Jesus was a sanctifier

JESUS WAS A SANCTIFIER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they themselves also may be sanctifiedin truth.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The richest, fullest life our earth has everknown was the life of Jesus Christ.
No one ever had within himself such complete satisfactions, suchassured
convictions, and such settled peace as He. Rich and full as His life was to
Himself, it was the richest, fullest life to others that has ever blessedhumanity.
Wherever He went He was the source of helpfulness. Even the hem of His
garment had powerin it, and from His lips, His hands, His heart went out an
unceasing, abounding inspiration to the souls of men. Jesus Christwas a great
fountain whose waters ofcomfort welled up like a flood within His own heart,
and then flowedforth full-volumed to cheerthe world. His life had more in it
and gave more from it than any other life since time began. What was the
secretof it? He sanctified Himself.
When Augustine Thierry, after withdrawing himself from the world, and
devoting himself to study, that he might investigate the origin, causes and
effects of the successive Germaninvasions, spent six years in poring with the
pertinacity of a Benedictine monk over worm-eatenmanuscripts, and
deciphering and comparing black-lettertexts, at lastcompleted his
magnificent History of the Conquest, he found he had losthis eyesight. The
most precious of his senses hadbeen sacrificedto his zeal in literary research.

The beauties of nature and the records of scholarshipwere thenceforth shut
out from him; and yet did he think the sacrifice too great? In a letter, written
to a friend long afterward, he said: “Were I to begin my life over again, I
would choose the road that had led me to where I now am. Blind and afflicted,
without hope and without leisure, I cansafely offer this testimony, the
sincerity of which, coming from a man in my condition, cannot be calledin
question. There is something in the world worth more than pleasure, more
than fortune, more than health itself. I mean devotion, self-dedicationto a
greatend.” There is a higher end than scientific research, andto that end
Jesus Christ dedicatedHimself.
In the instructive and profound book on The Religionof the Semites, Dr.
RobertsonSmith quotes, as containing the deepestconceptionof the
Atonement, these words of our Lord, uttered as He knelt in prayer by the
altar of the supreme sacrifice:“Fortheir sakes Iconsecratemyself, that they
themselves also may be consecratedin truth.” Bessonwrites in his spiritual
letters, “It is in His passionthat the Saviour shows Himself, like the sun at
midday, in all the ardour of His love.” And in the shadow of the cross, He who
had schooledHimself daily to the repressionof feeling spoke the secretof His
life and death. He interpreted His whole work as a consecrationin the power
of love. On the Cross He consecratedHimself as the atoning sacrifice—the
absolute oblation for the sins of the whole world. Here is the first aspectofthe
Cross;its witness to the deep necessityof expiation, to the completenessof
Christ’s offering for sin. But this doctrine may be stated with a narrow
correctnesswhichleaves a world of unknown feeling behind. Before the death
of Christ came His life, and that was a long self-sacrifice.It was willingly
surrendered hour by hour till all the years were full. Then it was completed—
consummated in death.1 [Note: W. RobertsonNicoll, Ten-Minute Sermons,
235.]
I

The Act of Consecration
The word “sanctify” is used in the Bible with two distinct significations. The
original meaning of the word is to consecrate, to dedicate, to setapart to God
and to God’s service;and this is its ordinary meaning in the Old Testament.
We commonly intend by it, to make holy: sanctityand holiness are the same;
sanctificationis the growing completeness ofthe Christian character, the
hallowing of the personallife: in this sense the word is often used in the New
Testament. Sanctification, in brief, may describe either the purpose or the
process ofthe Christian life.
It is not hard to trace the connexionbetweenthese two meanings of the word;
to see how the first meaning passes naturally and necessarilyinto the other.
Perfectconsecrationwouldbe complete and absolute holiness. No purity
would be wanting to the motive, no elevation to the character, of one who
should be devoted to the Lord his God, with “all his heart, and all his soul,
and all his mind, and all his strength.” We must lay aside any thought of a
native holiness, in man or angel, apart from conformity to God’s character
and obedience to His will. Godalone is holy, in and of Himself; the source of
our sanctity, like the spring of our life, is in God. The charm and energy of the
personalholiness even of Christ lay in His constantdevotion to His Father’s
will.
This is at once our Lord’s life-purpose, and an ideal for us. “I sanctify
myself.” I am setapart, consecrated, devotedto Thee and to mankind.
Consecratedin thought, word and deed: devoted in motive and in action. I am
near Thee in my daily life, in my going out and coming in, in my trials as in
my triumphs, in my death as in my life. I am like Thee, revealing Thy
character;having Thy image stamped on me.

