Yohanes 2:19-22

2:19 Jesus replied, ¹  “Destroy ²  this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” 2:20 Then the Jewish leaders ³  said to him, “This temple has been under construction ⁴  for forty-six years, ⁵  and are you going to raise it up in three days?” 2:21 But Jesus ⁶  was speaking about the temple of his body. ⁷  2:22 So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture ⁸  and the saying ⁹  that Jesus had spoken.

Yohanes 12:16

12:16 (His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened, ¹⁰  but when Jesus was glorified, ¹¹  then they remembered that these things were written about him and that these things had happened ¹²  to him.) ¹³ 

Yohanes 12:33-34

12:33 (Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.) ¹⁴ 

12:34 Then the crowd responded, ¹⁵  “We have heard from the law that the Christ ¹⁶  will remain forever. ¹⁷  How ¹⁸  can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

[2:19]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[2:19]  ² tn The imperative here is really more than a simple conditional imperative (= “if you destroy”); its semantic force here is more like the ironical imperative found in the prophets (Amos 4:4, Isa 8:9) = “Go ahead and do this and see what happens.”

[2:20]  ³ tn See the note on this phrase in v. 18.

[2:20]  ⁴ tn A close parallel to the aorist οἰκοδομήθη (oikodomhqh) can be found in Ezra 5:16 (LXX), where it is clear from the following verb that the construction had not yet been completed. Thus the phrase has been translated “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years.” Some, however, see the term ναός (naos) here as referring only to the sanctuary and the aorist verb as consummative, so that the meaning would be “this temple was built forty-six years ago” (so ExSyn 560-61). Ultimately in context the logic of the authorities’ reply appears to fit more naturally if it compares length of time for original construction with length of time to reconstruct it.

[2:20]  ⁵ sn According to Josephus (Ant. 15.11.1 [15.380]), work on this temple was begun in the 18th year of Herod the Great’s reign, which would have been ca. 19 b.c. (The reference in the Ant. is probably more accurate than the date given in J. W. 1.21.1 [1.401]). Forty-six years later would be around the Passover of a.d. 27/28.

[2:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. This Greek term is frequently used as a way of referring to Jesus in the Johannine letters (cf. 1 John 2:6; 3:3, 5, 7, 16; 4:17).

[2:21]  ⁷ tn The genitive “of his body” (τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, tou swmato" autou) is a genitive of apposition, clarifying which temple Jesus was referring to. Thus, Jesus not only was referring to his physical resurrection, but also to his participation in the resurrection process. The New Testament thus records the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as all performing the miracle of Christ's resurrection.

[2:21]  sn Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. For the author, the temple is not just the building, it is Jesus’ resurrected body. Compare the nonlocalized worship mentioned in John 4:21-23, and also Rev 21:22 (there is to be no temple in the New Jerusalem; the Lord and the Lamb are its temple). John points to the fact that, as the place where men go in order to meet God, the temple has been supplanted and replaced by Jesus himself, in whose resurrected person people may now encounter God (see John 1:18, 14:6).

[2:22]  ⁸ sn They believed the scripture is probably an anaphoric reference to Ps 69:9 (69:10 LXX), quoted in John 2:17 above. Presumably the disciples did not remember Ps 69:9 on the spot, but it was a later insight.

[2:22]  ⁹ tn Or “statement”; Grk “word.”

[12:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “did not understand these things at first”; Grk “formerly.”

[12:16]  ¹¹ sn When Jesus was glorified, that is, glorified through his resurrection, exaltation, and return to the Father. Jesus’ glorification is consistently portrayed this way in the Gospel of John.

[12:16]  ¹² tn Grk “and that they had done these things,” though the referent is probably indefinite and not referring to the disciples; as such, the best rendering is as a passive (see ExSyn 402-3; R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:458).

[12:16]  ¹³ sn The comment His disciples did not understand these things when they first happened (a parenthetical note by the author) informs the reader that Jesus’ disciples did not at first associate the prophecy from Zechariah with the events as they happened. This came with the later (postresurrection) insight which the Holy Spirit would provide after Jesus’ resurrection and return to the Father. Note the similarity with John 2:22, which follows another allusion to a prophecy in Zechariah (14:21).

[12:33]  ¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:34]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”

[12:34]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[12:34]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[12:34]  ¹⁷ tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).

[12:34]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.