Gentiles), vendors were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Since it was impractical for those traveling from distant lands to bring their own animals, the merchants sold them the animals required for the sacrifices—at greatly inflated prices. The money changers also provided a necessary service. Every Jewish male twenty years of age or older had to pay the annual temple tax (Ex. 30:13–14; Matt. 17:24–27). But it could be paid only using Jewish or Tyrian coins (because of the purity of their silver content), so foreigners had to exchange their money for acceptable coinage. Because they had a monopoly on the market, the money changers charged an exorbitant fee for their services (as high as 12.5 percent [F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 74]).

What had begun as a service to the worshipers had, under the corrupt rule of the chief priests, degenerated into exploitation and usury. Religion had become external, crass, and materialistic; the temple of God had become a “robbers’ den” (Matt. 21:13).

As He surveyed the sacred temple grounds now turned into a bazaar, Jesus was appalled and outraged. The worshipful atmosphere that befitted the temple, as the symbol of God’s presence, was completely absent. What should have been a place of sacred reverence and adoration had become a place of abusive commerce and excessive overpricing. The sound of heartfelt praise and fervent prayers had been drowned out by the bawling of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the cooing of doves, and the loud haggling of vendors and their customers.

Realizing that the purity of temple worship was a matter of honor to God, Jesus took swift and decisive action. Making a scourge of cords (probably from those used to tie the animals), He drove all the merchants out of the temple, along with their sheep and oxen. In addition, He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, an amazing feat for one man in the light of the resistance that must have come.

Jesus’ display of force would have immediately created pandemonium in the temple court: the animal sellers frantically chasing their beasts, which were running aimlessly in all directions; the startled moneychangers (and, no doubt, some of the bystanders) scrambling desperately on the ground to pick up their coins; those who were selling the doves hastily removing their crates as Jesus had commanded them; the temple authorities rushing to see what all the commotion was about. Yet Jesus was neither cruel to the animals (those who object to His mild use of force on them have never herded animals), nor overly harsh with the men. Apparently the uproar He created was contained enough not to alert the Roman garrison stationed in Fort Antonia, which overlooked the temple grounds. Watching Romans may have found some satisfaction in this assault on the temple system and its leaders, who gave them so much grief.

At the same time, the intensity of His righteous indignation was unmistakable. Christ would not tolerate any mockery of the spirit of true worship. His indignant words to those who were selling the doves, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business,” applied to all who were polluting the temple and corrupting its intended purpose. Jesus’ reference to God as His Father was a reminder both of His deity and His messiahship; He was the loyal Son purging His Father’s house of its impure worship (an action that prefigures what He will again do at His second coming [Mal. 3:1–3; cf. Zech. 14:20–21]).

Several years later, at the end of His ministry, Christ would again cleanse the temple (Matt. 21:12–16; Mark 11:15–18; Luke 19:45–46). Some commentators assert that John is actually referring here to that later cleansing, having moved the account out of chronological sequence. Instead of correctly putting this story at the end of Jesus’ ministry, they argue, John put it here—thus, Jesus cleansed the temple only once, not twice. But their explanations for why John would have misplaced such a significant event are ultimately unconvincing. The cleansing recorded in the Synoptic Gospels took place during Passion Week; the one recorded by John came at the outset of Jesus’ public ministry (cf. John 2:11–13).

The details of the two accounts also differ significantly. In the Synoptics, Jesus quotes the Old Testament as His authority (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46); in John He uses His own words (2:16). Moreover, John does not mention Jesus’ prohibition against using the temple as a shortcut (Mark 11:16) nor Jesus’ significant judicial statement: “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!” (Matt. 23:38). And the Synoptics do not mention Jesus’ remarkable challenge, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19)—although they do refer to it in the accounts of His trial before the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:61; Mark 14:58; cf. Matt. 27:39–40; Mark 15:29–30). In light of these differences, it is difficult to see how both the Synoptic writers and John could be referring to the same event. (For a further discussion of Jesus’second temple cleansing, see my comments on Matthew 27:39–40 in Matthew 24–28, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series [Chicago: Moody, 1989], 258–60).