1. He concealedHis greatness andglory.—The natural dignities of the Son of
God had to be hidden from us. John, the beloved disciple, he who knew the
Lord more intimately than any other, he who saw mostclearly into the depths
of that soul, who leaned upon the bosomof the Lord, tells us that he beheld
the glory of the Sonof God, His face like unto the sun in its strength, His eyes
like unto flames of fire;—and John fell at His feetas dead. Thus was it on the
Mount of Transfiguration, when for a moment the innate glory of the Sonof
God shone through the veil that hid it, and His robes were white and
glistering, and againHis face was like the sun, and againHis eyes were like
unto flames of fire, and the disciples, blinded and bewildered by such
splendour, hid themselves, afraid, and shrank from that excess oflight. Think
of Him, then, for our sakessetting apart His glory that He might become our
BlessedBrotherand Friend, and that all might draw near to Him and be at
home with Him; sitting down with lowly fishermen, welcoming the outcast,
gathering to Himself the little children, drawing around Him all the sadand
needy of the earth.
Out of this comes the other greattemptation that assails Him. “If Thou art the
Son of God, if Thou art not bound by these laws of humanity, if Thou canst
dismay and bewilder Thine enemies by the manifestations of Thy glory, put
forth Thy power, assertThine authority.” Think of Him as He stands with
outstretchedhand rebuking Peterthere in the shadow of Gethsemane, in that
night, the full moon of the Passoverhigh in the heavens, about Him the rough
crowdgathered with swords and staves!Judas has betrayed his Lord with a
kiss, and the soldiers step forward to lay their hands upon the Saviour, when
Peterdraws his sword to fight for the Lord. “Thinkestthou,” said Jesus, “that
I cannot now pray to my Father and he will presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels?” ButHe sanctifiedHimself, setting Himself apart for
our sakes.
Think, again, how it met Him on the Cross. Fromout the crowd that gathered
about the city walls, there rings the fierce derision, “If thou be the Sonof God,

come down from the cross.” Others have suffered perhaps as cruel a
martyrdom, others have hung in anguish, mockedand derided; but of all that
ever went forth to die, He alone could say, “I lay down my life. No man taketh
it from me.” This is the glory and triumph of Christ that, consciousofa power
which could have achievedso sublime and instant a triumph over all His
foes,—His cross transformedinto a throne, about Him all His holy angels, and
He seatedamidst the terrors of judgment summoning these His murderers to
His feet,—forour sakes He Bet Himself apart and hung upon His cross and
sunk until there came the final cry, “It is finished.”
Is humiliation easy? Was it easyfor Christ to humble Himself? Is it easyfor
us? “There are certain animals,” says George Eliot, “to which tenacity of
position is a law of life—they can never flourish again, after a single wrench:
and there are certainhuman beings to whom predominance is a law of life—
they can only sustainhumiliation so long as they canrefuse to believe in it,
and, in their own conception, predominate still.”1 [Note: George Eliot, The
Mill on the Floss.]
Manin, the last doge of Venice, was compelledto swearallegiance to Austria
in the name of his compatriots. With a brokenheart he made ready for the
ceremony, but as he stepped forward at the appointed time to pronounce the
fatal words, his strength and his faculties gave way together. He fell senseless
at the feetof his foes, and died not long afterward.2 [Note:W. M. Sloane,
NapoleonBonaparte, ii. 24.]
2. He made an absolute surrender of Himself.—There are times when Egoism
can reachits best development only by what would be calleda complete
surrender of itself to the help of others. There is a tradition that one who
desired to produce a fine kind of pottery always failed until he threw himself
into the fire that was baking his work, and lo, the effort was now a success,the
pottery came forth as he had desired. Egoismsubmerged in Altruism became

