Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
17. Sanctify ] Or, consecrate. The word expresses God’s destination of them for their work and His endowment of them with the powers necessary for their work. The word is used of God’s consecration of Jeremiah, Moses, and the chosen people (Jer 1:5; Sir 49:7 ; Sir 45:4 ; 2Ma 1:25 ). This prayer has been called “the Prayer of Consecration.”
through thy truth ] Rather, in the truth. ‘Thy’ is a gloss, rightly explaining the text, but wanting in all the best MSS. The Truth is the whole Christian revelation, the new environment in which believers are placed, and which helps to work their sanctification; just as a sickly wild plant is strengthened and changed by transplanting it to a garden.
thy word ] Literally, the word that is Thine, a mode of expression which gives prominence to the adjective. Comp. ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me,’ Joh 7:16. The Greek for ‘word’ is logos, God’s revelation as a whole, not any single utterance or collection of utterances. See on Joh 5:47.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sanctify them – This word means to render pure, or to cleanse from sins, 1Th 5:23; 1Co 6:11. Sanctification in the heart of a Christian is progressive. It consists in his becoming more like God and less attached to the world; in his getting the ascendency over evil thoughts, and passions, and impure desires; and in his becoming more and more weaned from earthly objects, and attached to those things which are unseen and eternal. The word also means to consecrate, to set apart to a holy office or purpose. See Joh 17:19; also the notes at Joh 10:36. When Jesus prayed here that God would sanctify them, he probably included both these ideas, that they might be made personally more holy, and might be truly consecrated to God as the ministers of his religion. Ministers of the gospel will be really devoted to the service of God just in proportion as they are personally pure.
Through thy truth – Truth is a representation of things as they are. The Saviour prayed that through those just views of God and of themselves they might be made holy. To see things as they are is to see God to be infinitely lovely and pure; his commands to be reasonable and just; heaven to be holy and desirable; his service to be easy, and religion pleasant, and sin odious; to see that life is short, that death is near; that the pride, pomp, pleasures, wealth, and honors of this world are of little value, and that it is of infinite importance to be prepared to enter on the eternal state of being. He that sees all this, or that looks on things as they are, will desire to be holy. He will make it his great object to live near to God and to glorify his name. In the sanctification of the soul God makes use of all truth, or of everything fitted to make a representation of things as they are to the mind. His Word states that and no more; His Spirit and His Providence do it. The earth and the heavens, the seasons, the sunshine and the rain, are all fitted to teach us his goodness and power, and lead us to him. His daily mercies tend to the same end, and afflictions have the same design. Our own sickness teaches us that we are soon to die. The death of a friend teaches us the instability of all earthly comforts, and the necessity of seeking better joys. All these things are fitted to make just representations to the mind, and thus to sanctify the soul. As the Christian is constantly amid these objects, so he should be constantly growing in grace, and daily and hourly gaining new and deeper impressions of the great truths of religion.
Thy word is truth – All that thou hast spoken – that is, all that is contained in the Bible. All the commands and promises of God; His representations of His own character and that of man; His account of the mission and death of His Son; of the grave, the resurrection, judgment, and eternity, all tend to represent things as they are, and are thus fitted to sanctify the soul. We have here also the testimony of the Saviour that the revelation which God has given is true. All that God has spoken is true, and the Christian should rejoice and the sinner should tremble. See Psa 19:7-14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 17:17
Sanctify them through Thy truth.
The sanctification of the saints
I. AN OBJECT DEAR TO CHRIST.
1. He prayed for this on earth. Prayer is always the sign of earnest desire for anothers good: how earnest, then, must have been that desire which could bid back the onrush of sorrow from Gethsemane, &c.
2. He died for this upon the cross (Joh 17:19). Christ died for something more than the erasure of the penalty due to man from heavens statute book. Christ had His eye on mens recovery to purity and truth, and their entire consecration to God (Gal 1:4; Eph 5:26; Tit 2:14).
3. He pleads for it in heaven (Heb 7:25).
II. A GIFT SOUGHT FROM THE FATHER.
1. The reason of this
(1) Every good and perfect gift is from Him (Jam 1:17).
(2) The work of making holy belongs essentially to the realm of the supernatural (Exo 31:13; Lev 21:23; Eze 37:28; Zec 4:6; Act 20:32; Jud 1:1).
(3) The grace of purity God distinctly desires to see reproduced in man 1Th 4:3).
(4) The gift of holiness He has expressly included in the promise (IsaJe 31:33; Hos 14:5; Zec 10:12).
2. The comfort of this. If God be the Author and Giver of sanctification, then it must be
(1) Freely given (Jam 1:5).
(2) Faithfully pursued (1Th 5:24).
(3) Successfully accomplished (Php 1:6).
III. A WORK EFFECTED IN THE TRUTH.
1. The knowledge of it. Hence growth in grace keeps pace with growth in the knowledge of Christ (2Pe 3:18), and that knowledge identified with eternal life (verse 2).
2. The belief of it. Sanctification and belief of the truth are at least coordinate if the former does not spring from the latter (2Th 2:13), since the word of God effectually works in them who believe (1Th 2:13).
3. The love of it. Before truth can exercise its rightful sway over the life, it must be enshrined in the affections. Hence love of truth is essential to salvation (Psa 119:47), and the absence of it the cause of judgment in them that perish (2 Thessalonians if. 10).
4. The obedience of it (1Pe 1:22; Rom 6:17). The new life of grace ever moves in the sphere of truth.
IV. A QUALIFICATION REQUISITE FOR CHRISTIAN WORK (verses 18, 19). As Christ had a mission, so have His saints.
1. Resting on a similar authority, as the Father sent Christ, so Christ sent His apostles (Joh 20:21; Mat 10:16), and His followers now Mat 5:16; Mat 28:18; Php 2:15).
2. Possessing a similar object. As Christs mission aimed at the worlds salvation, so does theirs. As Christ revealed the Fathers name, so under Him they are to bear Christs name (and in that the Fathers) unto the Act 9:15; 2Co 3:3).
3. Demanding a similar consecration. As Christ was sanctified by the Father and sent into the world (Psa 40:6-8; Heb 10:5-7), so can Christs servants only discharge their mission in proportion as they are consecrated to the will of their Leader.
Lessons:
1. Is sanctification a matter of interest to us?
2. Are we asking God to begin, carry on, and complete it?
3. Are we bringing our souls into close and frequent contact with the truth?
4. Are we remembering the mission for which we are sanctified? (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
The sanctification of the disciples
I. THE FORCE OF THIS PRAYER. Sanctification in its simplest meaning is the setting apart of a person or a thing from a common to a holy use. In relation to men it is the weaning from self, sense, and sin, and the devotion of head, heart, and hands to the service and glory of God. The blessing asked for involved
1. Moral transformation. There were elements of evil in their nature to be rooted up, principles of pride to be overthrown, prejudices to be subdued, and selfishness to be destroyed. The economy in which they had been trained dealt with sanctification in an outward sense; but Christ turned their thoughts from such symbolic consecration to the sanctification of their thoughts, desires, and affections. This work was already begun in them–the expressions used by our Lord regarding them inform us of this fact–but they were not completely sanctified.
2. Official consecration. They were to be chosen vessels, meet for She Masters use. The official consecration rests upon the moral, and this is secured through the truth of God. Mere ecclesiastical ordination is valueless, where it is not based on personal holiness, and where it is not preceded and accompanied by a spiritual consecration to the service of Christ in the gospel.
II. THE MEANS OF THIS BLESSING. Through Thy truth. We are not to understand that Gods dealings in providence have not a sanctifying influence (Heb 12:6). David, and many after him, could say, It is good for me that I have been afflicted. Yet it is only as the strokes of affliction make the truth more impressive, that they exercise a sanctifying power. Mere trouble has no natural tendency to purify. It simply puts men into a position suitable for thought and reflection, so that the living word of God is brought more fully to bear on the soul. The truth of God sanctifies
1. By the discoveries which it makes. Light is ever pure and purifying. Where there is ignorance of God and Divine things, there can be no true purity of heart. Gods Word. It reveals Gods grace (2Co 4:6), our fallen and ruined condition, and brings life and immortality to light. Converse with these truths must tend to weaken the power of sin, and withdraw the heart from the dominion of the world.
2. By the motives which it conveys. There is not a motive which can touch the human heart, whether of love, gratitude, or holy desire, that is not conveyed in the truth of God, and brought to bear on men through the doctrine of the Cross.
3. By the authority it exercises. To the Christian all duty may be summed up in the one grand duty of imitating Christ and walking in Him. The gospel comes to us with the tender gentleness and majestic persuasiveness of infinite love, and says, Be ye followers of God as dear children.
4. By the prospects it unfolds (1Jn 3:3). (J. Spence, D. D.)
Our Lords prayer for His peoples sanctification
I. WHAT HE ASKED. Sanctify them. By this He means
1. Dedicate them to Thy service. Such must be the meaning of the word when we read, For their sakes I sanctify Myself. In the Lords ease it cannot mean purification from sin, but consecration to the fulfilment of the Divine purpose. Lo, I come to do Thy will. Under Jewish law the tribe of Levi was ordained to the service of the Lord, instead of the firstborn Num 8:17). Out of the tribe of Levi one family, Aaron and his sons, were sanctified to the priesthood (Lev 8:30). A certain tent was sanctified to the service of God, and hence it became a sanctuary; and the vessels that were therein, the fire, bread, oil, animals, were all sanctified Num 7:1). None of these things could be used for any other purpose than the service of Jehovah. We are not the worlds, else might we be ambitious; we are not Satans, else might we be covetous; we are not our own, else might we be selfish. We are bought with a price, and hence we are His by whom the price is paid.
2. Those who belonged to God were separated from others. There was a special service for the setting-apart of priests, dedicated places and vessels. The Sabbath-day, which the Lord hath sanctified, is set apart from the rest of time. The Lord would have those who are dedicated to Him to be separated from the rest of mankind. For this purpose He brought Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and Israel out of Egypt. The Lord saith of His chosen, This people have I formed for Myself. Before long this secret purpose is followed by the open call, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, &c. The Church of Christ is to be a chaste virgin, wholly set apart for the Lord Christ: His own words concerning His people are these, They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Those who are sanctified in this sense have ceased to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; they have ceased to run with the multitude to do evil; they are not conformed to this present evil world. There are some, in these apostate days, who think that the Church cannot do better than to come down to the world to acquire her culture, and conquer the world by conformity to it. This is contrary to Scripture. The more distinct the line between him that feareth God and him that feareth Him not, the better all round. It will be a black day when the sun itself is turned into darkness. When the salt has lost its savour the world will rot with a vengeance.
3. This word means also the making of the people of God holy. Holiness is more than purity. It is not sufficient to be negatively clean; we need to be adorned with all the virtues. If ye be merely moral, how does your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? We ought to reach unto a life and a kingdom of which the mass of mankind know nothing, and care less. This prayer of our Lord is most necessary, for Without holiness
(1) No man shall see the Lord.
(2) We shall be unfit for service.
(3) We cannot enjoy the innermost sweets of our holy faith.
II. FOR WHOM HE ASKS IT. Not for the world outside. This would not be a suitable prayer for those who are dead in sin. Our Lord referred to the company who were already saved.
1. These chosen ones were sanctified, but only to a degree. Justification is perfect the moment it is received; but sanctification is a matter of growth.
2. They were to be the preachers and teachers of their own and succeeding generations. How shall a holy God send out unholy messengers? An unsanctified minister is an unsent minister. Only in proportion as you are sanctified can you hope for the power of the Holy Spirit to work with you, so as to bring others to the Saviours feet. A whole host may be defeated because of one Achan in the camp; and this is our constant fear.
3. Furthermore, our Lord was about to pray that they all might be one; and for this holiness is needed. Why are we not one? Sin is the great dividing element.
4. Moreover, our Lord finished His prayer by a petition that we might all be with Him, that we may behold His glory. Full sanctification is essential to this. Shall the unsanctified dwell with Christ in heaven? Shall unholy eyes behold His glory?
III. OF WHOM HE ASKS IT.
1. Our Saviour calls God Holy Father, and it is the part of the holy God to create holiness; while a holy Father can only be the Father of holy children, for like begets like. This santification is a work of God from its earliest stage.
2. The truth alone will not sanctify a man. We may maintain an orthodox creed, and it is highly important that we should, but if it does not touch our heart and influence our character, what is the value of our orthodoxy?
3. Every work of the Spirit of God upon the new nature aims at our sanctification. Yea, all the events of Providence around us work towards that one end; for this our joys and our sorrows are sacred medicines by which we are cured of the disease of nature, and prepared for the enjoyment of perfect spiritual health. All that befalls us on our road to heaven is meant to fit us for our journeys end.
IV. HOW SANCTIFICATION IS TO BE WROUGHT IN BELIEVERS. Observe how God has joined holiness and truth together. There has been a tendency of late to divide truth of doctrine from truth of precept. Men say that Christianity is a life and not a creed: this is only a part truth. Christianity is a life which grows out of truth. No holy life will be produced in us by the belief of falsehood. Good works are the fruit of true faith, and true faith is a sincere belief of the truth. But what is the truth? Is the truth that which I imagine to be revealed to me by some private communication–by voices, dreams, and impressions? No; Gods word to us is in Holy Scripture. All the truth that sanctifies men is in Gods Word. This being so, the truth which it is needful for us to receive is evidently fixed. You cannot change Holy Scripture. Learn, then
1. How earnestly you ought to search the Scriptures.
2. The one point of failure to be most deeply regretted would be a failure in the holiness of our Church members. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christian sanctification
I. ITS NATURE
1. The original meaning of the word is to set apart to God; and this is its ordinary meaning in the Old Testament. We mean by it to make holy, its frequent meaning in the New. So, then, sanctification may describe either the purpose or the process of the Christian life.
2. It is easy to see how the first meaning passes naturally and necessarily into the other. Perfect consecration would be absolute holiness.
(1) There is no native holiness in man or angel apart from conformity to God and obedience to His will. God alone is holy in and of Himself; the source of our sanctity, like the spring of our life, is in Him.