Watching in amazement as their Master dispersed the temple merchants, His disciples remembered that it was written in Psalm 69:9, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” Jesus’ resolute passion and unwavering fervor was clear to all who saw Him. His righteous indignation, stemming from an absolute commitment to God’s holiness, revealed His true nature as the Judge of all the earth (cf. Gen. 18:25; Heb. 9:27). R. C. H. Lenski notes,

Like David, who penned the messianic Psalm 69, Jesus’ zeal for pure worship found expression in His concern for God’s house. And also like David, Jesus suffered as a result, personally feeling the pain when His Father was dishonored. The second half of Psalm 69:9 reads, “The reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.” The Jewish leaders never forgot Jesus’ assault on the heart of their religious enterprise and on the very seat of their power. In fact, Christ’s two physical cleansings of the temple, along with His constant verbal assaults on their hypocrisy, were more than enough motivation to cause them to pursue His crucifixion so vehemently. Not surprisingly, His followers were also later accused of threatening the temple (Acts 6:13–14; 21:28; 24:6).

JESUS POWER OF RESURRECTION

The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. (2:18–22)

The Jews who confronted Jesus were probably members of the temple police force (cf. 7:32, 45–46; 18:3, 12, 18, 22; 19:6; Acts 5:21–22, 26), representatives from the Sanhedrin, or both. Arriving to investigate the commotion in the temple court, they demanded of Him, “What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?” Their question was not a request for information, but a challenge to His authority. Jesus had taken it upon Himself to disregard their dominion and regulate the temple activities, and they wanted a miraculous sign as proof of His authority for doing so.

Interestingly, although they challenged His right to do what He did, the Jewish authorities did not arrest Jesus. Taken aback by His bold display of authority, they may have wondered if He were a prophet, like John the Baptist. Their demand for a sign, however, was foolish; the messianic act of single-handedly cleansing the temple was itself a clear sign that God had a message for them. In their hard-hearted unbelief, the Jewish leaders repeatedly asked for such signs, yet they never accepted the ones they were given. As John later wrote, “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him” (John 12:37). The fact that the temple authorities demanded a sign also exposed the wickedness of their hearts. They knew that their greedy, corrupt commercialization of temple worship was wrong, even though they obstinately refused to admit it.

Jesus’ enigmatic reply, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” baffled the Jewish authorities (and, for the time being, His own disciples as well, v. 22). Like His parables (cf. Matt. 13:10–11; Luke 8:10), this veiled statement judicially concealed the truth from hostile unbelievers, whose spiritual blindness resulted from their own unbelief and rebellion against God. (Unbelievers’ failure to understand Jesus’ message is a theme that runs throughout John’s gospel, e.g., 3:3–4; 4:14–15; 6:32–35, 51–52; 7:34–36; 8:51–53, 56–57; 10:1–6.)

The authorities were astonished by Jesus’ reply. Their response betrays a mixture of shock and indignation: “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” The temple of Jesus’ day was not Solomon’s temple, which the Babylonians had destroyed (Ezra 5:12). Rather, it was the postexilic temple, rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity was over, under the leadership of Zerubba-bel, Jeshua, Haggai, and Zechariah (Ezra 1–6). Many centuries later, around 20 B.C., Herod the Great began an extensive reconstruction and expansion of the postexilic temple. Ironically, those reconstruction efforts were not completed until shortly before A.D. 70—when the postexilic temple itself was destroyed by the Romans.

The Jews were incredulous; how could Jesus possibly accomplish in three days’ work what had already taken forty-six years and was still not finished? As the account of His trial a few years later before the Sanhedrin indicates (Matt. 26:61; Mark 14:58), the Jewish authorities completely missed the point of Jesus’ statement, incorrectly applying it to the Herodian temple. But as John points out, Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body. The sign He would give them would be far greater than simply reconstructing a destroyed building:

The sign He would give was His own resurrection, which even His disciples did not immediately understand (cf. 12:16). It was not until He was raised from the dead that His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. His death as the ultimate sacrificial Lamb would render the Jerusalem temple obsolete (cf. 4:21; Matt. 27:51); and His resurrection as the triumphant Lord would lay the foundation for a new, spiritual temple in its place—namely, the church (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19–22).

