“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”  (John, 17:19).

There is so much in His verse that one could write a whole book on it, let alone just a blog post. We think of sanctification in terms of the gradual process of the Holy Spirit working in our lives and purifying our characters, so that we become more like Jesus, more “saintly.” But that isn’t the way our Lord uses the term here: he couldn’t become more saintly than He was, or more like Jesus than he already was. The word used in the Greek is hagiazō, which is also translated as “consecrate.” What Jesus did here, as He did throughout His ministry, was to consecrate Himself to the Father’s will. Although most translations use “sanctify” here, the RSV uses the word “consecrate,”

“And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

God‘s word is truth, and the Father’s will for Jesus was already expressed in the prophetic words of the Messianic scriptures. As He faced the cross, Jesus consecrated himself to the truth. The desires and impulses of His flesh were completely eradicated by His commitment to the Father.

Sanctified by the truth
Jesus sanctified himself for our sakes “that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” It’s easy to miss the word “also” here. But what it tells us is clear: His desire for His disciples was that we would have the same commitment as Him, and He committed Himself to the cross to make it possible (“that they also…”). He never intended discipleship to be a part-time post.

When Jesus faced Pilate a short while later, He said “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18: 37), and Pilate famously asked “What is truth?” and turned away, assuming that the question had no answer. And as we know all too well, in the world system where Pilate had authority, truth is considered to be relative. But absolute truth does exist: Jesus Christ is Lord, His blood cleanses us from all our sin, God is our Father, He is Love, Love never fails. The doors to the Kingdom of Heaven, where Love rules and everlasting life awaits, are open to us through Jesus, its king. When the truth of the Kingdom of God reigns in our hearts we can die to self as Jesus did, knowing that self will always fail. We can consecrate ourselves to the truth in full assurance of faith, turning away from lusts and the lies of doubt, fear and pride that bring corruption. We will know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

The washing of water
Under the law, consecration was to be set apart from all impurities. As disciples of Jesus, we have been taken out of the world (John 17:16); we have already been consecrated. Jesus said to Peter, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” (John 13:10) This is picked up later by Paul: when he is drawing the parallel between the love of a husband for His wife and the love of Christ for the church, he says this:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5: 25-27)

When the disciples believed in Jesus, they were taken out of the world, and made clean by the perfect word that they had accepted. They weren’t clean because they had been marinating in the Holy Spirit for three years, but because they believed what Jesus had told them. When Paul writes “to the saints who are in Ephesus” (Eph 1:1), he was writing to all the believers there – all the consecrated ones – not just those who might be considered saintly. By washing their feet and commanding them to follow His example, Jesus was demonstrating to His disciples that their task now was to remain clean by continuing to believe His words, and by holding each other accountable for doing so. Paul’s revelation was not a new teaching, but a reminder of the lesson that Jesus gave in John 13.  “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26)

No less than those first disciples, we, the bride of Christ, were already made clean when we were taken out of the world by the word that we believed. To remain clean is a question of decision and determination to be bound to the word and the will of God. As we stay in tune with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, He will keep reminding us of the Truth. We don’t have to wait for sanctification to happen: we can sanctify ourselves as Jesus did every day of our lives, and the truth will set us free.