The Gospel of John: Temple and Christology

This chapter addresses the scholarship on the Temple in the Gospel of John. John relates Jesus to the Temple, attributing to Jesus certain features of the Temple. He does so since he uses the Temple as an explanatory model for understanding Jesus. Indeed, Jesus's role and character are explained in terms of several characteristics that are also shared by the Temple. Portraying Jesus as analogical to the Temple does not aim to show that the Temple is no longer relevant. Instead, the Temple is used as a model by which to comprehend Jesus's religious function. This “Temple Christology” provides a more flexible model that corresponds with the literary evidence. The result is a less radical relationship between Jesus and the Temple. Jesus is neither the new Temple nor a full replacement of the Temple. He is like the Temple—serving similar religious functions but certainly not all of the Temple's functions.