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Joh 2:19. Λύσατε, destroy) On account of this very deed, namely, the cleansing of the temple, they afterwards destroyed the temple of His body. Mat 21:23 [see above], Mat 21:46, “They sought to lay hands on Him;” Mat 27:40, [They that passed by reviled, saying] “Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself;” Mat 26:61, [False witnesses said, in His trial before Caiaphas] “This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.” Destroy, i.e. if you destroy: or rather, you will destroy. A similar use of the Imperative [occurs] Sir 30:9; Sir 33:26, Soothe your little son, etc. [= you will soothe],-τὸν ναόν, the temple) The body of Jesus, about to be raised again, is the temple and dwelling-place of the Godhead. Therefore Jesus is the Lord of the temple at Jerusalem, which was the type of the body of Jesus.-τοῦτον, this) There is no doubt but that Jesus supplied that which the Evangelist adds, Joh 2:21, by the employment of a nod or gesture, unobserved by the Jews.-[47] ἐγερῶ, I will raise it up) A suitable word, [both] concerning the edifice of stone, and concerning the temple of His body. It recurs at verse 22. This is a grand declaration of His, I can do what I please with the temple of My body: ch. Joh 10:17-18, “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again;” and so also I can do what I please with this temple made of stone and wood. He puts off those demanding the sign: comp. ch. Joh 8:28, “When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself:” nor, however, even in the time then being did He perform no signs; Joh 2:23, “Many believed on His name, when they saw the miracles which He did.”
[47] ἐν τρισὶν ἡμέραις, in three days) From this very time, in which it first came into the Jews’ mind to destroy the temple of Christ’s body (Mar 14:58, We heard Him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands), down to His resurrection, by which He Himself raised the temple, is accounted, even in that sense, a three days’ period, if you take one day, and that the Passover day, in this figurative language, as one year: to wit, by including in the numeration the years of the prophecy and of its completion (which years are Dion. 28 and 30).-Harm., p. 162.