Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (ESV)

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (NIV)

Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. (NLT)

Dive Deeper:

This week’s verse is found in John 17, a passage commonly referred to as “the high priestly prayer.” In it, Jesus is recorded praying before he is arrested and led to the cross. In His prayer, we see a beautiful, circular picture of how God is glorified. The synopsis is this: God the Father glorifies Jesus, who reveals the Father’s glory to us. Because of this, we glorify Jesus, who then glorifies the Father in return. In the middle of this exposition, Jesus prays for his disciples, saying, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

His Truth Makes Us Holy

Jesus asks the Father to make believers holy by His truth and says that the word is truth. The gospel is truth; it is what sanctifies us. Let’s not miss this. We can tend to go about our Christian lives knowing that the Gospel of Jesus is what saves us, but then we can try to reach sanctification entirely on our power. We try to be holy by doing holy things, but in Scripture, we see that we become holy by knowing the truth and remaining attached to the vine. Fruit, or rather good works, is produced in those who remain in the truth and live by it. Truth sanctifies those who abide in it (John 15:4).

Jesus is Truth

John 14 says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. John 1 says that Jesus is the word, and John 17:17 says that the word is truth. As we’ve been studying the armor of God, we’ve come to the realization time and time again that every armor piece and every good thing leads us back to Jesus. This is also undoubtedly the same with truth. Jesus is the word. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the way.

When we know the truth, we are made perfect by it because Jesus is this truth, and His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7). When we are sanctified, it is not merely a matter of sinning less, although this will occur in the life of the believer through the grace of God. Instead, we are made more aware of our sins, realizing the extent of our weaknesses like never before and relying on Christ all the more as our source of strength. Being sanctified in truth leads to the good works in our lives, which God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in. (Ephesians 2) The order of this is important, don’t miss it!

The call is to put on the Lord Jesus as your truth and be sanctified by him.

Written by Blake Stanley

Challenge:

Pray.

We see in this passage that Jesus knew the great giving power of the Father through prayer. My challenge to you this week is seemingly simple but is actually radically profound. I want you to pray. Pray for your life to be saturated in truth, for your heart to be guarded by it, for your community to walk in it, and to be sanctified by it ultimately. Don't allow the deceiver to keep you from prayer from prayer, for He knows that Christ has ordained prayer to be the way in which we access the life-changing and world-changing power of God.