Who or What did Christ Whip?

[Posted February 12, 2025]

Hi Mike,

Hope all is well with you, my question for you today centers around John 2:15 when Jesus is clearing out the temple.
This is one of those passages that completely divides the Christian community.

Some groups claim Jesus used the whip made of cords on both the money changers and the animals that were in the temple courtyard.

Others claim He only used the whip on the animals, not on the merchants and money changers.

Still others claim Jesus did not use the whip on people or animals, but rather simply held it above His head and waved it around in order to generate a sense of urgency.

It’s also worth noting that John is the only gospel writer who makes mention of the scourge made of small cords.

Matthew, Mark and Luke say nothing about it.

Is there any way to know for sure what Jesus did with this whip?

I only ask because Christians love to use this verse to justify using physical force against others. I want to be able to counter that argument.

Thank you always for your time and your help, and I hope to write to you again soon.

your brother, C_____

Hi C____

I have always dealt with the argument that Christ used that whip on the people who were defiling His Father’s house by simply quoting what the scriptures say:

Joh 2:13  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Joh 2:14  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
Joh 2:15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

It simply is not stated that Christ hit any person with His “scourge of small cords.” It is stated that He drove out “the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers of money and overthrew the tables”.

I can clearly understand how a person who has no faith in the consistency of scripture would use these verses in the King James and in other translations to turn Christ into a hypocrite. It does indeed appear to say that Christ with His ‘scourge of small cords’ “drove them all out, and the sheep and the oxen”. I make no claim of being a Hebrew or Greek scholar, but I do claim to be familiar with the keys to the kingdom of heaven which unlock the knowledge of how to handle the Word of God. One of those ‘keys’ is:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)
Psa 119:160  The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. (ESV)

The American Standard Version and The English Standard Version both get this verse right, but the King James, while it is generally a good version of scripture, blows it in translating Psalm 119:160:

Psa 119:160  Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever. (KJV)

Just a terrible translation.

“True from the beginning” is a far cry from “the sum of thy word.”

It is obvious, when we approach the scriptures with the understanding that Truth is only found in ‘the sum of its words’, that the King James comes up short again in translating this story of Christ cleansing the temple here in John 5.

I will cut and paste a few words by a greater scholar than I am when it comes to what the Greek really says:

…At this point we need our Greek. John 2:15 reads as:”kai poiēsas phragellion ek schoiniōn pantas exebalen ek tou ierou ta te probata kai tous boas kai tōn kollubistōn execheen ta kermata kai tas trapezas anestrepsen…***

(Prepare to get technical for a few sentences…)

“The key word here is that little te, as it defines who the pantas (“all”) are. Te is generally used as either an appending link (“and”), or an inclusive prefix (“both”).

Thus the sentence could read either:

…he drove all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen…

or:

…he drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen…”
(End Quote, Emphasis Mine)

https://mattanslow.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/who-would-jesus-whip/

Because of the principle of “The sum [not ‘some’] of thy word is Truth” (Psa 119:160) it is clear to me that the latter translation, “all… both the sheep and the oxen”, is in accord with that “sum” of Christ’s words which include these teachings:

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Mat 5:42  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Do any of those teachings sound like they are coming from a man who would beat His brother with a whip? I think not.

While it is John the Baptist is the one speaking, the scriptures still teach us… “do violence to no man”, and Christ said “the scriptures cannot be broken”, which is the another ‘key’ to understanding the scriptures. 

Here is what John told the Roman soldiers who asked him what they needed to do to be saved:

Luk 3:14  And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

Here now in John 10:35 is another ‘key to the kingdom of God’ which will always help us to properly understand scriptures when they sometimes seem difficult to understand:

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 

It simply is not consistent with the doctrines of Christ who taught us to be meek and humble and kind and to “turn to him the other cheek also”, then also teach that he violently whipped and scourged anyone in this present time:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Luk 6:29  And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

‘The sum of the Word’ leads us to believe that the scourge was for the cattle only. The fact that Christ is speaking to the sellers of doves after driving out the cattle indicate that the men involved in “making the Lord’s house a den of thieves” were still standing there so guilt ridden that they could not bring themselves to resist this righteously indignant Man. 

Here is the URL to ‘The Keys To The Kingdom’, which I consider to be one of the most profound papers I have ever written. You can also find it in the ‘Essential Reading’ section on the home page.

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-keys-to-the-kingdom-of-heaven-part-1/

It is also very instructive to note that this cleansing of His temple, follows the conversion of water into wine, which is what we should get out  of this story. Christ converts us and then He sets about to cleanse His temple, which ‘temple’ is us, of all of our sins.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

I hope this is of some help to you. This story is designed to give those who want to believe that Christ went against His own principles a reason to do so. They have not yet been given faith in the Word of God, and if there is no sign of that ‘gift’ nor of being “dragged to [Christ]” then “after the first and second admonition reject”:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [G1670: ‘helkuo’, drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

Your fellow servant,

Mike