(2) On the other hand, consecration is the sinners way to holiness. God claims our devotion, and our transgressions do not relax our obligation to be His. Nor must a sense of our unworthiness hinder our response. His purpose is by acceptance of the unworthy to make them worthy. Thus under the Old Testament things having no moral character become holy when given up to Him. The purpose of a mans life determines the character of that life. The temple sanctifieth the gold, and the altar the gift. Gods service hallows the man who gives himself up to it.
3. It was to impress on His disciples the connection between consecration and sanctification that Christ spoke of sanctifying Himself.
(1) In an important sense our sanctification can only be contrasted with His. At no part of His life was He holier than at another. He grew in wisdom, &c., but not in holiness. The child Jesus was as pure in spirit as the man; and His devotion as perfect in the Temple as on Calvary.
(2) But in an equally important sense Christs sanctification is the example and motive of ours. We may not be able to do as He did the Fathers work, but in the measure in which we are devoted to God we may have His joy fulfilled in us. We may not be able to consecrate ourselves to God with an intelligence as clear and a purpose as single as was His; but we can be His with a loyalty and love like that with which the disciples followed Christ. And in the measure in which we do this will the energy and sanctity of Christs life be reproduced in us.
II. ITS MEANS. The truth of God.
1. The perfect devotion of Christ to the truth is our warrant for expecting sanctification by it. It was His inspiration and joy, His safeguard against temptation, and His support in the agony of the Cross. What results may we not expect from that which called out such a passion and loyalty in the Saviour? If we could feel the truth as He felt it our lives would be like His. The sanctifying power of the truth explains His satisfaction that He has brought His disciples into some acquaintance with it.
2. It is far too narrow an interpretation to say that by truth He meant to contrast inward spiritual sanctification with the formal ceremonial sanctifications of the Jewish law. Ceremonialism is not the only unreality of which Christians are in danger. We need to be guarded against identifying sanctity with an exalted state of feeling, or supposing that its energy lies in our own resolves. There was no lack of elevated devotion and firm resolve in those who here were ready to go with Him to prison and death, and we know the result. But the truth which Christ had imparted to them abode, the seed of a higher life, and the power of their recovery. Not self-contemplation nor self-culture is the way to holiness, but the contemplation of the living word of the gospel.
3. Holiness is conformity to the will of God, and that will is sure to become supreme over the character of Him who accepts it. Think of the educating power of truth. The man who studies historic truth becomes a historian, his mind being moulded into the historic type. The student of science becomes quick to apprehend natural causes and to trace the operation of natural law; so he who surrenders himself to the gospel will become a Christian man, his life being stamped with a Christian character, and owning the inspiration of God. It is not we who hold the truth, but the truth that holds us.
4. Consider, too, the confirmation of faith which every true believer is continually receiving in the practical experience of life. The scientist verifies his theories by experiment; if his theory is right, the experiment turns out as he expected. So with the statesman. We, too, who make the great venture of faith, find that Christs promises are fulfilled. He tells us that by believing in Him we shall have remission; we believe and are saved. He says, In the world ye shall have tribulation, &c. We believe, and the maxims of the world loose their hold upon us, its satisfactions lose their charm, and its fear dies away. The experience of the whole Church has endeared and confirmed the doctrine of Christian sanctification.
III. ITS SPHERE–the world (Joh 17:18).
1. As antagonistic (Joh 17:11-14).
2. As the object of a mission. We are not here by sad mischance or inevitable accident. As Thou hast sent Me, &c. The lessons of Christs consecration have to be repeated in ours. The Church is His body, the direct channel through which the saving power of the gospel is to flow in upon the world. This mission helps to explain the largeness of Christs promises and of the Churchs privileges. We can never apprehend the meaning of the Christian calling when we contemplate simply the perfection of individual believers; we must ponder also the Divine influence we are to diffuse as salt, light, cities on a hill.
3. As thus helpful in developing Christian character.
(1) Antagonism is needed to build up a manly piety. Truths easily acquiesce in lose all the power of truth. We do not feel the energy of our faith save as we have to defend it. Where would be the room for the exercise of meekness, patience, self-sacrifice in a society when all was favourable to us?
(2) Large acquaintance with the activities of life provide us with the means of spiritual advancement. Christian experience is but human experience interpreted and controlled by Christian faith. We must look the world in the face, as Christ did, aware of the struggle before us, but with an open heart of sympathy ready to catch the spirit and learn the lessons of the times. It is only as we do His work in the world that we shall be kept from the evil. Christian usefulness goes hand in hand with spiritual advancement. Growth in sanctification, like all growth, is not alone the development of force from within, but the appropriation of element from with-out. To this end all things are ours. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Consecration
(Text and Joh 17:19)
I. THE SAVIOURS PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION. For their sakes, &c.
1. Here you have the motive of Calvary and of all that Christ does–the production of spiritual character. Other motives there are and other results. In the Cross Christ shares and so ends the curse; destroys estrangement, and brings us nigh; gives the consolation of life and death; reveals God. But the main thing is here. We are not delivered from sin till we are enfranchised from its power. Forgiveness sets us at liberty for salvation. It is not where we are in this world or the next, but what we are, that is the main thing.
2. The style of character that Christ aims at reaching–consecration. Now hardly any one thinks of it.
(1) The whole object of many is to become faultless, and they may pursue this end as selfishly as any other, in order to reach complacency. But you gain but little if you merely destroy your faults. Many who plume themselves upon reaching the sinless state have but little to boast of, for their virtues are simply vices, tied like Samsons foxes, by the tail.
(2) Not mere self-culture, to Which others direct their energies, the development of the easier and pleasanter virtues, but self-surrender is what Christ wants, every faculty laid on the altar, the heart alert to serve its God. And what is this but the service of man? What you do to the least of mankind you do to the greatest God. Live for another and your life expands. The greatest of all achievements is when we give ourselves to God, not saying that anything we have is our own.
3. That they may be consecrate as He is consecrate. The word never had its full meaning till Christ used it here. It means all the stooping to Bethlehem; the spirit that accepted Calvary is what Christ calls consecration. There is no believer in man like Jesus. He expects us to have the same mind that was in Him. Gods life is self-sacrifice; and in the degree in which we are lifted up into that life, that character marks our lives, and Christs aim is fulfilled. But in the degree in which we are void of that, we are void of the essential element of the Christian life.
II. THE INSTRUMENT THROUGH WHICH CHRIST EXPECTS THIS CHARACTER TO BE DEVELOPED–the truth.
1. None of you find fault with the word being put here, but you would not have put it here. We would have put grace or Holy Spirit, some word indicating a dynamic energy changing the soul. But truth seems to so work through the mere intellect that it hardly occurs to us to look at it as the secret of consecration. The fact is we are indifferent to truth. Our more orthodox brethren think that we have got enough of it, and need not go on investigating; are rather afraid what the truth of science may bring out, and Biblical criticism constrain us to believe; shrink from its investigation lest something may turn out to be true that would not be helpful. And our broader brethren are equally satisfied with the mist on the face of things, not pursuing to definite conclusions the light with which God visits them.
2. Now Christ believes in truth very wonderfully. He utters the paradox that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, because He guides into all truth. None but Christ would have said that. We think the Comforter is He who gives sweet illusions and hides naked realities. Nay, naked reality is consolation of the deepest kind. Here Christ is on the same line. Truth is the great sanctifier. There is no ray of truth that ever came from the Father of lights that does not hallow the heart on which it falls. It is not make believe that will give you sanctity.
(1) The truth about God. Every attribute you behold engages your love, quickens your trust, makes you wish to serve Him.
(2) The truth about Christ, His work, love, humanity, Godhead, intercession, &c., is all quickening.
(3) The truth about man. Oh, if we could have it, and see man in Gods light–something lovable in the worst, something saveable in the lowest–how it would take away our despair, engage our service, quicken ourlove. Every error of life springs from an error of thought. A lie is the root of all evil.
III. THE POWER THAT IMPARTS THE SANCTIFYING IS GOD. Has not this been lost sight of? What we want is God in us. It might have been thought that Christ should have said, That they may consecrate themselves. No, we can only get the hallowing truth from God. Who else can teach it? Not Biblical dictionaries or revival hymns. He who inspired the truth must Himself interpret it. (R. Glover.)
Sanctification through the truth
I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SANCTIFICATION AND TRUTH.
1. In the Old Testament sanctification is usually, although not always, external; in the New it is pre-eminently internal. The supreme self-consecration of the will of Jesus on the cross fixes the idea of Christian sanctity. Of this sanctification the instrument is truth. By truth Christ means a body of facts having reference to God and the highest interests of men. The truth differs from opinion in that it does not admit of contradiction, and it also differs from large districts of knowledge in that it refers to a particular subject matter. In one sense all fact is Gods truth. Facts of physiology, history, mathematics, are parts of that body of facts which are in harmony with and issue from the Master of this universe; and the conquest of any one truth on any matter has a moral value. But no man is sanctified by the study of the differential calculus, or the spots on the surface of the sun as such; and unless he brings to those studies a disposition to study the Author of the universe through the works of His hands the result will be purely intellectual. But this disposition will make all research sanctifying.
2. It is important to insist on this connection between truth and high moral improvement in view of the idea that morality is independent of religious doctrine, and that, consequently, what a man believes is of little importance. But can morality be in the long run obeyed, unless some doctrine be revealed as to the origin and authority of the law? No doubt the truth of the moral teaching of the decalogue is attested by the necessities of social life; but this is because the author of revelation is the author of society. But if morality had to make its own way, would it hold its own by virtue of those necessities? Here and there you might, no doubt, have real excellence divorced, if not from any creed, at least from the true creed–as in a Seneca, an Antoninus, an Epictetus, but how would it fare with the people? Is it not, taking the average, the rule that a mans morality tallies with his creed? For what is moral excellence but good living, the proper government of the conduct, affections, and will? What is at the bottom of this? The sense of obligation? But obligation to what and to whom? This question cannot be answered in the same way by a man who does, and by a man who does not, accept the faith of Christ. A man who believes in a philosophy which makes man his own centre will have a different idea of morality from the man whose centre is God. The two, e.g., will conceive quite differently of such a virtue as humility. In short, human beings are so constituted that their moral improvement is bound up with the convictions they entertain respecting God and their origin and destiny.
II. HOW THE TRUTH SANCTIFIES.
1. By putting before us an ideal of sanctity. The man of action, like the artist, needs an ideal. Outside of revelation there have been such ideals, but they have been vague and varying, and have failed to supply the demands of even the natural conscience. But in Christ we possess a perfect ideal of sanctity; and by giving the record of one life spotless and consecrated the truth affects thousands for good in degrees which fall short of sanctification; and it sanctifies those who, with their eyes fixed on this typical form of excellence, ask earnestly for the Holy Spirit, whose work it is to take of the things of Jesus, and to show or give them to His own.
2. By stimulating hope. It gives every man a future. Where there is no such hope sanctity is impossible. A certain amount of high moral culture is possible, from a perception of the importance of certain virtues. But sanctity implies concentration of purpose, and this is impossible without a distinct goal and a reasonable prospect of attaining it. It may be argued that it is a nobler thing to cultivate virtue for its own sake; but the reward of goodness is not something distinct from goodness. In obeying moral truth in the form of duty we are obeying moral truth; in the personal form we name God. I will be thy exceeding great reward. Spiritual work is its own pay, and the eternal reward is but the anticipation of the satisfaction which arises in doing it. But granting all this, He who made us knows that in our weaker moments we need that leverage of hope which His revelation supplies. The horizon of time is too narrow to supply any adequate object. If in this life only we have Christ, &c. But let a man be begotten unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus, and he has with him a motive power which will make him at least desire to be holy. Every man that has this hope in him, &c.
3. As being a revelation of the love of God. Love has a power of making men holy. Hence the power loving men and women have over the depraved. Now revelation is the unfolding of Divine love, and the measure of that love is the death of Christ. A revelation of justice may produce despair, but a revelation of love which respects justice takes the heart captive. Sanctify is the response which the heart makes to unmerited mercy.
Conclusion:
1. This connection between the truth and sanctification is not a theory, but the experience of every Christian in some degree.
2. If we know anything of the sanctifying power of truth we should desire that others may know it too. (Canon Liddon.)
Sanctification through the truth
Here is
I. A COMMENDATION OF THE WORD OF GOD. If we could suppose a man saying, It is not Gods word! It is not the truth! we have an answer in the words of Christ: He declares it to be the truth of God; and we may safely suppose that if it were not so, He would have told us. But the Scriptures areal. Professedly the truth. We might here direct our attention to the whole of the Scriptures; and remark on the unity of design kept up by so many men writing in different ages, and without the possibility of concerting their plans. We might appeal to the predictions, and their fulfilment–to the promises, and their accomplishment–to the various miracles wrought, by which nature was called in to attest its truth. People may say that there are difficulties in the way of the Christian faith; but there are a thousand times more difficulties in the way of not believing. From all this we might say, without looking at its internal evidence, its moral effects, Thy Word is truth.
2. Perfectly the truth.
(1) Its doctrines are perfectly adapted to man, and to the whole of man–to all his circumstances, to all his obligations. They enlighten his understanding, form his judgment, and enrich his heart. Here is pardon for his guilt–righteousness for his unworthiness–purity for his depravity–strength for his weakness.
(2) It has in it a perfect adaptation to the whole state of man: it attends him through life; it visits him in death; it accompanies him to the grave; it furnishes him with glorious anticipations; it goes with him to the bar of God, and into the eternal world.
3. The most important truth. Other things are true; a person who reads of the heavenly bodies or studies natural philosophy and what is made known may be all true. But all these are truths of an inferior description. The Scriptures place us in immediate contact with God and all that relates to time and to eternity.
4. Independent, majestic, all commanding truth: that is, truth connected with a kingdom which is not of this world, which reduces men to a level with each other, with which man has no interference. It comes from God; it contains not the sentiments of Moses, of the prophets, &c.
it is the Word of God.
5. The only truth. Men may question its truth and excellency, but none have ever attempted to bring the Koran or the Shasters and place by its side! No; it is like Aarons rod, and will swallow up all their enchantments. No; they who would deprive us of this truth would leave us without any communication from God!
