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Jesus twice “cleansed” the temple (actually the court of the temple) in Jerusalem by driving the merchants and moneychangers from it. The first time was near the beginning of His work (John 2:14–16) and the second was near its close (Mat. 21:12–13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45–46). It is obvious that He strongly disapproved of those practitioners and their practices.
When brethren decide they do not like some activity that is being practiced in the church building they will sometimes say, “We need to cleanse the temple” and cite these examples of the Lord. Those who object to eating a meal in the same building used for worship assemblies generally object on the ground that the church building is (as the temple was) “holy,” and that eating in it would “defile” it. Another case in point is the rather common practice of buying/selling good, true-to-the-Bible books and recordings in the church building. Is this activity parallel to that which caused the Lord to drive out the merchants and moneychangers? I say it is not, and for at least the following reasons:
- Selling at a reasonable price books and recordings that promote the Gospel is both innocent and honorable, whereas the behavior of the temple moneychangers and merchants was neither. Historians say they were charging Passover pilgrims exorbitant prices for necessary sacrificial animals and for changing their foreign money into the shekels required by the Moses’ law (Exo. 30:13; Lev. 27:25). Their abuse was so great that the Lord called them “thieves” (KJV) or “robbers” (ASV). Selling a five-hundred-page hard cover book for $18.00–$20.00 or a CD for $5.00 containing several Gospel sermons is not even exorbitant, much less “robbery.”
- One who thinks it is a “defilement of the temple” when such good materials are sold at reasonable prices on church property is greatly confused. The church building is not the temple (dwelling place) of God. God dwells not in a building made by men (Acts 7:48; 17:24), but in the people who make up His church (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 6:19–20). The church, not the church building, is God’s dwelling place.
- Since God’s temple is the church (not the building), if we would “cleanse the temple” we must cast out whatever defiles God’s people (e.g., false doctrine, immorality, etc.). If the “temple cleansers” are really earnest about that necessary work, let them join those of us who for some years have been exposing and refuting false teachers and their damnable false doctrines and practices. Let them join us in calling for the Scriptural purging of the church of those saints who have yielded to the works of the flesh or who are in adulterous marriages and refuse to repent. Here is the real “temple cleansing” that needs to be done.
No, selling good, faith-building materials on or in church property desecrates nothing sacred. This is why sound and scholarly brethren have been doing it and allowing it to be done for many years. Making good books and recordings conveniently available to members of the church actually helps keep the temple (church) undefiled (pure). If anything, we need to do not less, but more of it.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, November 30, 2014 of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
