Matthew 27:40

40 and saying, Vath to thee [Fie to thee], that destroyest the temple of God, and in the third day buildest it again [and in the third day again buildest it]; save thou thyself; if thou art the Son of God, come down of the cross.

Matthew 27:40 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:40

And saying, thou that destroyest the temple
The Vulgate Latin, and Munster's Hebrew Gospel, read, "the temple of God"; and add "ah!" here, as in ( Mark 15:29 ) , and so Beza says it is read in a certain copy. They refer to the charge of the false witnesses against him, who misrepresenting his words in ( John 2:19 ) , declared that he gave out that he was able to destroy the temple of Jerusalem, and rebuild it in three days time; wherefore it is added,

and buildest it in three days, save thyself.
They reproach him with it, and suggest, that these were vain and empty boasts of his; for if he was able to do any thing of that kind, he need not hang upon the tree, but could easily save himself:

if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
The Jews themselves say ^F1 that the following words were said to Jesus on the cross,

``if thou be the Son of God, why dost thou not deliver thyself out of our hands?''

As Satan before them, they put an "if" upon the sonship of Christ: and seeing his followers believed in him as the Son of God, and he had owned himself to be so before the sanhedrim, they require a sign of it by his power, and to do that which they believed no mere man in his situation could do; which shows, that they had no other notion of the Son of God, but that he was a divine person: but his sonship was not to be declared by his coming down from the cross, which he could have easily effected, but by a much greater instance of power, even by his resurrection from the dead; and no other but that sign was to be given to that wicked and perverse generation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Toldos Jesu, p. 17.

Matthew 27:40 In-Context

38 Then two thieves were crucified with him, one on the right half, and one on the left half [one on the right half, and another on the left half].

39 And men that passed forth blasphemed him, moving their heads,

40 and saying, Vath to thee [Fie to thee], that destroyest the temple of God, and in the third day buildest it again [and in the third day again buildest it]; save thou thyself; if thou art the Son of God, come down of the cross.

41 Also and [the] princes of priests scorning, with scribes and elder men, said,

42 He made other men safe, he may not make himself safe; if he is [the] king of Israel, come he now down from the cross, and we believe to him;