II. THE IMPLICATION WHICH THE TEXT CONTAINS. An agency is implied here–without which the means would be vain. This agency is spoken of in the preceding chapter as the Spirit of truth. He is so
1. On account of His inspiration of the truth. Prophecy came not in old time, &c.
2. As He carries on His general operations by revelation. We have been acquainted with man in all the various stages of civilization, but we have never seen anything like sanctification where there is no revelation. Some persons, when they speak of missions, are very apt to say, Oh, when the Lords time to evangelize the nations is come, He can do it! Yes; and He will do it by His own means–by His Word of truth.
3. On account of the Holy Scriptures being the standard by which He works. He does not lead into fancies and conjectures; but brings us to this standard, that we may judge whether what we have received is the truth or not. Many suppose that to depend on the Spirits influence leads to wild and enthusiastic imaginations; but it is to the truth that He leads.
III. THE END DESIGNED TO BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THE MINISTRY OF THIS DIVINE WORD. Three ideas are conveyed. 1: Separation. It calls a man from his former purposes and pursuits. Man, by nature, is a violator of Gods law; this is taught him with the greatest effect by the Word of God. The Word of God is quick and powerful, &c. It leads him to exclaim, What shall I do? Where shall I flee? And then the Word says, Come out from among them, and be ye separate. He comes out, asks for a place of safety, seeks provision for his soul, and through the Word finds repentance and remission of his sins.
2. Purity. Infidels in general have bowed respectfully to the purity of the Bible. It would be easy to prove that every part of this book–its doctrines, its promises, its precepts, have Holiness to the Lord written upon them. But I would rather show how the Word of God sanctifies.
(1) By its realization. Whoever believes the Word of God, and participates of the truth as it is in Jesus, is brought into a new state.
(2) By its associations. It brings the mind into contact with its God, and this cannot but purify.
(3) By its teaching about sin and salvation.
(4) By the end it sets before us–Gods glory in this life, and heaven in the life to come. He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself.
3. Designation. Christians are set apart
(1) To dignified and important characters. When God says to sinners, Come out from among them, and be ye separate; He says also, I will be a Father to you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters.
(2) To most interesting services. To support the cause of truth; to live for the truth.
(3) To particular trials.
(4) To special and wonderful deliverances.
(5) To immortality and eternal life. (Isaiah Birt.)
Sanctification through the truth
I. THE NECESSITY OF SANCTIFICATION–inasmuch as
1. It forms part of salvation which is not merely deliverance from sin and its punishment, but deliverance from its power and dominion, to a resemblance of the Divine nature.
2. It is corresponding to the Divine character. There is no view of God more evident than that He is a God of holiness; that sin is that abominable thing which He bates.
3. God commands it. This is to be found in every part of the Divine record.
4. It evidences our faith and union to Christ. Faith without purity is vain.
5. It is for the advancement of Gods glory and the interests of Christs kingdom. It is not to be expected that anything but a holy Christian can be beneficial.
6. It is necessary for the peace of our minds. Without purity there can be no peace.
7. It qualifies us for the heavenly kingdom, We must be like God if we would enjoy a hereafter.
II. SANCTIFICATION TO BE REAL MUST BE
1. Universal. It must extend to the whole man, to the thoughts, words, and actions, to the affections and desires of the heart, and to the outward conduct. It is not for us to say, I am partly sanctified. The work of the Spirit of God is not confined to this part or that, but the whole man is brought into subjection to Christ.
2. Progressive. It proceeds from small beginnings to a great increase. It is just like a grain of mustard seed, scarcely perceptible at first, but it goes on till it becomes a great tree. It is thus that it operates on the heart and mind; upon the whole outward, as well as upon the whole inward man.
III. SANCTIFICATION IS GODS WORK. We cannot bring a clean thing out of an unclean. It is His work, not merely at the commencement: the Great Artificer must be at the laying of the foundation stone; and not only so, but superintending and assisting to the close, from the first to the last, through all the intermediate steps, till we arrive at the fulness of the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus–till we be translated into the world of purity, where no sin is to be found. This is shown by Gods Word, and the experience of the people of God. They know that their own efforts are fruitless and unavailing unless God be with them.
IV. GOD SANCTIFIES BY THE TRUTH. The truth has a tendency to sanctify
1. By the discoveries it makes to us. Where there is ignorance of Divine things there cannot be much purity. It reveals
(1) Gods character in a way fitted to solemnize the mind.
(2) The whole truth of our fallen and lost condition, and responsibility, and weakness, and guilt, and condemnation.
(3) The all-sufficiency of Christ, and His finished salvation.
(4) The Spirit–His sanctifying influences, and of the means of our being brought under their power.
(5) That the pure in heart alone shall see God, and that without holiness no man shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Now no thinking being can ponder all this without feeling something of the influence that these truths are fitted to produce.
2. By the motives it presents to us. It appeals
(1) To our sense of right.
(2) To our ambition for dignity.
(3) To our fears.
(4) To our hopes.
(5) To our gratitude.
(6) To our love.
3. By the examples it exhibits to us. It was customary with the ancient philosophers to have the walls of their schools adorned with the images of the illustrious in former times, that in contemplating them their disciples might be led to admire their originals, and be stimulated by their exertions and attainments, and led to transcribe the graces by which they were adorned into their own characters. And we have recorded in the pages of inspiration the lives of several of Gods people for the same reason.
Conclusion:
1. Are we using this word for the purpose of sanctification?
2. What degree of sanctification do you possess? (T. Brown, D. D.)
Sanctification by means of the truth
I. THE BLESSING FOR WHICH CHRIST INTERCEDED–sanctification. This work is
1. Divine. The Holy Spirit implants the first principle of holiness in the soul, and by His continued influences it is maintained and strengthened. Not by works of righteousness, &c.
2. Internal. The chief seat of mans moral disease is the heart. It is necessary that these springs of action should be purified before true holiness can be exhibited in the life.
3. Practical. The heart being changed, corresponding effects will be seen in the conduct. Holy principles will lead to holy practices.
4. Progressive. It is compared to the progress of light. The path of the just, &c. At one period the Christian may resemble the tender blade; at another, the ear; till, under Divine influence, he appears as the full corn in the ear, ripened for glory. But though the work of sanctification is progressive it is not always uniform. There are seasons when the path of the Christian is like the sun in a dark and cloudy day, and others when it appears bright and cheerful. Sometimes he may resemble the corn checked by the frost of winter, and at others the same corn revived by the gentle showers and warmer influences of the returning spring.
5. Will eventually be complete in the happy abode of the spirits of just men made perfect.
II. THE MEANS BY WHICH SANCTIFICATION IS PROMOTED.
1. It is by the Word of truth that the work of sanctification is commenced. By this the mind is first enlightened and the heart renewed. The entrance of it giveth light, and while it enlightens it animates and purifies.
2. The Word of God is the perfect standard of holiness. It presents a right rule of action, adapted to every period and circumstance in human life.
(1) All its doctrines are calculated to promote holiness. Are the people of God from the beginning chosen to salvation? It is through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Are they called? It is with a holy calling. Are they reconciled to God by the death of His Son? It is that they may be presented holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight. Will they eventually be glorified? They will receive an inheritance among them that are sanctified.
(2) The precepts of the Word of God are in harmony with its doctrines. As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy.
(3) To encourage us in the pursuit of holiness the promises of Gods Word are given. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, &c. Having therefore these promises, &c.
3. The Word of truth presents most powerful motives to the pursuit of holiness. It appeals to the best feelings of the renewed heart. The love of Christ shed abroad in the heart renders sacrifice easy and duty delightful.
Conclusion: We may learn from the subject
1. The absolute necessity of holiness.
2. The importance of acquiring correct and enlarged views of Divine truth, and of earnestly seeking the influences of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the mind and to sanctify the heart. The Word of truth and the Spirit of truth are inseparably connected.
3. The importance of self-examination, and the awful condition of the unsanctified professor. (Congregational Remembrancer.)
Thy Word is truth.–By truth is meant that which sustains, answers expectation, and never disappoints; which is ever found to be consistent with reality. Falsehood or error, on the other hand, is that which is empty, vain. It does not sustain; it disappoints, and does not correspond with the real.
1. The truth concerning the external world, its phenomena and laws, is that which represents what really is, what may be relied upon.
2. So with the truth concerning the internal world of mind.
3. The truth concerning God.
4. The truth concerning our relation to God. By the word of God is meant
I. ANY REVELATION OF GOD. A word is a revelation, an outward manifestation of thought. In this sense creation is a word of God. And all that it makes known of Him–His ways, character, will–is truth. It accords exactly with what God is, and what it teaches may therefore be relied on. The world is not a phantasm, but what it reveals itself to be, and never disappoints those who rely upon its teachings. The foundation of this reality is that it is Gods word, and must be studied as such.
II. THE REVELATION OF GOD IN THE SCRIPTURES. In that sense the text means that the Scriptures are true. All they teach concerning God, man, the Person and work of Christ, the future life, &c., is true. Everything conforms to what is real, and may be relied on. Those who assume the Scriptures to be true, and act upon them, will attain the end they promise. Those who assume that what they teach is false, and act accordingly, will find out their mistake. Conclusion: It is an unspeakable blessing
1. To know what is truth and where it may be found.
2. To have the truth made accessible to us. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
Gods Word Truth
1. This is one of Christs many testimonies to the integrity of the Scriptures. What is the value of that testimony.
(1) Does He speak as man? If so He was in a better position for knowing the truth of the Old Testament than modern critics; and if He knew, as they profess to know, that the ancient record is partly fictitious, then this wholesale authentication is an impeachment of His own integrity. If He did not know, and accepted the truth of the Scriptures on trust, then He was credulous and forfeits our confidence in Him as the supreme Teacher and Guide. But His fearless championship of truth, by lip and life and death, forbids us to suppose that He said, Thy Word is truth without good grounds, and what He believed we may safely hold.
(2) But He spoke as Divine; and if the Word of God were not truth, as of so many other matters, He would have told us. How believers in Christs divinity can reject this testimony is marvellous.
2. The Bible is not simply true, but the truth, and embraces under the promise of the Spirit of Truth, New and Old Testament alike. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by Him; He guided the apostles into all truth. Gods Word–I. HAS ITS ORIGIN IN TRUTH. God is its author. He knows everything, has no interests to serve in perverting the truth, and by the laws of His own Being cannot lie. What He reveals, therefore, must be as it really is, and what He has revealed is in the Bible. And as a pure fountain will send forth a pure stream so the Bible, being Gods Word, must be true. A good man will tell the truth as far as he knows it; and shall we doubt the same power in God?
II. ITS SUBSTANCE IS TRUTH It contains
1. True doctrine. As far as nature goes it coincides with the teachings of nature, contradicting them nowhere: which is a presumption that when it goes beyond nature it is still on the same line of truth.
2. True morals. The ten commandments command mans universal assent, and the Sermon on the Mount forms the only true basis of society, and true society will be one day constructed on that basis.
3. True history, and corroborative evidence is being discovered year after year.
4. True poetry. No better interpretation of nature and mans higher moods is to be found than in the Psalms.
5. True promises. How many millions have verifed them.
6. True threatenings–the Flood, Sodom, the Jews, &c.
III. IT REVEALS HIM WHO IS THE TRUTH.
1. All the Old Testament points to Christ.
(1) He is the Truth of its symbols.
(2) The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
2. The Gospels are the story of His life, and show how He was the Truth in
(1) His character;
(2) His influence;
(3) His teaching;
(4) His death. To this end was I born, &c.
3. The Epistles expound various aspects of His truth, making Him the centre and inspiration.
IV. ITS OBJECT IS TO MAKE TRUE MEN.
1. Men true to God, to self, to man; in the home, business, society, state, Church.
2. Lovers of the truth.
3. Disseminators of the truth. (J. W. Burn.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Sanctify them] , from , negative, and , the earth. This word has two meanings:
1. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service.
2. It signifies to make holy or pure. The prayer of Christ may be understood in both these senses. He prayed –
1. That they might be fully consecrated to the work of the ministry, and separated from all worldly concerns.
2. That they might be holy, and patterns of all holiness to those to whom they announced the salvation of God. A minister who engages himself in worldly concerns is a reproach to the Gospel; and he who is not saved from his own sins can with a bad grace recommend salvation to others.