perfectedEgoismand perfectedAltruism at once. So Christ reachedan hour
in His life when He could not be the most that He ought to be unless He
actually laid down His life for others. He would have been a renegade to His
own high ideas of nobility of characterif He had not been willing to die for
mankind. Egoismfor its own development needed a prodigal Altruism. The
fulness of His ownlife demanded an outpouring of that life.
I heard sometime since of an oculist who was very fond of cricket. But he had
given it up, much as he enjoyed it, for he found that it affectedthe delicacyof
his touch; and for the sake ofthose whom he sought to relieve he sanctified
himself and sethimself apart. That is what we want—that there shall come
into our lives a force that prompts us always to be at our best and readiestfor
service, our fullest and richest to help, a tree that is always in leaf and always
in bloom and always ladenwith its fruit, like the orange tree, where the
beauty of the blossommeets with its fragrance the mellow glory of the fruit.1
[Note:Mark Guy Pearse.]
There are two greatpictures, eachof them by a famous artist. One picture
represents a womanin a hospital. The woman is a princess, fair and beautiful
to look upon, but the hospital is most loathsome, because it is the home of a
number of dying lepers, and this fair and beautiful woman is representedas
wiping the face of a dying leper. That picture is a symbol of the dignity and
the beauty of socialservice. But there hangs by its side another picture by
another greatartist. It represents a womanin her oratory. She is in the
attitude of prayer. Beside her stands an angel. She is looking over the open
pages of the Holy Bible, which are illuminated. And the legend tells us that
while she knelt there in that place of prayer, seventimes she was interrupted.
Seventimes there came a call at her door, a demand upon her love, upon her
charity—a sevenfoldrecognitionof the needs of her brother man. And seven
times, with a patience and with a moral beauty beyond all description, she
goes to the door, relieves these cases ofnecessity, and returns to her knees, to

her attitude of prayer. This is a picture of the supreme dignity and the great
worth of personalsanctification.1 [Note:O. W. Whittaker.]
II
The Aim of Consecration
“I sanctify myself,”—that is the starting-point of redemption. “Fortheir
sakes,”—thatis the end, the common good, the socialwelfare. The beginning
is individual, the aim is social. The wayto make a goodworld is, first of all, to
be goodoneself. First character, then charity; first life, then love;—that was
the wayof Jesus Christ. He does not stand in history as the greatorganizer or
reformer of the socialworld. He stands primarily as the witness of the
capacityfor socialservice offeredto eachhuman soul. The Kingdom of God,
which is the end of endeavour, is to come through the personalsanctification
of individuals for the sake ofothers. The Christian paradox is the paradox of
the solarsystem. An isolatedsoul, like an isolatedplanet, means instability
and chaos. The stability of eachpart is found in its steadyorbit round the
largercentre, and the integrity of the whole vast order hangs on the
adjustment of eachsingle part. That is what is known in the world of nature
as the law of attraction, and what Jesus calls in the spiritual world the
Kingdom of God.
The mother consecratesherselffor her infant. She devotes herselfin self-
forgetting love. The motive is strong, the strongestwe know—mother-love.
This emotion throbbing in the mother-heart finds expressionin a thousand
acts of loving care; but the child grows up and needs a mother’s care less;still
the care subsists. Some mythical relation arising out of motherhood seems to
grow up in the mother’s heart which delights in self-giving. The average
mother has it, without any specialgifts of intellect. The exceptionalmother

controls this natural emotion by foresightand educatedtaste. It is only the
unnatural mother that has it not. And yet, though it is common, it is never
learned from the outside. It springs up instinctively in answerto the infant’s
need. It is spontaneous and almost unthinking, and yet it is the most beautiful
love in life, for it gives all and asks nothing. What a lyric life becomes to the
mother in her joy! Her thoughts run to poetry and her horizon is filled with
her helpless child. It is all the world to her. Something of this mother-love
there must be in all consecration. We must love some one, some community,
some race, in self-abandoning, self-effacing love before we canconsecrate
ourselves for their sakes. This is one standard of our capacityfor such an
enterprise. Can we love others better than ourselves so as to serve them?
Otherwise the service will at the moment of pressure seemto us less important
and less demanding than our own comfort and we shall throw it up in
petulance or despair.1 [Note:Alexander Tomory, 66.]
Dante, writing his poetry, never forgotBeatrice. He perfected that poetry in
thought, in word, in spirit, in movement, hoping that it would receive public
recognitionand bring him honour. But he perfected it and sought recognition
and honour because burning in his soul was love for his idealized Beatrice, at
whose shrine and to whose praise he intended to offer all the recognitionand
honour that he might possibly win. Beatrice was a vision beckoning him on to
industry and skill. In a far holier, higher way Christ had His beckoning vision.
It was the whole world that beckonedHim to endeavourand development.
Perhaps from that hill behind Nazareth He watchedthe ships of all nations
going up and down the Mediterranean, and the world with all its kingdoms
stoodout before His thought. Certainit is that when the hour of temptation
came to Him, and all the kingdoms of the world were made to pass before
Him, He recognizedthem, and they appealed to Him because He had thought
of them so often, so lovingly, so devotedly. Yes, the supreme vision of Christ
was “others.” Neveratany period of His life was He without it. He unrolled
the scrollof the Scriptures, and what He read was that He should open the
door to the imprisoned, should bind up the broken-hearted, and should give
deliverance to the enslaved. He used saw and hammer in the shop, making
box, wheel, or door, and His eyes, His thought, His being, could not stop with

