For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
— JOHN 17:19 —
Ruan Stander: Christ Seminary | South Africa
Jesus makes it clear that He sanctified Himself, and that He did this so that His disciples might be sanctified also. Unlike Jesus, they could not sanctify themselves but needed to be sanctified by the Father, and the Father sanctifies in truth. In John 17:17, Jesus indeed asked the Father to sanctify them in this truth, which is God’s word. Jesus called Himself the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6); truth saturates His being. Man, on the other hand, has exchanged the truth for a lie (Rom. 1:25). Man is a creature of habit; thus, we should strive to be sanctified in the truth, by cultivating habits that are conducive to our sanctification. We live in a pluralistic, postmodern society that views truth as subjective, where countless call upon some or other god, while few call on the living God, Yahweh. Scripture tells us that Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, but only those who call upon Him in truth (Psa. 145:18). This truth is Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate (Col. 2:9), and man’s only Savior (Acts 4:12). This truth is objective and exclusive (1 John 2:21; John 3:36). The passage is therefore concerned with our sanctification. And not only that of the disciples, but all who would come to believe in Jesus “through their word” (John 17:20). The purpose of our sanctification is bearing witness to the truth that Jesus is from the Father. Through our words and sanctified lives, the world will know that Jesus undeniably is: the way, the truth, and the life. Man is a creature of habit; thus, we should strive to be sanctified in the truth, by cultivating habits that are conducive to our sanctification. Are you saturated with God’s truth daily?