Through thy truth] It is not only according to the truth of God that ministers are to be set apart to the sacred work; but it is from that truth, and according to it, that they must preach to others. That doctrine which is not drawn from the truth of God can never save souls. God blesses no word but his own; because none is truth, without mixture of error, but that which has proceeded from himself. Our Lord still acts here in reference to the conduct of the high priest, to whom it belonged to sanctify the priests, the sons of Aaron: See Clarke on Joh 17:1.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is doubted amongst interpreters, whether sanctifying in this place signifieth the consecrating, deputing, or setting the apostles apart, and preparing them for the work of the ministry in which they were to be employed, as the word signifies, Jer 1:5; or the strengthening and confirming their habits of grace, so as they might be able to encounter the temptations they should meet with from the hatred or opposition of the world; or the perfecting of them in holiness. Mr. Calvin saith our Saviour here prayeth that God would appropriate them unto himself. And he showeth how this is done,
through, or in, thy truth; that is, some say, through thy truth engraven and imprinted upon their hearts by thy Holy Spirit, which was promised to lead and to guide them into all truth, Joh 16:13; say others, through thy Spirit, which indeed is the Sanctifier; and we have met with twice, called, the Spirit of truth, Joh 14:17. Some say, Sanctify them through thy truth, is no more than, Sanctify them truly, in opposition to that legal sanctification of priests, &c., of which we read in the books of Exodus and Leviticus. Others would have it, to thy truth, that is, to the preaching of thy gospel. But our translation seems to come nearest the meaning; through thy truth, that is, through the knowledge of thy truth; as the Gentiles are said to have had their hearts purified by faith, Act 15:9. He opens what he meant by truth, adding, thy word is truth; that is, thy word and gospel, which I have preached to them, is truth (the abstract, as some think, for the concrete); that is, it is most true: it is not like the doctrine of false prophets, nor like the doctrine of the Pharisees, which is partly true, partly false; but it is truth itself: and though indeed it is the blood of Christ which cleanseth and purifieth the heart, yet this is applied to the conscience by the Spirit, which is the Sanctifier, in and through the word of God preached and applied to the soul.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Sanctify themAs theformer prayer, “Keep them,” was “negative,”asking protection for them from the poisonous element whichsurrounded and pressed upon their renewed nature, so this prayer,”Sanctify them,” is positive, asking the advancementand completion of their begun sanctification.
throughin.
thy truthGod’srevealed truth, as the medium or element of sanctification; astatement this of immense importance.
thy word is truth(CompareJoh 15:3; Col 1:5;Eph 1:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Sanctify them through thy truth,…. The Syriac version introduces this petition, with the appellation , “Abba, Father”: and the sanctification prayed for regards the apostles, either as ministers of the word, and may intend their separation for their work and office; for which though they were sanctified or separated from their mother’s womb, and by Christ when he sent them forth, yet were to have a fresh commission and unction after our Lord’s resurrection, and upon his ascension to heaven; and also their qualification for it, with the truth of grace and doctrine, with holiness of heart and life, and with a preservation in the truth, by being kept faithful to it: or it may also regard them as Christians and believers, and intend a greater degree of the sanctification of the Spirit, which is imperfect in this life; for though sanctification in Christ is perfect, and so it is in the saints, as to parts, yet not as to degrees; which appears from the imperfection of faith, hope, love, and knowledge, from indwelling sin, being in the best of saints, from their necessities, from their disclaiming perfection, and their desires after it. Sanctification is a progressive work, which is carried on gradually; as is clear from the characters of regenerate ones, who are first newborn babes, then young men, and afterwards fathers in Christ; from the similes, by which it is expressed as seed which opens and grows up by degrees, and light which shines more and more unto the perfect day from exhortations to a concern for the growth of it, and prayers for it: and it is indeed continually carrying on, as may be concluded from the hand in which it is; and the progress and finishing of this work, as well as the beginning of it, are entirely the Lord’s; and the way and means in which this is done, are by or through the truth of the Gospel:
thy word is truth; it is “peculiarly” so, as the Arabic version reads it. The Gospel is here meant, and is so called on account of its original, it comes from the God of truth; and because of the concern which Christ, who is the truth, has in it, he being the author, preacher, and sum and substance of it; and because the Spirit of truth has dictated it, leads into it, qualifies men to preach it, and makes it effectual: and because it contains all truth necessary to salvation, and nothing but truth, and particularly that eminent truth, salvation alone by Christ; and because it is opposed to the law, which is but a shadow, of which the good things in the Gospel are the substance: now this is the means both of the beginning, and increasing, and carrying on the work of sanctification in the hearts of God’s people, as well as of an experimental knowledge of it; and an increase of that knowledge does more and more qualify the ministers of it for their ministerial work and service, which seems here chiefly designed.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ’s Intercessory Prayer. |
| |
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good.
I. Here is the petition (v. 17): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true–it is truth itself. He desires they may be sanctified,
1. As Christians. Father, make them holy, and this will be their preservation, 1 Thess. v. 23. Observe here,
(1.) The grace desired–sanctification. The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the world; yet he prays, Father sanctify them, that is, [1.] “Confirm the work of sanctification in them, strengthen their faith, inflame their good affections, rivet their good resolutions.” [2.] “Carry on that good work in them, and continue it; let the light shine more and more.” [3.] “Complete it, crown it with the perfection of holiness; sanctify them throughout and to the end.” Note, First, It is the prayer of Christ for all that are his that they may be sanctified; because he cannot for shame own them as his, either here or hereafter, either employ them in his work or present them to his Father, if they be not sanctified. Secondly, Those that through grace are sanctified have need to be sanctified more and more. Even disciples must pray for sanctifying grace; for, if he that was the author of the good work be not the finisher of it, we are undone. Not to go forward is to go backward; he that is holy must be holy still, more holy still, pressing forward, soaring upward, as those that have not attained. Thirdly, It is God that sanctifies as well as God that justified, 2 Cor. v. 5. Fourthly, It is an encouragement to us, in our prayers for sanctifying grace, that it is what Christ intercedes for for us.
(2.) The means of conferring this grace–through thy truth, thy word is truth. Not that the Holy One of Israel is hereby limited to means, but in the counsel of peace among other things it was settled and agreed, [1.] That all needful truth should be comprised and summed up in the word of God. Divine revelation, as it now stands in the written word, is not only pure truth without mixture, but entire truth without deficiency. [2.] That this word of truth should be the outward and ordinary means of our sanctification; not of itself, for then it would always sanctify, but as the instrument which the Spirit commonly uses in beginning and carrying on that good work; it is the seed of the new birth (1 Pet. i. 23), and the food of the new life, 1Pe 2:1; 1Pe 2:2.
2. As ministers. “Sanctify them, set them apart for thyself and service; let their call to the apostleship be ratified in heaven.” Prophets were said to be sanctified, Jer. i. 5. Priests and Levites were so. Sanctify them; that is, (1.) “Qualify them for the office, with Christian graces and ministerial gifts, to make them able ministers of the New Testament.” (2.) “Separate them to the office, Rom. i. 1. I have called them, they have consented; Father, say Amen to it.” (3.) “Own them in the office; let thy hand go along with them; sanctify them by or in thy truth, as truth is opposed to figure and shadow; sanctify them really, not ritually and ceremonially, as the Levitical priests were, by anointing and sacrifice. Sanctify them to thy truth, the word of thy truth, to be the preachers of thy truth to the world; as the priests were sanctified to serve at the altar, so let them be to preach the gospel.” 1Co 9:13; 1Co 9:14. Note, [1.] Jesus Christ intercedes for his ministers with a particular concern, and recommends to his Father’s grace those stars he carries in his right hand. [2.] The great thing to be asked of God for gospel ministers is that they may be sanctified, effectually separated from the world, entirely devoted to God, and experimentally acquainted with the influence of that word upon their own hearts which they preach to others. Let them have the Urim and Thummim, light and integrity.
II. We have here two pleas or arguments to enforce the petition for the disciples’ sanctification:–
1. The mission they had from him (v. 18): “As thou hast sent me into the world, to be thine ambassador to the children of men, so now that I am recalled have I sent them into the world, as my delegates.” Now here,
(1.) Christ speaks with great assurance of his own mission: Thou hast sent me into the world. The great author of the Christian religion had his commission and instructions from him who is the origin and object of all religion. He was sent of God to say what he said, and do what he did, and be what he is to those that believe on him; which was his comfort in his undertaking, and may be ours abundantly in our dependence upon him; his record was on high, for thence his mission was.
(2.) He speaks with great satisfaction of the commission he had given his disciples “So have I sent them on the same errand, and to carry on the same design;” to preach the same doctrine that he preached, and to confirm it with the same proofs, with a charge likewise to commit to other faithful men that which was committed to them. He gave them their commission (ch. xx. 21) with a reference to his own, and it magnifies their office that it comes from Christ, and that there is some affinity between the commission given to the ministers of reconciliation and that given to the Mediator; he is called an apostle (Heb. iii. 1), a minister (Rom. xv. 8), a messenger, Mal. iii. 1. Only they are sent as servants, he as a Son. Now this comes in here as a reason, [1.] Why Christ was concerned so much for them, and laid their case so near his heart; because he had himself put them into a difficult office, which required great abilities for the due discharge of it. Note, Whom Christ sends he will stand by, and interest himself in those that are employed for him; what he calls us out to he will fit us out for, and bear us up in. [2.] Why he committed them to his Father; because he was concerned in their cause, their mission being in prosecution of his, and as it were an assignment out of it. Christ received gifts for men (Ps. lxviii. 18), and then gave them to men (Eph. iv. 8), and therefore prays aid of his Father to warrant and uphold those gifts, and confirm his grant of them. The Father sanctified him when he sent him into the world, ch. x. 36. Now, they being sent as he was, let them also be sanctified.
2. The merit he had for them is another thing here pleaded (v. 19): For their sakes I sanctify myself. Here is, (1.) Christ’s designation of himself to the work and office of Mediator: I sanctified myself. He entirely devoted himself to the undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially that which he was now going about–the offering up of himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. He, as the priest and altar, sanctified himself as the sacrifice. When he said, Father, glorify thy name–Father, thy will be done–Father, I commit my spirit into thy hands, he paid down the satisfaction he had engaged to make, and so sanctified himself. This he pleads with his Father, for his intercession is made in the virtue of his satisfaction; by his own blood he entered into the holy place (Heb. ix. 12), as the high priest, on the day of atonement, sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice at the same time that he burnt incense within the veil, Lev 16:12; Lev 16:14. (2.) Christ’s design of kindness to his disciples herein; it is for their sakes, that they may be sanctified, that is, that they may be martyrs; so some. “I sacrifice myself, that they may be sacrificed to the glory of God and the church’s good.” Paul speaks of his being offered, Phi 2:17; 2Ti 4:6. Whatever there is in the death of the saints that is precious in the sight of the Lord, it is owing to the death of the Lord Jesus. But I rather take it more generally, that they may be saints and ministers, duly qualified and accepted of God. [1.] The office of the ministry is the purchase of Christ’s blood, and one of the blessed fruits of his satisfaction, and owes its virtue and value to Christ’s merit. The priests under the law were consecrated with the blood of bulls and goats, but gospel ministers with the blood of Jesus. [2.] The real holiness of all good Christians is the fruit of Christ’s death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased; he gave himself for his church, to sanctify it,Eph 5:25; Eph 5:26. And he that designed the end designed also the means, that they might be sanctified by the truth, the truth which Christ came into the world to bear witness to and died to confirm. The word of truth receives its sanctifying virtue and power from the death of Christ. Some read it, that they may be sanctified in truth, that is, truly; for as God must be served, so, in order to this, we must be sanctified, in the spirit, and in truth. And this Christ has prayed for, for all that are his; for this is his will, even their sanctification, which encourages them to pray for it,
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Sanctify (). First aorist active imperative of . To consecrate or set apart persons or things to God. See Exod 28:41; Exod 29:1; Exod 29:36; Exod 40:13. See Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians (1Th 5:23). This is done in the sphere () of truth (God’s truth), God’s Word (not human speculation, but God’s message to us).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Sanctify [] . Constantly used in the Septuagint to express the entire dedication and consecration of both persons and things to God. See Exo 29:1, 36; Exo 40:13; Lev 22:2, 3. Rev., in margin, consecrate. See on 10 36.
Through thy truth [ ] . The best texts omit thy. Through [] is to be rendered literally, in, marking the sphere or element of consecration. Rev., sanctify them in the truth.
Thy word [ ] . Properly, the word which is thine. See on 14 9.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Sanctify them through thy truth:” (hagiason autous en te aletheia) “Sanctify them in and by means of the truth.” Sanctify means to set apart or consecrate as sacred or holy, from profane use, to make sacred or holy and set apart for holy or sacred service; This sanctification is said to be by faith in Jesus Christ, Act 26:18; by the Word, Eph 5:26; 2Th 2:13.
2) “Thy word is truth.” (ho logos ho sos aletheia estin) “Your word is truth,” not only true but also truth in essence of existence, without error, Psa 119:160-161; Heb 4:12; 2Ti 3:16-17. His Word is truth, as a rule and guide for life and to salvation, Psa 119:151; Joh 18:37-38; Act 20:32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. Sanctify them by thy truth. This sanctification includes the kingdom of God and his righteousness; that is, when God renews us by his Spirit, and confirms in us the grace of renewal, and continues it to the end. He asks, first, therefore, that the Father would sanctify the disciples, or, in other words, that he would consecrate them entirely to himself, and defend them as his sacred inheritance. Next, he points out the means of sanctification, and not without reason; for there are fanatics who indulge in much useless prattle about sanctification, but who neglect the truth of God, by which he consecrates us to himself. Again, as there are others who chatter quite as foolishly about the truth and yet disregard the word, Christ expressly says that the truth, by which God sanctifies his sons, is not to be found any where else than in the word.
Thy word is truth; for the word here denotes the doctrine of the Gospel, which the apostles had already heard from the mouth of their Master, and which they were afterwards to preach to others. In this sense Paul says that
the Church has been cleansed with the washing of water by the word of life, (Eph 5:26
True, it is God alone who sanctifies; but as
the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth, (Rom 1:16,)
whoever departs from the Gospel as the means must become more and more filthy and polluted.
The truth is here taken, by way of eminence, for the light of heavenly wisdom, in which God manifests himself to us, that he may conform us to his image. The outward preaching of the word, it is true, does not of itself accomplish this, For that preaching is wickedly profaned by the reprobate; but let us remember that Christ speaks of the elect whom the Holy Spirit efficaciously regenerates by the word. Now, as the apostles were not altogether destitute of this grace, we ought to infer from Christ’s words, that sanctification is not instantly completed in us on the first day, but that we make progress in it through the whole course of our life, till at length God, having taken away from us the garment of the flesh, fills us with his righteousness.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Sanctify them through thy truth.Better, in Thy truth. Truth was the sphere in which their sanctification was to take place. They had through Christ received the Fathers word, which was truth, and had passed into a new region of life, separate from the world (Joh. 17:6-8; Joh. 17:14-16). He has prayed that the Father would preserve them in this, and now He prays further that the Father would in this new region of life set them apart for the work to which He had sent them (Joh. 17:18).
The idea at the root of the word rendered sanctify, is not holiness, but separation. It is opposed not to what is impure, but to what is common, and is constantly used in the Greek of the Old Testament for the consecration of persons and things to the service of God. Hence our Lord can use it of Himself in Joh. 10:36, and in this context (Joh. 17:19; these are the only places where it occurs in St. Johns writings). He was Himself set apart and sent into the world. He has to send them into the world in the same way (Joh. 17:18, and Joh. 10:36), and prays that they may be in the same way consecrated for their work.
Thy word is truth.There is a strong emphasis in the pronoun Thy word is truth. This word they had kept (Joh. 17:6-8). It had become the region of their life. They are to be the channels through which it is to pass to others (Joh. 17:20). They are already in the higher sphere of truth, in which their entire consecration is to take place, when the gifts of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Sanctify them In the three ensuing verses Jesus represents their consecration to their mission. God must sanctify them as Christ sanctifies himself. To sanctify is to set apart to some special divine use; and this may or may not require an inner purification of the being set apart. If an unholy being, as man, be set apart to a pure use, he must be rendered internally as pure as the use to which he is appropriated. Of an indifferent thing, neither intrinsically holy or unholy, as a vessel for the sanctuary service, there can be no purification but a physical one with an emblematical meaning. Where a holy being, as Christ, is set apart for a holy work, as for the work of redemption, no inward purification is possible; for he is already perfectly pure. It is a consecration of the holy to the holy. The use to which man is divinely consecrated is eternal service in the sanctuary of heaven; but to attain this use his entire purification must be perfect. If he fails in this his failure is total.
