Series: Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology
Published by Baker Academic on September 1, 2026
Genres: Academic
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Many believe that the tearing of the temple curtain means that Jesus's death gave us direct access to God. But this idea is not obvious in the Gospels themselves. What if there is a better explanation?
In this book, Adam W. Jones and J. Daniel Hays argue that God the Father tore the curtain of the temple as an act of mourning over his Son's death. This interpretation has been neglected, though it has ancient precedent. In Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, tearing clothes was a common expression of grief. And early Christian interpreters often linked this custom to the tearing of the temple curtain.
The Tearing of the Temple Curtain provides insights on ancient culture, God, grief, and how we approach Good Friday.
I have three different degrees in Christian ministry and am—mostly because of this book reviewing hobby—rather widely read in biblical studies. And even through all of that, I had never heard any explanation of the tearing of the Temple curtain as anything other than tearing down the barrier between man and God. Until now. In The Tearing of the Temple Curtain: Rediscovering its Cultural, Historical, and Theological Contexts, Ouachita Baptist University biblical scholars Adam W. Jones and J. Daniel Hays go deep into this obscure yet significant event to offer a simpler contextual reading centered on the grief of God the Father over the death of his Son.
Despite being a niche work from an academic press, part of the Studies in Scripture & Biblical Theology from Baker Academic, Jones and Hays write fairly informally. The result is a work that is relatively accessible while not shying away from academic discussion. It’s the best of both worlds: theological depth and academic rigor in a tone that feels more like friends discussing their areas of vocational expertise and not a technical manual. Two chapters are devoted to an introduction and an explanation of the typical interpretation. Four chapters then provide current and historical context. Two chapters conclude with a discussion of the loving, emotional grief of God.
The core of Jones and Hays’ argument is that, to the first century Jew, the Temple veil would not have been seen as a barrier to their relationship with God. They would not have perceived the veil tearing as the death of Jesus symbolic of the mediatorship of Jesus surpassing the mediatorship of the high priest. Rather, they point to the tearing of clothes as a symbol of grief and liken the Temple veil to the “clothes” of God.
The duo are quite successful in making their argument. They’ve won me over, anyway. However, I do wonder if they could have explored further the reasoning behind the “access” view. They do a great job tracing the history of the viewpoint, but I think more could have been done in the conversation of whether or not this is a valid interpretation even if it might not have been the immediate, strongest metaphor in the historical/cultural context. But this is really picking at specks.
What I appreciate about the book the most is the way they tie this into the emotionalism and grief of God—offering subtle pushback to the patripassianism (belief that God is emotionless) that might pervade the consensus “access” view. Personally, I think the idea that God does not express emotion to be a highly contributing factor to moving away from associating the veil tearing with grief. This cements the veil tearing and its interpretation not just as a fun academic conversation, but something that holds significant theological weight. The Tearing of the Temple Curtain invites us to consider a God who grieves, a Lord who laments, a Father who isn’t all wrath and fury but a loving Father despondent over the effect of sin.