Matthew 27:40 “And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
Misapplying the Word of God and casting doubt upon the Truth of Jesus Christ are timeless errors. Even, supposedly, well established Christians can misapply the Word of God. In this case, the Lord’s persecutors misapplied the Lord’s allegory; for, when the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19), He was speaking of His body as a “temple” not the actual “temple” in Jerusalem. When Bible students fail to understand that such allegories are simply used to teach with understanding, they espouse great errors that lead to false teachings and even false religions. This is why Paul told Timothy to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (II Timothy 2:15) and to “Preach the word” (I Timothy 4:2). It is absolutely critical that we both “study” and apply the “word” in its contextual meaning; for, if we take passages out of context, we are sure to error. And, error leads to confusion and discouragement among the Lord’s people. It is easy to cherry pick passages and misapply them; but, it takes time and prayerful study to learn and apply passages in their context. Especially preachers, must take the time to both “study” and “preach the word”, not our own ideas and philosophies. It is human nature to have an idea and then try to make the Word of God teach our ideas; but, sincerity and humility compels us to take the time to, with earnest prayer, learn the “word” and “preach the word”. In this case our Lord’s persecutors were “blinded” (John 12:40; Romans 11:7; II Corinthians 3:14; II Corinthians 4:4; I John 2:11); “For” they were set “to do whatsoever” the Lord’s “hand and … counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:28); that is, to Crucify our Lord by which He saved His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Being “blinded”, they had no desire to do anything more than to extract words and phrases out of context and misapply them. It is true that the Lord simply hides the truth from some folks (Matthew 13:11-15). But, let us prayerfully be as the “noble” Brethren in “Berea”; for, “they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily” (Acts 17:10-11).