Through thy truth Rather in thy truth.
Thy word is truth Thy word doubtless means the Gospel revelation, both in its doctrinal and preceptive parts; its doctrinal parts exhibiting the scheme of salvation, its preceptive enjoining us to obey its conditions. The agent of this sanctification through or in the Gospel, according to Jesus’s prayer is God, who both gives the Gospel which sanctifies, and animates it by his Spirit to a sanctifying power. Hence it is not the mere instrumental truth, it is the divine Spirit, which sanctifies.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Ver. 17. Sanctify them by thy truth ] Affect their hearts therewith, that they may the better affect others; speaking a corde ad cor, from the heart to the heart, which is the life of preaching. Quod iussit et gessit, What he orders and does, saith Bernard of one; , , saith Basil of another. A minister had need to pray, as Elisha did, for a doubled and trebled spirit, that he may out of the good treasure of his heart bring forth good things, new and old, for the people’s use.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] here and in Joh 17:19 carries the meaning, which unites the two uses, of consecration to God . (1) In them , this setting apart for Him was a long and gradual process, to be accomplished by conflicts, and the deeper sinking in of the Truth by the blows of affliction, and the purifying fire of the Spirit: in them it was strictly sanctification , the making holy: but (2) in HIM it was that pure and entire self-consecration by His submission to the Father’s holy will, the entire possession of His sinless humanity with the living and speaking Truth of God, which should be at the same time the efficient cause of their sanctification and their Pattern. Such an High Priest became us (see Heb 7:26 ), who are to be ourselves priests unto God. Rev 20:6 .
, not ‘by,’ but in: see on Joh 17:11 . The truth is the element in which the . takes place.
. ] Compare Act 20:32 . Thy word, in its inner subjective power.
Joh 17:18 is proleptic, and received its fulfilment ch. Joh 20:21 . He does not merely leave them in the world, but sends them into it, to witness to this same truth of God: see ch. Joh 15:16 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 17:17 . But besides this negative qualification for representing Christ, they must possess also a positive equipment, . “Consecrate them by thy truth.” is to render sacred, to set apart from profane uses; as in Exo 13:1 , ; Exo 20:8 , . ; Exo 28:37 , ; Mat 23:17 ; Heb 9:13 . In Joh 10:36 it is used of the Father’s setting apart of Christ to His mission. Here it is similarly used of the setting apart or consecration of the disciples as Christ’s representatives. Meyer includes their “equipment with Divine illumination, power, courage, joyfulness, love, inspiration, etc., for their official activity”. Wetstein’s definition is good; “Sanctificare est aliquem eligere ad certum munus obeundum, eumque praeparare atque idoneum reddere”. “The truth,” as the element in which they now lived, was to be the efficient instrument of their consecration, cf. Joh 14:16 , Joh 16:7-13 ; the truth specifically which became theirs through the revelation of the Father, , “the word which is Thine,” Joh 17:14 , but here emphatically distinguished as being the Word of the Father and no other. The article is absent before , as in Joh 4:24 , because . is abstract. “Thy word is” not only “true” but “truth”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
THE INTERCESSOR
Joh 17:1 – Joh 17:19
We may well despair of doing justice to the deep thoughts of this prayer, which volumes would not exhaust. Who is worthy to speak or to write about such sacred words? Perhaps we may best gain some glimpses of their great and holy sublimity by trying to gather their teaching round the centres of the three petitions, ‘glorify’ Joh 17:1 , Joh 17:5, ‘keep’ Joh 17:11, and ‘sanctify’ Joh 17:17.
I. In Joh 17:1 – Joh 17:5 , Jesus prays for Himself, that He may be restored to His pre-incarnate glory; but yet the prayer desires not so much that glory as affecting Himself, as His being fitted thereby for completing His work of manifesting the Father. There are three main points in these verses-the petition, its purpose, and its grounds.
The petition not only reveals the conscious divinity of the Son, but also His willing acceptance of the Cross; for the glorifying sought is that reached through death, resurrection, and ascension, and that introductory clause, ‘the hour is come,’ points to the impending sufferings as the first step in the answer to the petition. The Crucifixion is always thus treated in this Gospel, as being both the lowest humiliation and the ‘lifting up’ of the Son; and here He is reaching out His hand, as it were, to draw His sufferings nearer. So willingly and desiringly did this Isaac climb the mount of sacrifice. Both elements of the great saying in the Epistle to the Hebrews are here: ‘For the joy that was set before Him, [He] endured the Cross.’
The purpose of the petition is to be noted; namely, the Son’s glorifying of the Father. No taint of selfishness corrupted His prayer. Not for Himself, but for men, did He desire His glory. He sought return to that serene and lofty seat, and the elevation of His limited manhood to the throne, not because He was wearied of earth or impatient of weakness, sorrows, or limitations, but that He might more fully manifest by that Glory, the Father’s name. To make the Father known is to make the Father glorious; for He is all fair and lovely. That revelation of divine perfection, majesty, and sweetness was the end of Christ’s earthly life, and is the end of His heavenly divine activity. He needs to reassume the prerogatives of which He needed to divest Himself, and both necessities have one end. He had to lay aside His garments and assume the form of a servant, that He might make God known; but, that revelation being complete, He must take His garments and sit down again, before He can go on to tell all the meaning of what He has ‘done unto us.’
The ground of the petition is twofold. Joh 17:2 represent the glory sought for, as the completion of the Son’s mission and task. Already He had been endowed with ‘authority over all flesh,’ for the purpose of bestowing eternal life; and that eternal life stands in the knowledge of God, which is the same as the knowledge of Christ. The present gift to the Son and its purpose are thus precisely parallel with the further gift desired, and that is the necessary carrying out of this. The authority and office of the incarnate Christ demand the glory of, and consequent further manifestation by, the glorified Christ. The life which He comes to give is a life which flows from the revelation that He makes of the Father, received, not as mere intellectual knowledge, but as loving acquaintance.
The second ground for the petition is in Joh 17:4 , the actual perfect fulfilment by the Son of that mission. What untroubled consciousness of sinless obedience and transparent shining through His life of the Father’s likeness and will He must have had, who could thus assert His complete realisation of that Father’s revealing purpose, as the ground of His deserving and desiring participation in the divine glory! Surely such words are either the acme of self-righteousness or the self-revealing speech of the Son of God.
II. With Joh 17:6 we pass to the more immediate reference to the disciples, and the context from thence to Joh 17:15 may be regarded as all clustered round the second petition ‘keep’ Joh 17:11.
It is beautiful to see how our Lord here credits the disciples with genuine grasp, both in heart and head, of His teaching. He had shortly before had to say, ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?’ and soon ‘they all forsook Him and fled.’ But beneath misconception and inadequate apprehension there lived faith and love; and He saw ‘the full corn in the ear,’ when only the green ‘blade’ was visible, pushing itself above the surface. We may take comfort from this generous estimate of imperfect disciples. If He did not tend, instead of quenching, ‘dimly burning wicks,’ where would He have ‘lights in the world?’
Joh 17:6 lays down the beginning of discipleship as threefold: Christ’s act in revealing; the Father’s, in giving men to Jesus; and men’s, in keeping the Father’s word. ‘Thy word’ is the whole revelation by Christ, which is, as this Gospel so often repeats, not His own, but the Father’s. These three facts underlying discipleship are pleas for the petition to follow; for unless the feeble disciples are ‘kept’ in the name, as in a fortress, Christ’s work of revelation is neutralised, the Father’s gift to Him made of none effect, and the incipient disciples will not ‘keep’ His word. The plea is, in effect, ‘Forsake not the works of thine own hands’; and, like all Christ’s prayers, it has a promise in its depths, since God does not begin what He will not finish; and it has a warning, too, that we cannot keep ourselves unless a stronger Hand keeps us.
Joh 17:7 – Joh 17:8 carry on the portraiture of discipleship, and thence draw fresh pleas. The blessed result of accepting Christ’s revelation is a knowledge, built on happy experience, and, like the acquaintance of heart with heart, issuing in the firm conviction that Christ’s words and deeds are from God. Why does He say, ‘All things whatsoever Thou hast given,’ instead of simply ‘that I have’ or ‘declare’? Probably it is the natural expression of His consciousness, the lowly utterance of His obedience, claiming nothing as His own, and yet claiming all, while the subsequent clause ‘are of Thee’ expresses the disciples’ conviction. In like fashion our Lord, in verse 8, declares that His words, in their manifoldness contrast Joh 17:6 , ‘Thy word’, were all received by Him from the Father, and accepted by the disciples, with the result that they came, as before, to ‘know’ by inward acquaintance with Him as a person, and so to have the divinity of His Person certified by experience, and further came to ‘believe’ that God had sent Him, which was a conviction arrived at by faith. So knowledge, which is personal experience and acquaintance, and faith, which rises to the heights of the Father’s purpose, come from the humble acceptance of the Christ declaring the Father’s name. First faith, then knowledge, and then a fuller faith built on it, and that faith in its turn passing into knowledge Joh 17:25-these are the blessings belonging to the growth of true discipleship, and are discerned by the loving eye of Jesus in very imperfect followers.
In Joh 17:9 Jesus assumes the great office of Intercessor. ‘I pray for them’ is not so much prayer as His solemn presentation of Himself before the Father as the High-priest of His people. It marks an epoch in His work. The task of bringing God to man is substantially complete. That of bringing men by supplication to God is now to begin. It is the revelation of the permanent office of the departed Lord. Moses on the Mount holds up the rod, and Israel prevails Exo 17:9. The limitation of this prayer to the disciples applies only to the special occasion, and has no bearing on the sweep of His redeeming purpose or the desires of His all-pitying heart. The reasons for His intercession follow in Joh 17:9 – Joh 17:11 . The disciples are the Father’s, and continue so even when ‘given’ to Christ, in accordance with the community of possession, which oneness of nature and perfectness of love establish between the Father and the Son. God cannot but care for those who are His. The Son cannot but pray for those who are His. Their having recognised Him for what He was binds Him to pray for them. He is glorified in disciples, and if we show forth His character, He will be our Advocate. The last reason for His prayer is the loneliness of the disciples and their exposure in the world without Him. His departure impelled Him to Intercede, both as being a leaving them defenceless and as being an entrance into the heavenly state of communion with the Father.
In the petition itself Joh 17:11, observe the invocation ‘Holy Father!’ with special reference to the prayer for preservation from the corruption of the world. God’s holiness is the pledge that He will make us holy, since He is ‘Father’ as well. Observe the substance of the request, that the disciples should be kept, as in a fortress, within the enclosing circle of the name which God has given to Jesus. The name is the manifestation of the divine nature. It was given to Jesus, inasmuch as He, ‘the Word,’ had from the beginning the office of revealing God; and that which was spoken of the Angel of the Covenant is true in highest reality of Jesus: ‘My name is in Him.’ ‘The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.’
Observe the issue of this keeping; namely, the unity of believers. The depths of that saying are beyond us, but we can at least see thus far-that the true bond of unity is the name in which all who are one are kept; that the pattern of the true unity of believers is the ineffable union of Father and Son, which is oneness of will and nature, along with distinctness of persons; and that therefore this purpose goes far deeper than outward unity of organisation.
Then follow other pleas, which are principally drawn from Christ’s relation to the disciples, now ending; whereas the former ones were chiefly deduced from the disciples’ relation to Him. He can no more do what He has done, and commits it to the Father. Happy we if we can leave our unfinished tasks to be taken up by God, and trust those whom we leave undefended to be shielded by Him! ‘I kept’ is, in the Greek, expressive of continuous, repeated action, while ‘I guarded’ gives the single issue of the many acts of keeping. Jesus keeps His disciples now as He did then, by sedulous, patient, reiterated acts, so that they are safe from evil. But note where He kept them-’in Thy name.’ That is our place of safety, a sure defence and inexpugnable fortress. One, indeed, was lost; but that was not any slur on Christ’s keeping, but resulted from his own evil nature, as being ‘a son of loss’ if we may so preserve the affinity of the words in the Greek, and from the divine decree from of old. Sharply defined and closely united are the two apparent contradictories of man’s free choice of destruction and God’s foreknowledge. Christ saw them in harmony, and we shall do so one day.
Then the flow of the prayer recurs to former thoughts. Going away so soon, He yearned to leave them sharers of His own emotions in the prospect of His departure to the Father, and therefore He had admitted them and us to hear this sacred outpouring of His desires. If we laid to heart the blessed revelations of this disclosure of Christ’s heart, and followed Him with faithful gaze as He ascends to the Father, and realised our share in that triumph, our empty vessels would be filled by some of that same joy which was His. Earthly joy can never be full; Christian joy should never be anything less than full.
Then follows a final glance at the disciples’ relation to the world, to which they are alien because they are of kindred to Him. This is the ground for the repetition of the prayer ‘keep’, with the difference that formerly it was ‘keep in Thy name,’ and now it is ‘from the evil.’ It is good to gaze first on our defence, the ‘munitions of rocks’ where we lie safely, and then we can venture to face the thought of ‘the evil,’ from which that keeps us, whether it be personal or abstract.
III. Joh 17:16 – Joh 17:19 give the final petition for the immediate circle of disciples, with its grounds.
Christ’s prayer for us should be our aim and deepest desire for ourselves, and His declaration of the condition of its fulfilment should prescribe our firm adhesion to, and constant abiding in, the truth as revealed and embodied in Him, as the only means by which we can attain the consecration which is at once, as the closing verses of the passage tell us, the means by which we may fulfil the purpose for which we are sent into the world, and the path on which we reach complete assimilation to His perfect self-surrender. All Christians are sent into the world by Jesus, as Jesus was sent by the Father. We have the charge to glorify Him. We have the presence of the Sender with us, the sent. We are inspired with His Spirit. We cannot do His work without that entire consecration which shall copy His devotion to the Father and eager swiftness to do His will. How can such ennobling and exalted consecration be ours? There is but one way. He has ‘consecrated Himself,’ and by union with Him through faith, our selfishness may be subdued, and the Spirit of Christ may dwell in our hearts, to make us ‘living sacrifices, consecrated and acceptable to God.’ Then shall we be truly ‘consecrated,’ and then only, when we can say, ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ That is the end of Christ’s consecration of Himself-the prayer which He prayed for His disciples-and should be the aim which every disciple earnestly pursues.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Sanctify = Hallow. Greek. hagiam. Separation is the idea of the word “holy”. See note on Exo 3:5.
