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Compare John 8:1-2
Jesus spends a lot of his time teaching in the Temple. (After his resurrection, so do his apostles.) One might hypothesize that he went there simply because it was an open space where large crowds could be found. But his dramatically-illustrated zeal for its purity and his reference to it as “my Father’s house” strongly suggest that he genuinely revered it.
Some have claimed that the idea of a Temple has no place in Christianity. But they will find no support in the New Testament for that claim.
Quite the contrary.
Last week, for example, I taught a Sunday School lesson focused on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Much of its argument revolves around discussion of Jesus as the great high priest, performing the role in heaven that was symbolically performed by the mortal high priest in the early sanctuary. The author of Hebrews was plainly steeped in the rites of the Temple of Jerusalem, and plainly reverenced it.
Today, I taught a Sunday School lesson based on Acts 21-23, 26-28. In Acts 21:23-27, the apostle Paul, discharging an obligation late in his life, goes to the Temple — which he plainly still regards as the House of God.
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