them; His vision was peering far out into all the earth, and He was seeing
thousands upon thousands of hearts appealing to Him for help.2 [Note: James
G. K. McClure, Loyalty, 214.]
1. Forus, as for Christ, sanctificationis separationfor use.—It is in this sense
that our Lord immediately goes onto say, “Fortheir sakesI sanctify myself,
that they themselves also may be sanctifiedin truth.” To sanctify is to set
apart. “The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself” (Psalm4:3). In
this sense the vessels ofthe Temple and of the Tabernacle were sanctified
when they were set apart for a holy use. In this thought of separationthe idea
of the intrinsic characterofthe person or thing sanctified does not come into
view in the first instance. Our Lord Himself, being perfectly holy, needed no
moral renovation, but He did need to be set apart, to be devoted to the
performance of the Father’s will. “Fortheir sakesI sanctify myself,” that is, I
setmyself apart to do always the things that please Him. He came upon earth
as a servant. “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will
of him that sent me” (John 6:38). He came as separatedunto God, not in any
spirit of Pharisaism, but in the spirit of whole-hearteddevotion. He came to
do but one thing—“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish
his work” (John4:34), and this high aim is certainly, by virtue of his calling,
also setbefore every Christian.
In the wonderful systemof the telephone the whole complex communication
depends at eachpoint on the little film of metal which we calla transmitter.
Take that little disk out of the mechanism, and it becomes insignificantand
purposeless:but setthe transmitter where it belongs, in the wonderful
mechanism of the greatersystem, and eachword that is spokeninto it is
repeatedmiles and miles away. So stands the individual in the vast systemof
the providence of God. He is a transmitter. Takenby himself, what can be
more insignificant than he? Yet, at eachpoint the whole systemdepends on
the transmissive powerof the individual life. It takes its place in the great
order, saying to itself, “Fortheir sakes I sanctify myself”; and then, by the

miracle of the Divine method, eachvibration of the insignificant but sanctified
life reaches the needs which are waiting for its messagefaraway.1 [Note:F.
G. Peabody, Sunday Evenings in the College Chapel, 250.]
2. The next element is purification.—It follows almost without saying that if
you setapart a person or a thing to the service of an absolutelyholy God,
anything that defiles that person or thing renders it unfit for God’s 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. If I want to separate a cup to
God’s service, and that cup is polluted, I must not only set it apart for God’s
use, I must separate it from the pollution that is in it. Thus separationinvolves
the idea of the removal of a defilement which is inconsistentwith holy use. If I
am to he separatedto God, and sanctified for God’s service, it is not enough
that I should be setapart without any reference to my intrinsic character. The
characteritselfmust be purified from the defilement which makes it unfit to
be used in a holy service. “Ifa man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vesselunto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and
prepared unto every goodwork” (2 Timothy 2:21). Thus we see that the
deeper thought of the moral and spiritual renovationfollows close upon the
first greatmeaning of separation, and in fact springs out of it.
Henry Drummond never said a truer thing than when he declaredthat what
God wanted was not more of us, but a better brand. We need the perfecting of
holiness for the perfecting alike of our usefulness and of our happiness.
According to the Divine ordination, holiness and happiness are evermore
inseparable. This is the secretof the bliss of heaven. And in proportion as
holiness is cherished in the heart and practised in the life, will the new
Jerusalemcome down from God out of heaven.