Thy. All the texts read “the”.
truth. The truth is the great separating force. Compare Mat 10:35.
Thy word, &c. = The word that is Thine is the truth. The Incarnate and revealed Words alike. Compare Joh 6:33; Joh 14:6; Joh 16:13. Mat 22:16. 2Co 6:7; 2Co 13:8. Gal 1:2, Gal 1:5, Gal 1:14. Eph 1:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] here and in Joh 17:19 carries the meaning, which unites the two uses, of consecration to God. (1) In them, this setting apart for Him was a long and gradual process, to be accomplished by conflicts, and the deeper sinking in of the Truth by the blows of affliction, and the purifying fire of the Spirit: in them it was strictly sanctification, the making holy: but (2) in HIM it was that pure and entire self-consecration by His submission to the Fathers holy will, the entire possession of His sinless humanity with the living and speaking Truth of God, which should be at the same time the efficient cause of their sanctification and their Pattern. Such an High Priest became us (see Heb 7:26), who are to be ourselves priests unto God. Rev 20:6.
, not by, but in: see on Joh 17:11. The truth is the element in which the . takes place.
. ] Compare Act 20:32. Thy word, in its inner subjective power.
Joh 17:18 is proleptic,-and received its fulfilment ch. Joh 20:21. He does not merely leave them in the world, but sends them into it, to witness to this same truth of God: see ch. Joh 15:16.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 17:17. , sanctify) claim wholly to Thyself.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 17:17
Joh 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth.-To sanctify to a sacred and holy use or purpose. The prayer was separate them and set them apart (from the world) to God through the truth. Lest men should misapprehend what he regards as truth, he adds, Thy word is truth. No one can be separated from the world, or sanctified to God by the truth, save as he makes that truth the rule of his life and is led away from all other paths into the path marked out by this.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Joh 17:17-21
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
There are two distinct lines of truth brought before us in these verses: first, our practical sanctification, and second, our unity of life and nature with all the people of God in the Father and the Son, a unity that forms the basis of Christian testimony to a lost world.
Note our Lords petition, Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (v. 17). What does He mean by this? There are three distinct aspects of sanctification in the New Testament: sanctification by the Holy Spirit, sanctification by the blood of Christ, and sanctification by the Word of truth. The first refers to the work of the Holy Spirit within us, cleansing us from all impurity and setting us apart to God practically. The second has to do with our judicial cleansing, fitting us for entrance to the heavenly sanctuary, and the last has to do with our daily walk.
We must never confuse justification with sanctification. To justify is to clear from every charge of guilt. To sanctify is to set apart for a holy purpose. Because we were guilty sinners we needed to be justified. Because we were unclean and defiled by sin, we needed to be sanctified. Positionally, we are set apart to God in Christ, in all the value of His precious blood, the moment we trust the Savior. But practically, we are being sanctified day by day by the Spirit and the Word. In 1Co 6:11 we read, And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. In the previous verses, the apostle was speaking of a number of ungodly people, who, he said, shall not inherit the kingdom of God (v. 9). But Christians were once just as bad as they, but they have been washed, sanctified, and justified. The washing is the application of the water of the Word to our hearts and consciences, and that must be in the power of the Holy Spirit. This simply suggests two different aspects of one truth. The emphasis here is upon sanctification rather than justification. The Spirit had to do His work in me, awakening me, convicting of sin before I ever put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember years ago going into a mission in San Francisco and listening to some striking testimonies. People told how marvelously God had saved them from lives of sin and debauchery. I was to give the final message. As I listened to them, this verse came to me, and I took it for my text: Such were some of you. When the meeting was over, one of the workers came to me and asked, May I have a word with you? I said, Certainly.
Then he told me, You had your theology terribly mixed tonight.
I replied, Did I? Wont you please straighten me out?
Yes, he answered, that is what I want to do. You put sanctification before justification. Now justification is the first blessing and sanctification is the second, but you reversed this.
You are mistaken, I replied. I did not put sanctification before justification.
You most certainly did, was his emphatic answer.
No, I told him, you are wrong. I did nothing of the kind. It was the apostle Paul that put sanctification before justification, and I simply quoted what he had written.
He insisted that I had misquoted it. But when we looked into the Bible, he had to admit I was right. However, he was sure the translation was wrong. We consulted the Revised Version. The same order was there. Then he exclaimed in confusion, Well, all I have to say is that Paul was not yet clear on holiness when he wrote that!
But this is not the only Scripture where we have sanctification of the Spirit coming before justification. In 2Th 2:13 we read: But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. It is the Spirits sanctification, you see, that leads to belief of the truth. And then again in 1 Peter 1-2 we have the same order. Through sanctification of the Spirit, we come in the obedience of faith to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. It is by His blood we are justified from all our guilt, and by that same precious blood, we are sanctified, set apart to God in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1Co 1:30).1
Here in our Lords prayer, He asks the Father to sanctify them through thy truth. That is, the Word of God is to be applied to the lives of His people, and as they obey that Word they will be practically sanctified and cleansed from defilement. In Eph 5:25-26 we read: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. You see, the Word of God is likened unto water because of its cleansing efficacy. When I trusted Christ, I was cleansed by His precious blood once for all. This is a cleansing that never needs to be repeated, for the blood abides upon the mercy seat, and it ever cleanses us from every sin.
But the washing of water by the Word is something I need daily. It is illustrated by our Lords action in washing the feet of His disciples in John 13. Our feet become defiled with the things of this world, but the Word of God is applied and we are made clean. You will realize that in this sense we could never speak of ourselves as completely sanctified. Positionally we know it is true that by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (Heb 10:14). Christ is my sanctification, and that is complete and eternal. But so far as my practice is concerned, I need the Word of God applied every day, and thus I am being sanctified.
Now observe our blessed Lord says to the Father, As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth (Joh 17:18-19). To sanctify is to set apart. He was the holy, spotless Son of God, but He set Himself apart to go to the cross, there to die for our sins, and then to take His place at Gods right hand in heaven. As we are occupied with Him, we become like Him. Our sanctification progresses as we are taken up with Christ through the Word.
Fix your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Now notice in verse 20, His thoughts go down through the ages, reaching even to you and to me, and to all in every place who shall ever put their trust in Him. He says, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word (v. 20). It is in this way that we come to believe, is it not? And so we are included in those for whom He prays. And what is it for which He makes request? Notice His words, That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me (v. 21). Here we have a second prayer for unity. It is the unity of fellowship on which, of course, our testimony to the world is based.
People say sometimes that this prayer of our Lord has not been answered, and they point to the many different sects and denominations among professed Christians. Of these we very well are ashamed. And yet, despite them all, wherever real Christians get together they enjoy fellowship in the precious things of Christ. It is when we allow ourselves to be occupied with minor questions which do not profit that our differences come in. We are all one in Christ. The fact that Satan, our great adversary, has set members of the same family to quarrelling with each other is sad indeed, and should cause us to bow our heads in humiliation and self-judgment before God. As our unity is manifested in a practical way our testimony has power with men. On the other hand nothing is so calculated to cause the unsaved to stumble as finding that Christians are unkind and quarrelsome in their dealings with each other.
How quickly we realize that we are one when the hour of trouble and persecution comes. A fine old Armenian Christian, who was greatly grieved by the divisions among Christians in America, said to me one time as the tears started in his eyes, They need the Turks. If they were exposed to the awful persecutions we had to know in Armenia, they would learn to value one another more.
A missionary wrote to me lately and spoke of meeting another missionary of an altogether different group of believers in a foreign land where he was laboring. He said, Any kind of a Christian looks mighty good to me down here.
May we realize more and more our unity and act in accordance with it, that thus the world may believe that God sent Jesus to be the Savior of men. Every time a worldling hears you making an unkind remark about another Christian, you are stultifying your own testimony. Of old, when believers were characterized by love of the brethren, Tertullian tells us that even the heathen exclaimed with admiration, Behold how these Christians love one another.
The following lines are most suggestive and form a fitting commentary on our Saviors prayer, That they all may be one.
Theyre Dear to God
Oh that when Christians meet and part,
These words were graved on every heart-
Theyre dear to God!
However wilful and unwise,
Well look on them with loving eyes-
Theyre dear to God!
Oh, wonder!-to the Eternal One,
Dear as His own beloved Son;
Dearer to Jesus than His blood,
Dear as the Spirits fixed abode-
Theyre dear to God!
When tempted to give pain for pain,
How would this thought our words restrain,
Theyre dear to God!
When truth compels us to contend,
What love with all our strife should blend!
Theyre dear to God.
When they would shun the pilgrims lot
For this vain world, forget them not;
But win them back with love and prayer,
They never can be happy there,
If dear to God.
Shall we be there so near, so dear,
And be estranged and cold whilst here-
All dear to God?
By the same cares and toils opprest,
We lean upon one faithful Breast,
We hasten to the same repose;
How bear or do enough for those
So dear to God!
1 I have tried to go into all this very fully in my book, Holiness, the False and the True, and if you are troubled about the question of sanctification, I would urge you to get a copy and read it carefully. I cannot go into it now with the fullness that I would like, as it would lead us too far away from our subject.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Sanctify: Joh 17:19, Joh 8:32, Joh 15:3, Psa 19:7-9, Psa 119:9, Psa 119:11, Psa 119:104, Luk 8:11, Luk 8:15, Act 15:9, 2Co 3:18, Eph 5:26, 2Th 2:13, Jam 1:21, 1Pe 1:22, 1Pe 1:23
word: Joh 8:40, 2Sa 7:28, Psa 12:6, Psa 19:7, Psa 119:144, Psa 119:151, Psa 119:152, Eph 4:21, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 2:26
Reciprocal: Exo 31:13 – that ye may Lev 22:32 – hallow you Num 19:18 – General 1Ch 15:12 – sanctify Psa 17:4 – word Psa 119:142 – and thy Pro 8:7 – my mouth Eze 20:12 – I am Eze 37:28 – sanctify Act 20:32 – to build Act 26:18 – sanctified 1Co 1:2 – sanctified 1Co 1:30 – sanctification Eph 4:24 – true holiness 1Th 2:13 – effectually 1Th 4:3 – your 1Ti 2:4 – the knowledge
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHRISTIAN SANCTITY
Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.
Joh 17:17
This is emphatically the Lords own prayer, the prayer which He Himself alone employed. It may serve as a model for us to teach us what to pray for, for without His help we know not what to pray for as we ought.
I. What is this sanctification?It is to be carefully distinguished from justification. Justification is in one sense external; sanctification is only internal. There are three aspects of sanctification which may be mentioned.
(a) Separation. Separation is the first great thought in sanctification, and needs to be pressed upon the consciences of believers to-day, for the world fraternises with the Church, and every effort is made by Satan to obliterate the line of demarcation between them. The world has crept into the Church, and the Church makes friends with the world, until it is well-nigh impossible to distinguish the one from the other, and the endless confusion which results no one can adequately estimate.
(b) Purification. It follows that if you set apart a person or a thing to the service of an absolutely holy God, anything that defiles that person or thing renders it unfit for Gods use, and hence though the first meaning of the word is separation, it speedily acquires, as Archbishop Trench in his work on the New Testament synonyms points out, a moral significance; thus the thought of purification is added to the fundamental idea of separation.
(c) Transformation. There should be an immediate purification, but it is to be followed by a gradual transformation into the image and likeness of Christ. The restoration to health may be speedy, the subsequent growth must be gradual.
II. Why is this sanctification necessary?The answer is manifold. How can it be otherwise than necessary if we have to do with a holy God?
(a) It is necessary for our happiness. Happiness and holiness go together, just as sin and sorrow can never be separated. They are two names for the same thing. What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.
(b) It is necessary for our usefulness. How often has the lack of consistency in ourselves prevented our speaking a word to a friend for Christ.
(c) Again our meetness for heaven depends upon it. Our title to heaven is one thing, our character or meetness is another. I know that the ground of our peace is the work of Christ for us, and not the work of the Spirit in us; but I also know that to enjoy heaven when you get there you want the work of the Spirit in you. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
III. How is this sanctification to be secured?Sanctification in the Scripture is ascribed to different causes and different instrumentalities. Here the instrumentality spoken of is the Word of God. The Word of God is a mighty instrument in our sanctification. Let us notice, briefly, how it is that it is so adapted to this end.
(a) First of all, the Word of God sanctifies, because it has a discovering and enlightening power. It is a mirror in which you may see reflected your failures and your sins; it is a searchlight discerning the very thoughts and intents of the heart. The willingness to come to the light is the way to blessing.
(b) The Word of God has also a cleansing and purifying power. Sanctify them through Thy truth. The truth of Gods Word will have a cleansing, sanctifiying, purifying effect upon the soul. Do you know you are very much influenced by what you read?
(c) Again, the Word of God has a nourishing and strengthening power (1Pe 2:2, and Act 20:32).
(d) Then the Word of God has an overcoming and conquering power. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one (1Jn 2:14). The secret of their victory over the wicked one was that the Word of God abode in them.
(e) The Word of God has a Christ-revealing and Christ-communicating power. There is a vital link between the Written Word and the Living Word, and when the Word of God dwells in us Christ will come and dwell in us too. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom (Col 3:16), and that Word of God includes the thought of the Personal Word, the indwelling Christ.
The secret is an indwelling Saviour.
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustrations
(1) We are informed that the wretched man who took the life of President Carnot some years ago lived an apparently harmless, decent life for a good many years, until he came into contact with anarchist publications, which so saturated his mind with evil thoughts, schemes, and ideas that at length he was capable of the awful crime he committed. He was defiled, ruined, and destroyed by the word of falsehood which he read. It has again and again been shown in courts of justice that thieves and robbers have had the thoughts of such a life put into their heads by the tales of highwaymen and the like which are sown broadcast in print. The same principle holds true conversely, and it holds good with regard to the Word of God.
