kcnalp
Well-Known Member
Gee, I hope your "savior" doesn't "cease to exist again".I don't believe scriptures like Acts 17:30, 31 are lies.
When it comes to scriptures like John 2:19,21 I believe we must harmonize Jesus’ words with many other scriptures, which clearly show that God and Christ are separate persons and not equal and not tied together, along with the holy spirit, to form one god. Numerous texts show that Jesus did not raise himself from the dead, but that he was resurrected by Jehovah God his Father. (Romans 8:11; 1Corinthians 15:15; Ephesians 1:20) So how may we logically view John 2:19.
I believe the context must be examined. John 2:13-18 shows that Jesus had cleansed the literal temple at Jerusalem, routing from it those who were making it a place of merchandise, and as a result had been confronted with this question from the Jews: “What sign have you to show us, since you are doing these things?” Then in John 2:19 Jesus told them the sign, which is the basis of our question. John 2:20-22 says: “Therefore the Jews said: ‘This temple was built in forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was talking about the temple of his body. When, though, he was raised up from the dead, his disciples called to mind that he used to say this.”
This setting shows that Jesus was not talking about his physical body, but “he was talking about the temple of his body”. The temple in Jerusalem that Jesus cleansed represented not Jesus alone but also the body-members over which he is head. Just as the literal temple was not made up of one stone but many, so “the temple of his body” consists of many living stones, with Jesus as the foundation cornerstone: “You yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1Peter 2: 4-7) After the Jewish religionists rejected Christ the living stone and broke him down by death on the torture stake, on the third day thereafter Jehovah God raised him up to become the chief cornerstone of the temple of living stones then under preparation. He immediately appeared to his disciples and lifted them up out of their despondency, built them up spiritually so that they could “offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God”. That this building of “the temple of his body” started then and continued through the years that followed is shown by Peter’s use of the present tense when years afterward he said Christ’s followers “are being built up a spiritual house”.
John 2:19-21 (NKJV)
19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
21 He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Amen Jesus, YOU did it!