The men of grace have found
Glory begun below,
Celestialfruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.1 [Note:P. S. Honson, The Four Faces, 226.]
3. Transformation.—The purification is followedby a gradual transformation
into the image of Christ. “Sanctify them in the truth.” “The truth” is not only
the elementin which we are to live, but the element into which we are to be
transformed. The purposed end of the truth is not that we may find wisdom,
but that we may gain holiness. Thatis to be the Christian distinctiveness;we
are to be clothed in the garb of truth, and the world is to recognize, by our
moral garments, that we are the kinsmen of the Lord. And in order that we
may attain to this spiritual beauty, it is needful that we take our individual
powers and deliberately separate them and dedicate them unto the truth. We
must have a consecrationservice, anddevote our reasonto the truth. And we
must have a consecrationservice, anddevote our affections and our will. And
the powers of the secondrank must not be allowedto remain in assumed
inferiority or defilement. Our imaginations must be devoted to the truth, and
so must our language, and so must our humour. Every faculty and function in
our life must be setapart to the clean, beautiful, beautifying truth, as revealed
to us in our Saviour by His promised Spirit.
A Connecticutfarmer came to a well-knownclergyman, saying that the
people in his neighbourhood had built a new meeting-house, and that they
wanted this clergymanto come and dedicate it. The clergyman, accustomedto

participate in dedicatory services where different clergymen took different
parts of the service, inquired:
“What part do you want me to take in the dedication?”
The farmer, thinking that this question applied to the part of the building to
be included in the dedication, replied:
“Why, the whole thing! Take it all in, from underpinning to steeple.”
That man wanted the building to be wholly sanctifiedas a temple of God, and
that all at once. “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?”1 [Note: H. Clay Trumbull, Our Misunderstood
Bible, 115.]
(1) We reachour best by devoting ourselves to the interests of others.—Iam
my best, not simply for myself, but for the world. Is there anything in all the
teachings that man has had from his fellow-man, all that has come down to
him from the lips of God, that is nobler, that is more far-reaching than this,
that I am to be my best not simply for my ownsake, but for the sake ofthat
world which, by being my best, I shall make more complete, I shall, according
to my ability, renew and recreate in the image of God? That is the law of my
existence. And the man that makes that the law of his existence neglects
neither himself nor his fellow-men; he neither becomes the self-absorbed
student and cultivator of his own life upon the one hand, nor does he become,
abandoning himself, simply the wasting benefactorof his brethren upon the
other. I watchthe workmanbuild upon the building which by and by is to
soarinto the skies, to toss its pinnacles up to the heaven, and I see him looking
up and wondering where those pinnacles are to be, thinking how high they are

to be, measuring the feet, wondering how they are to be built, and all the time
he is cramming a rotten stone into the building just where he has set to work.
Let him forget the pinnacles, if he will, or hold only the floating image of them
in his imagination for his inspiration; but the thing that he must do is to put a
brave, strong soul, an honest and substantial life into the building just where
he is now at work.
David Livingstone longed for knowledge andfor purity of soul. He sought to
be an astronomer, and a chemist, and a botanist, and a geographer. He
surveyed lands and built houses and steeredboats. He laboured to know
languages andobtain poweramong barbarians. How glad he was of
recognitionin England, and how he valued everything that men called
success!But why did he value them? That he might heal that open sore of the
world, Africa; that he might be able to callattention to Africa, and bring
beneficent aid to Africa, and sanctify Africa. The more he sanctifiedhimself,
yes, the largerman he became in his possessionoftruth, power, and purity,
the more Africa lay upon his heart and the deeper in his soul rang the needs of
the dark continent. When, with the early daylight, his servants coming into his
room found him dead upon his knees beside his bed, they saw the perfected
sanctificationof Livingstone expressedin his actually dying for others.1 [Note:
James G. K. McClure, Loyalty, 223.]
(2) We remain at our worstby dedicating ourselves to self.—Aman may
dedicate himself to a hundred things, but there is one thing to which he must
not dedicate or re-dedicate self. He must be sure that he is not dedicating self
to self. If he dedicates selfto self he will not so soonawake,as we are
sometimes told a man will, to bitter disappointment. For the more remarkable
the powers are which he once dedicates to self, the more remarkable will he
make the selfto which they are dedicated, the more apparently worthy of the
dedication will he become both to himself and to others. We do not see self-
admiration diminish with years, with disappointments, or with knowledge of

the world. It may, indeed, continue along with such high gifts and noble
qualities that it seems the one fault in the man. But it is fatal.
It was to Croesus that Solonsaid, in the midst of all Croesus’swealthand
powerand wisdom (and powerful and wise Croesus was as wellas wealthy),
“Count no man happy before he dies.” And it was the same Croesus who on
his ownfuneral pyre, having lost children and kingdom and home, calledout
the single word “Solon!Solon!” and thus declared that Solon was right, and
that happiness could not be securedby things selfish. Christ Himself could not
have been happy even in being spotless, exceptas He used His spotlessnessfor
the benefit of others.
(3) The spring of all our activities must be devotion to Christ.—“Fortheir
sakes,” saidJesus.“ForHis sake,”saywe. Thatis our inspiration. The life of
complete surrender is in Him and in Him alone. To know Him, to commune
with Him, to rest in His love, to have and hold it as our own—that is the secret
of the surrendered life.
Just to give up, and trust
All to a Fate unknown,
Plodding along life’s road in the dust,
Bounded by walls of stone;
Neverto have a heart at peace;