(2) There is a story told of an old woman who was speaking in the course of the week of the blessing she had derived from the previous Sundays sermon. Asked by her friend what was the text, she said, My memory is not what it was, I cannot remember the text. Well, what was the line of truth pursuedcan you give me any quotation? I cannot remember a word the preacher said, she replied. Well, said her friend, if you cannot remember the text and cannot remember the sermon, how is it that it has done you any good? Then the old lady, taking up a jug of water, poured it through a pipe, saying, Do you see this pipe? The water has gone through it, there is none left in it, but the pipe is all the cleaner for the stream that has passed through it. Even so, though the word spoken was forgotten, she was conscious that it had had a cleansing and purifying power upon her heart. The Word of God cleanses us.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
7
Sanctify is explained in a full quotation from the lexicon, in the comments at chapter 10:36. If the reader will consult that place, he will see why Jesus asked his Father to sanctify the apostles by His truth which is the word of God.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
These wonderful verses form a fitting conclusion of the most wonderful prayer that was ever prayed on earth,-the last Lord’s prayer after the first Lord’s Supper. They contain three most important petitions which our Lord offered up in behalf of His disciples. On these three petitions let us fix our attention. Passing by all other things in the passage, let us look steadily at these three points.
We should mark, first, how Jesus prays that His people may be sanctified. “Sanctify them,” He says, “through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.”
We need not doubt that, in this place at any rate, the word “sanctify” means “make holy.” It is a prayer that the Father would make His people more holy, more spiritual, more pure, more saintly in thought and word and deed, in life and character. Grace had done something for the disciples already,-called, converted, renewed, and changed them. The great Head of the Church prays that the work of grace may be carried higher and further, and that His people may be more thoroughly sanctified and made holy in body, soul, and spirit,-in fact more like Himself.
Surely we need not say much to show the matchless wisdom of this prayer. More holiness is the very thing to be desired for all servants of Christ. Holy living is the great proof of the reality of Christianity. Men may refuse to see the truth of our arguments, but they cannot evade the evidence of a godly life. Such a life adorns religion and makes it beautiful, and sometimes wins those who are not “won by the Word.” Holy living trains Christians for heaven. The nearer we live to God while we live, the more ready shall we be to dwell forever in His presence when we die. Our entrance into heaven will be entirely by grace, and not of works; but heaven itself would be no heaven to us if we entered it with an unsanctified character. Our hearts must be in tune for heaven if we are to enjoy it. There must be a moral “meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light,” as well as a title. Christ’s blood alone can give us a title to enter the inheritance. Sanctification must give us a capacity to enjoy it.
Who, in the face of such facts as these, need wonder that increased sanctification should be the first thing that Jesus asks for His people? Who that is really taught of God can fail to know that holiness is happiness, and that those who walk with God most closely, are always those who walk with Him most comfortably? Let no man deceive us with vain words in this matter. He who despises holiness and neglects good works, under the vain pretense of giving honor to justification by faith, shows plainly that he has not the mind of Christ.
We should mark, secondly, in these verses, how Jesus prays for the unity and oneness of His people. “That they all may be one,-that they may be one in Us,-that they may be one even as We are one”,-and “that so the world may believe and know that Thou hast sent Me,”-this is a leading petition in our Lord’s prayer to His Father.
We can ask no stronger proof of the value of unity among Christians, and the sinfulness of division, than the great prominence which our Master assigns to the subject in this passage. How painfully true it is that in every age divisions have been the scandal of religion, and the weakness of the Church of Christ! How often Christians have wasted their strength in contending against their brethren, instead of contending against sin and the devil! How repeatedly they have given occasion to the world to say, “When you have settled your own internal differences we will believe!” All this, we need not doubt, the Lord Jesus foresaw with prophetic eye. It was the foresight of it which made Him pray so earnestly that believers might be “one.”
Let the recollection of this part of Christ’s prayer abide in our minds, and exercise a constant influence on our behavior as Christians. Let no man think lightly, as some men seem to do, of schism, or count it a small thing to multiply sects, parties, and denominations. These very things, we may depend, only help the devil and damage the cause of Christ. “If it be possible, as much as lieth in us, let us live peaceably with all men.” (Rom 12:18.) Let us bear much, concede much, and put up with much, before we plunge into secessions and separations. They are movements in which there is often much false fire. Let rabid zealots who delight in sect-making and party-forming, rail at us and denounce us if they please. We need not mind them. So long as we have Christ and a good conscience, let us patiently hold on our way, follow the things that make for peace, and strive to promote unity. It was not for nothing that our Lord prayed so fervently that His people might be “one.”
We should mark, finally, in these verses, how Jesus prays that His people may at last be with Him and behold His glory. “I will,” He says, “that those whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am: that they may behold my glory.”
This is a singularly beautiful and touching conclusion to our Lord’s remarkable prayer. We may well believe that it was meant to cheer and comfort those who heard it, and to strengthen them for the parting scene which was fast drawing near. But for all who read it even now, this part of his prayer is full of sweet and unspeakable comfort.
We do not see Christ now. We read of Him, hear of Him, believe in Him, and rest our souls in His finished work. But even the best of us, at our best, walk by faith and not by sight, and our poor halting faith often makes us walk very feebly in the way to heaven. There shall be an end of all this state of things one day. We shall at length see Christ as He is, and know as we have been known. We shall behold Him face to face, and not through a glass darkly. We shall actually be in His presence and company, and go out no more. If faith has been pleasant, much more will sight be; and if hope has been sweet, much more will certainty be. No wonder that when Paul has written, “We shall ever be with the Lord,” he adds, “Comfort one another with these words.” (1Th 4:17-18.)
We know little of heaven now. Our thoughts are all confounded, when we try to form an idea of a future state in which pardoned sinners shall be perfectly happy. “It does not yet appear what we shall be.” (1Jn 3:2.) But we may rest ourselves on the blessed thought, that after death we shall be “with Christ.” Whether before the resurrection in paradise, or after the resurrection in final glory, the prospect is still the same. True Christians shall be “with Christ.” We need no more information. Where that blessed Person is who was born for us, died for us, and rose again, there can be no lack of anything. David might well say, “In Thy presence is fullness of joy, and at Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psa 16:11.)
Let us leave this wonderful prayer with a solemn recollection of the three great petitions which it contains. Let holiness and unity by the way, and Christ’s company in the end, be subjects never long out of our thoughts or distant from our minds. Happy is that Christian who cares for nothing so much as to be holy and loving like his Master, while he lives, and a companion of his Master when he dies.
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Notes-
v17.-[Sanctify them, etc.] In this verse our Lord proceeds to name the second thing He asks for His disciples in prayer. Preservation was the first thing, and sanctification the second. He asks His Father to make the disciples more holy, to lead them on to higher degrees of holiness and purity. He asks Him to do it “through the truth,”-by bringing truth to bear more effectually and powerfully on their hearts and consciences and inner man. And to prevent mistake as to what He meant by truth, he adds, “Thy Word, Thy revealed Word, is the truth that I mean.”
Some, as Maldonatus, maintain that the sentence only means “sanctify them truly,”-in opposition to that legal sanctification of priests, of which we read in Exodus and Leviticus. This, however, seems a very cold, thin, shallow sense to put on the words.
Some, again, as Mede, Pearce, and Burgon, maintain that our Lord is only praying that His Apostles may be consecrated, fitted, and set apart for the great work of the ministry, and that this is all the meaning of “sanctify.” This appears to me an imperfect and defective view of the sentence.
No doubt the word “sanctify” originally and primarily means “set apart, separate for religious uses;” and it might be used of a vessel, a house, or an animal. But inasmuch as in human beings this separation is principally evidenced by holiness and godliness of life and character, the secondary sense of “sanctify” is “to make holy,” and holy and godly people are “sanctified.” This I hold to be the meaning here most decidedly. It is a prayer for the increased holiness and practical godliness of Christ’s people. In short, the petition comes to this: “Separate them more and more from sin and sinners, by making them more pure, more spiritual-minded, and more like Thyself.” This is the view of Chrysostom and all the leading commentators.
Four great principles may be gathered from this text.
(a) The importance of sanctification and practical godliness. Our Lord specially asks it for His people. Those that despise Christian life and character, and think it of no importance so long as they are sound in doctrine, know very little of the mind of Christ. Our Christianity is worth nothing, if it does not make us value and seek practical sanctification.
(b) The wide difference between justification and sanctification. Justification is a perfect and complete work obtained for us by Christ, imputed to us, and external to us, as perfect and complete the moment we believe, as it can ever be, and admitting of no degrees.-Sanctification is an inward work wrought in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and never quite perfect so long as we live in this body of sin. The disciples needed no prayer for justification: they were completely justified already. They did need prayer for their sanctification; for they were not completely sanctified.
(c) Sanctification is a thing that admits of growth; else why should our Lord pray, “Sanctify them”? The doctrine of imputed sanctification is one that I can find nowhere in the Word of God. Christ’s imputed righteousness I see clearly, but not an imputed holiness. Holiness is a thing imparted and in-wrought, but not imputed.
(d) The Word is the great instrument by which the Holy Ghost carries forward the work of inward sanctification. By bringing that Word to bear more forcibly on mind, and will, and conscience, and affection, we make the character grow more holy. Sanctification from without by bodily austerities and asceticism, and a round of forms, ceremonies, and outward means, is a delusion. True sanctification begins from within. Here lies the immense importance of regularly reading the written Word, and hearing the preached Word. It surely, though insensibly, promotes our sanctification. Believers who neglect the Word will not grow in holiness and victory over sin.
Calvin remarks, “As the apostles were not destitute of grace, we ought to infer from Christ’s words that sanctification is not instantly completed in us on the first day, but that we make progress in it through the whole course of our life.”
Hutcheson remarks, “It is not enough that men have a begun work of sanctification in them, unless they grow up in it daily more and more. Christ prayeth for those who were already converted and sanctified.”
Augustine thinks that “Thy Word” in this place means the Personal Word, Christ Himself. But in this opinion I can find no one holding with him, except Rupertus.
v18.-[As Thou hast sent Me, etc.] The connection between this verse and the preceding one seems to me to be this: “I ask for the increased sanctification of my disciples, because of the position they have to occupy on earth. Just as Thou didst send Me to be Thy Messenger to this sinful world, so have I now sent them to be my messengers to the world. It is therefore of the utmost importance that they should be holy-the holy messengers of a holy Master,-and so stop the mouths of their accusers.” Believers are Christ’s witnesses, and the character of a witness should be spotless and blameless. For this reason our Lord specially prays that His disciples may be “sanctified.”
v19.-[And for their sakes I sanctify myself.] This is a rather hard passage. In one sense, of course, our Lord needed no sanctification. He was always perfectly holy and without sin.
I believe, with Chrysostom, the meaning must be, “I consecrate myself, and offer myself up as a sacrifice and a priest, for one special reason, to say nothing of others: in order that these my disciples may be sanctified by the truth, and made a holy people.”-Is it not as good as saying, “The sanctification no less than the justification of my people is the end of my sacrifice”? “I want to have a people who are sanctified as well as justified. So much importance do I attach to this that this is one principal reason why I now offer myself to die as a sacrifice.”-The same idea seems to lie in the text: “He gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people.” And again: “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it.” (Tit 2:14; Eph 5:26; 1Pe 2:24.)
Melancthon remarks, “The word ‘I sanctify myself,’ in this place, without doubt, is taken from priests and victims.”
v20.-[Neither pray I for these alone, etc.] In this and the three following verses our Lord proceeds to name another thing that He prays for His people. He asks that they may be “one.” He had already named this on behalf of the eleven Apostles. But He takes occasion now to enlarge the prayer, and to include others beside the eleven,-the whole company of future believers. “I now pray also for all who shall believe on Me through the preaching of my disciples in all future time, and not for my eleven apostles only.” All believers needed preservation and sanctification in every age; but none so much as the eleven, because they were the first to attack the world and bear the brunt of the battle. In some respects it was more easy to be “one” at the first beginnings of the Church, and harder to be kept and “sanctified.” As the Church grew, it would be more difficult to keep unity.
Let us mark how wide was the scope of our Lord’s intercessory prayer. He prayed not only for present, but for future believers. So should it be with our prayers. We may look forward and pray for believers yet to be born, though we may not look back and pray for believers who are dead.
George Newton observes what an encouragement it should be to us in praying for others, for a child or a friend, to remember that perhaps Christ is asking him or her of God too. He here prays for those who did not yet believe, but were to believe one day.
Let us mark how the “word” preached is mentioned as the means of making men believe. Faith cometh by hearing. The Church which places Sacraments above the preaching of the Word, will have no blessing of God, because it rejects God’s order.
Hengstenberg thinks that the “word” here must include the writings of the Apostles as well as their sermons.
v21.-[That they all…one in us.] The meaning of this sentence I take to be, “I pray that both these my disciples, and those who hereafter shall become my disciples, may all be of one mind, one doctrine, one opinion, one heart, and one practice, closely united and joined together, even as Thou, Father, and I are of one mind and one will, in consequence of that ineffable union whereby Thou art in Me and I in Thee.”
Here, as in Joh 17:11, we must carefully remember that the unity between the Father and the Son is one which the unity of believers cannot literally attain to. They must however imitate it.
The true secret of the unity of believers lies in the expression, “one in us.” They can only be thoroughly “one” by being joined at the same time to one Father and to one Saviour. Then they will be one with one another.
Ferns thinks that one thing in our Lord’s mind in this sentence was the union of Jew and Gentile into one Church, and the removal of the “wall of partition.”
[That the world…believe…sent Me.] Here our Lord brings in one important reason why He prays for His people to be “one.” It will help to make the world believe His Divine mission. “When the world sees my people not quarreling, not divided, but one in judgment, heart, and life, then the world will begin to believe that the Saviour, who has such a people, must really be a Saviour sent from God.”