Throughout his gospel, John generally uses the singular Scripture to refer to a specific passage (cf. 7:38, 42; 10:35; 13:18; 19:24, 28, 36–37); if that is the case here, he is probably referring to Psalm 16:8–11 (cf. Acts 2:25–28; 13:35). He may, however, be making a general reference (cf. 20:9) to the Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ’s death and resurrection (cf. Luke 24:27, 44–47). In any case, it was not until after the resurrection that the disciples understood everything clearly. Only then did they make sense of this prophecy and recognize Jesus’ resurrection power as a clear indication of His deity.

JESUS PERCEPTION OF REALITY

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. (2:23–25)

These three verses serve as a bridge between the account of the cleansing of the temple and the story of Nicodemus, which immediately follows. Though brief, this section has profound implications concerning the nature of saving faith.

Jesus remained in Jerusalem for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that immediately followed. During that time, He performed a number of miracles that are not specifically recorded in Scripture (cf. 20:30; 21:25). As a result, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. They thought He might be a prophet (cf. Matt. 21:11; Luke 7:16), or even the conquering Messiah they were expecting (cf. John 6:14–15, 26).

But such faith was shallow, superficial, and disingenuous. It was not true saving faith, as John’s play on words indicates. Believed in verse 23 and entrusting in verse 24 both come from the same Greek verb, pisteuo. Though they believed in Jesus, Jesus did not believe in them; He had no faith in their faith. Jesus “regarded all belief in Him as superficial which does not have as its most essential elements the consciousness of the need for forgiveness and the conviction that He alone is the Mediator of that forgiveness” (R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel According to St. John, The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975], 65).

Although many claimed to believe, Jesus knew that mere intellectual assent proves nothing; even the demons have such faith (James 2:19). Like the seed that fell on rocky and thorny ground, those who possess such faith hear the Word, and initially receive it with joy (Matt. 13:20). But because their hearts are never truly changed, they fall away when affliction comes (v. 21), or when worldly riches beckon (v. 22).

Without question, the difference between spurious faith and saving faith is crucial. It is the difference between living faith and dead faith (James 2:17); between the wicked, who “go away into eternal punishment” and “the righteous [who enter] into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46); between those who will hear, “Well done, good and faithful slave. … Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21) and those who will hear, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).

Jesus did not embrace the false faith manifested by those who witnessed His signs, because He knew all men, and therefore did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man. He knows the true state of every heart. He saw in Nathanael the heart of an honest, true seeker (1:47); He saw in these people a superficial façade—a mere outward attraction to His spectacular signs (cf. 6:2). Genuine saving faith goes far beyond that. It demands wholehearted commitment to Jesus as the Lord of one’s life (Matt. 16:24–26; Rom. 10:9). (I discuss the nature of saving faith in my books The Gospel According to Jesus [Rev. ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994] and The Gospel According to the Apostles [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1993].)

Jesus’ lordship goes hand in hand with His deity. As the God of the universe, He is worthy to be worshiped and obeyed—reverently adored as the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Rev. 19:6; cf. Phil. 3:10–11). The three vignettes in this passage (vv. 12–25) underscore His deity with unmistakable clarity. As God He single-handedly cleansed the temple with messianic zeal; as God He accurately predicted His own resurrection; and as God He truly knew the contents of men’s hearts.

At the same time, these three accounts also picture the process of salvation. The first scene, the cleansing of the temple, graphically depicts God’s hatred of sin and impurity. The second scene, the discussion of Jesus’ resurrection, reveals that God provides new life in Christ, who “was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25). And the final scene, the shallow belief of the people, reveals that God’s provision of salvation comes only through genuine saving faith.