Neverto see whencare will cease;
Just to be still when sorrows fall—
This is the bitterest lessonofall.
Just to give up, and rest
All on a Love secure,
Out of a world that’s hard at the best,
Looking to heaven as sure;
Ever to hope, through cloud and fear,
In darkestnight, that the dawn is near;
Just to wait at the Master’s feet—
Surely, now, the bitter is sweet.1[Note:Henry van Dyke.]

III
The Instrument of Consecration
1. The Truth is the greatsanctifier. There is no ray of truth that ever came
from the Fatherof lights that does not hallow the heart on which it falls. It is
not make-believes thatwill give you sanctity. There is a falsetto character
about all piety resting upon make-believes.But Truth—every ray of it, is
blessing. See God, the infinite Father, the Alpha and Omega of whose being is
Love, love so infinite and inconceivable that it embraces everyindividual soul
of man, with a desire to save and bless it; see Him in the graciousnessofHis
providence, in the majesty of His rule, and every attribute you behold engages
your love, quickens your trust, brings you near, makes you wish to serve Him,
makes you His and like Him. The truth in God sanctifies. The truth in Christ,
in His work, love, patience, humanity, Godhead, intercession, the everlasting
purpose of His heart, is all of it quickening. The truth in man is a sanctifying
thing. Fearno truth. All nervousness that dreads inquiry, all
apprehensiveness ofthe result of modern investigations, is unbelief and
mistake. Nothing that is true will displace a quickening influence for good
without giving a more quickening influence still. “Sanctifythem through thy
truth.” Every error of life springs from an error of thought. A lie is the root of
all evil—some misconceptionor misunderstanding. Truth of providence, truth
of the rewards of goodness,truth of grace, truth of immortality, truth of God
and man—every ray of it is quickening.
In the truth, and not simply through the truth. The Truth is, as it were, the
atmosphere, the element, in which believers are immersed and by which they
are sustained:and we must think of the Truth in the widestsense in which we
can conceive ofit. Such Truth, which Christ is, and which Christ reveals, is
everywhere about us: it corresponds with the whole range of present
experience:it is realized in a personalcommunion with its Source. Its function

is not simply to support but to transfigure. Its issue is not knowledge but
holiness.1 [Note:B. F. Westcott, The Incarnation and Common Life, 176.]
2. “Thy word is truth.”—This leads us directly to the Bible and the Bible
tends to make men saints, because it describes the lives and experiences of
many who have lived near to God, and who have caredintensely for men. And
we take fire by the things we read; as it has been said, “If you read
Shakespeare,aftera while you think Shakespeare andyou talk Shakespeare.”
“Thy word is truth.” Thy word, written and unwritten, Thy word in the Bible,
in nature, in history, in experience. We dare not limit either the time or the
manner of His utterance. Forms of thought, the organizationof the State, the
relations of the sciencesvary, and He meets our changing position with
appropriate teaching. His messagecomesto eachage and to eachpeople as it
came at Pentecost, in their own language. It comes to us through the struggles
of the nations and the movements of society, through every factthat marks
one leaststepin the method of creationor in the history of man. It is this
message, givento us in our language, that we have to welcome and to interpret
now. Only so will our personalconsecrationbe perfected: only so will our
socialoffice be fulfilled.1 [Note:B. F. Westcott, The Incarnation and Common
Life, 187.]
(1) The Word has a discovering and enlightening power. It is a mirror in
which we see reflectedour failures and sins; it is a searchlightdiscerning the
very thoughts and intents of the heart.
A late postmasterin London gave a poor Roman Catholic woman a
Testament. The priest visiting her on her dying bed found it beneath her
pillow as she passedaway, and took it with him, intending to destroyit. But it