Let us carefully note how well our Lord foresaw the effect which the lives, ways, and opinions of professing Christians have on the world around them. The want of unity, and consequent strife among English Christians in the last 300 years, has been a miserable example of the enormous damage that believers may do their Master’s cause by neglecting this subject. “How much,” says George Newton, “our blessed Saviour and His Gospel suffer by the hot contentions of those who call themselves saints.”
v22.-[And the glory, etc., etc.] In this verse our Lord repeats His deep desire for the unity of His people. He declares, “that in order that they may be one, He has given them the glory which the Father gave Him.” This is a very difficult expression, and one which seems to puzzle all commentators. The whole question is, what did our Lord mean by “the glory” which He gave.
(a) Some, as Calvin, think that “glory” means the image and likeness of God, by which the disciples were renewed. (2Co 3:18.)
(b) Some, as Bengel, think that “glory” means that insensible power, influence, and authority, which accompanied all our Lord did and said during His earthly ministry. Thus Moses had “glory” in his countenance when coming down from the mount. (2Co 3:7.) This same power and influence Christ gave to the Apostles. (See Act 4:33.)
(c) Some, as Zwingle, Brentius, Gualter, and Pearce, think that “glory” means the power of working miracles, which was the special and peculiar glory of our Lord while He was on earth. Thus, we read, “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” (Rom 6:4.)
(d) Some, as Augustine, Ecolampadius, Bullinger, and Manton, think that “glory” means the heavenly glory and immortality which our Lord promised to His disciples,-a glory which they should have after faithfully serving Him on earth. (Rom 8:18.)
(e) Toletus makes the strange suggestion, that the “glory” means that which is communicated to us in the Lord’s Supper! Burgon seems to take the same view.
(f) Stier and Heugstenberg hold that the “glory” means unity of mind and heart.
(g) Some, as Gregory Nyssen, Ammonius, Theophylact, and Bucer, think that “glory” means the Holy Ghost, who is elsewhere called “the Spirit of glory.” (1Pe 4:14.)
The question will probably never be settled. If I must give an opinion, I prefer the last view to any other. It suits the end of the verse better than any other. Nothing was so likely to make the disciples “one” as the gift of the Holy Ghost.
v23.-[I in them, and Thou in Me, etc.] In this verse our Lord simplifies His declarations about unity, and expands them more fully, in order to show emphatically how great importance He attached to unity. I take the meaning to be something of this kind: “I pray that my disciples may be so closely united-I dwelling in them, and Thou dwelling in Me,-that they may be compacted and perfected into one body,-having one mind, one will, one heart, and one judgment, though having many members,-and that then the world, seeing this unity, may be obliged to confess that Thou didst send Me to be the Messiah, and that Thou lovest my people even as Thou lovest Me.”
In leaving this deep and difficult passage about unity, it is well to remember that the Church, whose unity the Lord desires and prays for, is not any particular or visible Church, but the Church which is His Body, the Church of the elect, the Church which is made up of true believers and saints alone.
Moreover, the unity which our Lord prays for is not unity of forms, discipline, government, and the like; but unity of heart, and will, and doctrine, and practice. Those who make uniformity the chief subject of this part of Christ’s prayer, entirely miss the mark. There may be uniformity without unity, as in many visible Churches on earth now. There may be unity without uniformity, as between godly Episcopalians and godly Presbyterians. Uniformity no doubt may be a great help to unity, but it is not unity itself.
The unity which our Lord prays about here is that true, substantial, spiritual, internal, heart unity, which undoubtedly exists among all members of Christ of every Church and denomination. It is the unity which results from one Holy Ghost having made the members of Christ what they are. It is unity which makes them feel more of one mind with one another than with mere professors of their own party. It is unity which is the truest freemasonry on earth. It is unity which shakes the world, and obliges it to confess the truth of Christianity.-For the continued maintenance of this unity, and an increase of it, our Lord seems to me in this prayer specially to pray. And we need not wonder. The divisions of mere worldly professors are of little moment. The divisions of real true believers are the greatest possible injury to the cause of the Gospel. If all believers at this moment were of one mind, and would work together, they might soon turn the world upside down. No wonder the Lord prayed for unity.
v24.-[Father, I will…my glory…given Me.] In this verse our Lord names the fourth and last thing which He desires for His disciples in His prayer. After preservation, sanctification, and unity, comes participation of His glory. He asks that they may be “with Him” in the glory yet to be revealed, and “behold,” share, and take part in it.
“I will” is a remarkable phrase, though it must not be pressed and strained too far. (See Mar 6:25; Mar 10:35.) The daughter of Herodias asking the head of John the Baptist, said, “I will that thou give me.” It may be nothing more than the expression of a strong “wish.” Yet it is the wish of Him who is one with the Father, and only wills what the Father wills. It is probably used to assure the mind of the disciples. “I will,” and it will be done.
Hutcheson says, ” ‘I will,’ doth not import any imperious commanding way, repugnant to His former way of humble supplication; but it only imports that in this His supplication, He was making His last will and testament, and leaving His legacies, which He was sure would be effectual, being purchased by His merits, and prosecuted by His affectionate and earnest requests and intercessions.”
Traill remarks, “Christians, behold the amazing difference betwixt Christ’s way of praying against His own hell (if I may so call it) and His praying for our heaven! When praying for Himself, it is, ‘Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me.’ But when Christ is praying for His people’s heaven, it is, “Father, I will that they may be with Me.’ “
Stier maintains that “I will” “is no other than a testamentary word of the Son, who in the unity of the Father, is appointing what He wills, at that second limit of the prayer where petition ceases.”
Alford says “this is an expression of will founded on acknowledged right.”
The expression, “Be with Me where I am,” is one of those deeply interesting phrases which show the nature of the future dwellingplace of believers. Wherever it may be, whether before or after the resurrection, it will be in the company of Christ. It is like “with Me in Paradise,” “depart and be with Christ,” and “for ever with the Lord.” (Luk 23:43; Php 1:23; 1Th 4:17.) The full nature of the future state is wisely hidden from us. It is enough for believers to know that they will be “with Christ.” It is company, and not place, which makes up happiness.
Traill remarks, “Heaven consists in the perfect immediate presence of Christ. Perfect presence is, when all on both sides is present: all of Christ and all of the Christian. But now all of Christ is not with us, and all of us is not with Him. On His part we have Christ’s Spirit, word, and grace. On our part there is present with Him our hearts, and the workings of our faith and love and desire towards Him. But this presence is imperfect, and mixed with much distance and absence.”
The expression, “Behold my glory,” of course must not be confined to the idea of “looking on as spectators.” It includes participation, sharing, and common enjoyment. (Compare Joh 3:3-36; Joh 8:51; Rev 18:7.)
The expression, “Which Thou hast given Me,” seems to point to that special glory which the Father, in everlasting covenant, has appointed for Christ as the reward of the work of redemption. (Php 2:9.)
[For Thou lovedst Me…foundation…world.] This sentence seems specially inserted in order to show that the glory of Christ in the next world is a glory which had been prepared from all eternity, before time began, and before the creation of man, and that it was not only something which, like Moses or John the Baptist, He had obtained by His faithfulness on earth; but something which He had, as the eternal Son of the eternal Father, from everlasting. ” Thou lovedst Me, and did assign Me this glory long before this world was made,” that is, from all eternity. This is a very deep saying, and contains things far above our full comprehension.
v25.-[O righteous Father, etc.] In this verse our Lord begins the final winding up of His wonderful prayer. He does it by declaring the position of things in which He was about to leave the world and His disciples. I take the meaning to be this: “I come to Thee from a world which knows Thee not, and has refused to know Thee throughout my ministry. But in the midst of this world I have known Thee and steadily adhered to Thee. And these my disciples have acknowledged and confessed that Thou didst send Me to be the Messiah.”
It is not clear why our Lord uses the expression, “Righteous Father.” It is one which stands alone. It may possibly be intended to bring out in strong contrast the wickedness of a world which “knew not the Word,” when the Word was in it (see Joh 1:10), and the justice of God in punishing this world, which refused to know Christ while the disciples received Him.
The expression, “I have known Thee,” seems to point to the veil of humiliation which covered our Lord during the whole period of His incarnation. “Even then,” He seems to say, “I never ceased to know and honour Thee.”
The high testimony born to the disciples once more deserves notice. With all their infirmity, “they have KNOWN my Divine mission.”
v26.-[And I have declared…declare it.] In this sentence our Lord briefly sums up what He had done, and was still doing for the disciples: “I have made known to them Thy name and character and attributes, as the sender of salvation to a lost world, and will continue to declare it after my ascension, by the Holy Spirit.”
Here, as elsewhere, our Lord again declares that to make known the Father was one great object of His ministry.
The expression, “I will declare it,” says George Newton, is a proof that “Jesus Christ will be continually making further declarations of His Father’s name to other nations and other persons, to the end of the world. He will be ever teaching new scholars to spell it and understand it, in every generation, while the world endureth.”
[That…in them…I in them.] Our Lord ends His prayer by expressing His wish that the Father’s love may dwell in the hearts of His disciples, and that He Himself may dwell in their hearts. “My great desire is that they may know and feel the love wherewith Thou dost love Me, and that I may ever dwell in their hearts by faith.”
Let us not forget that one great wish of Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, was that “Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith.” (Eph 3:17.) He also tells the Romans “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” (Rom 5:5.)
The expression, “I will declare my love,” is a difficult one. It can only mean, “I will declare it personally during the interval between my resurrection and my ascension,” or “I will continue to declare it by my Spirit’s continual teaching after I leave the world.” The latter seems the more probable meaning.
The expression, “Thy love maybe in them,” is another grave difficulty. It must either be “That Thy love, the same love wherewith Thou lovest Me, may be directed on and toward them;” or else, “That they may feel in their own hearts a sense of that same love toward them wherewith Thou lovest Me.” I prefer the latter sense.
George Newton remarks on this verse, “If Christ is in you, let me give you this caution: let Him live quiet in your hearts. Do not molest Him and disturb Him; do not make Him vex and fret. Let it not be a penance to Him to continue in you. But labour every way to please Him, and give Him satisfaction and content, that so the house He hath chosen may not be dark and doleful, but delightful to Him.”
Manton remarks, “If an earthly King lie but one night in a house, what care there is taken that nothing be offensive to him, and that all be neat and sweet and clean. How much more careful ought you to be to keep your hearts clean, to perform service acceptable to Him, to be in the exercise of faith, love, and other graces, that so you may entertain, as you ought, your heavenly King, who comes to take up His continual abode in your hearts.”
We may well feel humbled, as we leave this chapter, when we think of our ignorance of the true meaning of many of its phrases. How much of our exposition is nothing better than feeble conjecture! We seem only to scratch the surface of the field. Let us only remember that the four things prayed for by our Lord are things that every Christian should daily desire,-preservation, sanctification, unity, and final glory in Christ’s company.
George Newton closes his Exposition of the whole chapter with these touching words:-“How earnest and importunate is Christ with God the Father, that we may be one here, and that we may be in one place hereafter! Oh, let us search into the heart of Jesus Christ, laid open to us in this abridgment of His intercession for us, that we may know it and the workings of it more and more, until at length the precious prayer comes to its full effect, and we be taken up to be for ever with the Lord, and where He is there we may be also!”
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Joh 17:17. Consecrate them in the truth: thy word is truth. The word here rendered Consecrate is constantly used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to express the entire dedication and consecration both of persons and of things to God. In this sense, but with the deeper meaning of inward and spiritual consecration, we find it here. It is thus, when applied to persons, not less but more than sanctification, the latter being implied before the former can take place. The word corresponds to the attribute prefixed to Father in Joh 17:11 (for which, however, we have in English no other word than holy): the same word, too, is used by Jesus of Himself in chap. Joh 10:36. To be consecrated is, therefore, to be separated from the world, to be dedicated as a holy thing to God. This is to be done in the truth,in that sphere of the truth which is the sphere of the Father and of the Son; in living communion with, and appropriation of, the truth, so that the truth shall be that in which their whole being is moulded and consecrated. This meaning of the truth is then more fully brought out by the statement, Thy word is truth. Here by word we are not to understand the word of God in genera], but the word already spoken of in Joh 17:14,that special word of the Father which is found in His revelation of Himself in the Son, the Word. And this word is truth in its most absolute sense, truth which finds concrete expression in the truth. It is the truth that came by Jesus Christ,not merely truth in opposition to error, but the eternal reality of things in contrast with that which is unsubstantial and shadowy, that which must pass away.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Sanctify them, not initially, for so they were sanctified already, but progressively: let them increase more and more in grace and holiness.
Learn hence, 1. That such as are already sanctified, must labour and ought to endeavour after further measures and higher degrees of santification: that the most holy may yet be more holy.
2. The word of God is the great instrument in God’s hand for his people’s santification.
3. That the word of God is the truth of God; Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. The word of God is a divine truth, an eternal truth, an infallible truth, an holy truth.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
17:17 {f} Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
(f) That is, make them holy: and that thing is said to be holy which is dedicated to God and belongs to him alone.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The request for sanctification 17:17-19
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"To sanctify" (Gr. hagiazo) means to set apart for God’s service (cf. Exo 28:41; Jer 1:5). Jesus is the perfect example of a sanctified person. He devoted Himself completely and consistently to God’s will for Him. Sanctification in John’s Gospel is always for a mission. [Note: Carson, The Gospel . . ., p. 566.] The means of the disciples’ sanctification was the truth, which Jesus explained was God’s Word. Jesus came to reveal God’s word to humankind (Joh 1:1; Joh 1:14; Joh 14:6), and the Spirit would help His disciples understand it (Joh 15:13). It is both personal and propositional. It comes to us through the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God, Scripture.
The way Jesus asked the Father to sanctify the disciples was by using His word. This means that it is essential for disciples to know, understand, believe, and obey the revelation that God has given us. The words of God that Jesus revealed and that stand recorded in the Bible are the key to believers’ practical sanctification. Practical sanctification involves separation unto God from the world, the evil one who controls it, and the lies that He promotes that the world believes.
"With the mind, we learn God’s truth through the Word. With the heart, we love God’s truth, His Son [cf. Joh 14:6]. With the will, we yield to the Spirit [of truth, cf. Joh 14:17; Joh 16:13] and live God’s truth day by day. It takes all three for a balanced experience of sanctification." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:370.]