was found beneath his pillow likewise whenhe died, not long after.2 [Note:
Homiletic Review, xxi. 158.]
(2) It has a cleansing and purifying power. We are very much influenced by
what we read.
We are informed that the wretchedman who took the life of President Carnot
lived an apparently harmless, decent life for a goodmany years, until he came
into contactwith anarchist publications, which so saturated his mind with evil
thoughts, schemes, andideas 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 againand again been shownin 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 sownbroadcastin print.
The same principle holds true conversely, and it holds goodwith regardto the
Word of God. The Bible has a sanctifying influence: it is a holy book—itsets
before us holy examples, it exhorts us to a holy course of life, it furnishes us
with holy doctrines, it points us to a holy Saviour.3 [Note:E. Moore, Christ in
Possession, 74.]
(3) The Word has a nourishing and strengthening power. We are told that as
new-born babes we are to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we may
grow thereby. And the Apostle says, “I commend you to God, and to the word
of his grace, whichis able to build you up” (Acts 20:32). There is a vital link
betweenthe written word and the Living Word, and when the word of God
dwells in us, Christ comes and dwells in us too. The secretof sanctificationis
an indwelling Saviour.
No distant Lord have I

Loving afar to be;
Made flesh for me, He cannotrest
Until He rests in me.
Brother in joy and pain,
Bone of my bone was He,
Now,—intimacycloserstill,
He dwells Himself in me.
I need not journey far
This dearestfriend to see,
Companionship is always mine,
He makes His home with me.1 [Note: Maltbie D. Babcock.]
The Master’s Consecration

BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Two Apostleships
John 17:18
D. Young
The sense ofapostleshipmust enter into all true Christian work. The Lord
Jesus takes but the rank of an apostle - speaks to his Father as having made
him an apostle into the world. He grows up to manhood, not as other lads in
Nazareth, to choose anoccupationand walk in life for himself, but to take a
path divinely chosen. He both is sent and knows well who sent him. The
highest goodis only to be got out of the Lord Jesus by treating him according
to his apostleship. Treating Jesus otherwisethan as sent, we insult and slander
him. He comes not with his own claim, but with the claim of the invisible
Father.
I. THE APOSTLESHIP OF JESUS. "Thoudidst send me into the world."
That is the feeling of Jesus, andwe must not dispute it. Not a discourse of
Jesus, nota deed of Jesus, but has stamped across it, "Sent of the Father."
Sent into the world:
1. Forthe world's need. None the less so because multitudes live and die,
practically denying the need of Jesus. Everything depends on what is aimed
at. A man may say reading and writing are not necessarybecause he has been
able to carry bricks and mortar all his life without knowing how to read and
write. But it is plain that Jesus Christhas become a necessityto many, for
they have died rather than deny him. To say that we need him not only proves
our own blindness and self-ignorance.Godsends no causelessmessengers. If

human prophets, entirely of the lineage of humanity had been enough, Jesus
would never have come.
2. Forthe glory of the Sender. He expresslysays, "I have glorified thee on the
earth." We are to judge of the Senderby the Messenger. Jesuswas qualified
to speak and act freely and largely, out of a heart that was in full harmony
with the heart of God. He could adapt himself without the slightesthesitation
or failure to the ever-varying wants of men. Many had come before him and
walkedand talkedwith men in the name of God, avowing that they were the
mouthpieces of Jehovah, and beginning their addresseswith, "Thus saith the
Lord." But then the consciousnessofan evil heart and an imperfect life was
upon them all. Isaiah says, "Woe is me... I am a man of unclean lips!" But no
one ever heard Jesus speak in this fashion. Those who have not yet beheld in
Jesus the glory of the eternalGod have yet to receive him in spirit and in
truth.
II. THE CONSEQUENT APOSTLESHIP OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS.
Jesus was going from the world, and had to send others into the world to
continue his work. They must be such as the world can take knowledge of.
And Jesus sentthem into the world as he himself was sent, for the world's
greatneed and the increase ofthe glory of God. Then in due season, their
apostleshipbeing over, they were gatheredinto the invisible. But Jesus went
on sending, and has gone on sending ever since. "Missionary" is only a more
modest word for "apostle." All of us must have some apostleshipin us, or we
can do little for Jesus. And all manifest and specialapostles we shouldever
observe and encourage,holding up their hands, and considering their appeals
with understanding minds and sympathizing hearts. He who receives the
apostle receives Jesus, andhe who receives Jesus receivesthe Father who sent
him. - Y.

Biblical Illustrator
As Thou hast sentMe into the world, even so have I sentthem into the world.
John 17:18, 19
Christian missions and missionaries:their ideals
James Morison, D. D.
It is our privilege to enter at once, by the open door of this utterance, into the
interior of our Lord's ideas. He speaks ofmissions and missionaries.
Addressing His Father, He says, "Thou didst send into the world." It was a
Divine mission, with reference to a most necessitous fieldof missionary
operation. He says, "Thoudidst send Me into the world." Other missionaries
were and are required to carry on the greattransformation movement
inaugurated by the ideal Missionary. They were required to "fill up that
which was behind" of His "labours of love," and His afflictions for the
gospel's sake. Hence the institution of a new mission by the ideal Missionary, a
mission modelled after that of His Father: "As Thou didst send Me into the
world, even so sent I them into the world." The Saviour speaks as if He had
already moved in personout of the presenttime into the future, and were
looking back to the past. But these apostolic missionaries were notto be the
last who would spread themselves out on the field of the world. The work that
required to be done would not be finished when their labours were drawing to
a close. The generationto which they belonged, having replaceda generation

that went before, would itself pass on, and another would come in its room.
On the heroes of that generationit would devolve to "fill up that which was
behind" of the apostles'labours and sorrows. Hence the Lord Jesus saidto
His Father, "But not for these alone do I ask, but for them also who shall
believe on Me through their word." His mind was looking forwardto the
living results of the labours of the apostles, and, in these living results, to the
first of many successive relays of missionaryworkers. He prayed, giving
earnestexpressionto an agonyof desire, that nothing might impede the
progressive subjugationto Himself of the whole world. "I ask, that they all
may be one," &c. Our Lord saw from afar the danger of rivalry and
dissensionamong His disciples. He saw that such dissensions wouldinvolve
disunion in missionary operations at home and abroad; that such disunion
meant reduced efficiency all along the straggling lines of the sacramentalhost;
and that such reduced efficiencymeant the reduction of the numbers of those
who would believe in His mission, and come under the purifying influence of
His own and His Father's love. It is but another aspectof this intense longing
of our Lord, that, He says, "And for their sakes Isanctify Myself," or, "I
consecrate Myself," i.e., "Iam, all along the line of My mediatorial career,
consecutivelyconsecrating Myself, that they also may be consecratedin
truth." It is a grand system of mutual co-operationthat is needed; and when
all Christian missionaries, in all mission-fields, at home and abroad, become
thus co-operative, and hence consecratedafterthe model of our Lord's
consecration, then the bells of heavenmay at once be setringing, in jubilant
peals, over the triumph of Christianity.
I. THE AIM WITH WHICH THE MODELMISSION WAS INWARDLY
FORMED AND INSPIRED. It originatedin the mind, or, to go further into
the interior of things, in the heart of the Divine Father. God felt compassion
for men. Hence, His determination to send a Missionaryinto our human
world. It was a determination of pure benevolence. Thereinwas its goodness,
grandeur, glory. Dwelling in His own immensity, as the infinitely happy God,
afar from the children of men, and yet near, He beheld them in their misery.
The world was full of woes, in consequenceofthe wickednessofmen. Unless
the Lord Himself should interpose, what can be expected from roots of
bitterness found everywhere — what but the fruits of pessimism and despair?

But God has interposed, finding His opportunity in man's extremity. "Thou,"
says Jesus, "hastsentinto the world," that is, Thou hast instituted a mission
in reference to this world, and it has resulted in the purest "labour of love." It
is nothing less than to bring God's ownholy happiness within the reachof His
human creatures.
II. THE WAYS AND MEANS EMPLOYED BY THE GREAT IDEAL
MISSIONARYTO CARRY OUT THE AIMS OF HIS FATHER
1. He entered intimately and entirely into the spirit of these aims (Psalm 40:7,
8).
2. By and by the grand ideal Missionary"came." His presence on the scene
was indispensable. He came without loss of time — "in the fulness of the
time." He "emptied Himself of all but love," and came.
3. After He came into our world, He did not take up His abode in some waste
howling wilderness, and spend His days as a hermit, remote from the haunts
of men. Nor did He take up His position on some conspicuous pillar like that
of Simon Stylites, or on some "coignof 'vantage" in the architecture of
society, and wave off the crowds that were surging around and jostling one
another downwards. Farother was His plan. He mingled freely with the
objects of His Father's solicitude. He was found ever radiating pure spiritual
effluence, and radiant with pure spiritual influence, wherevermen "did
congregate."
4. It is noteworthy, besides, that while He did not avoid the societyofthe
opulent and the cultured, yet He made His appearance among the humblest of
those who were within the diocese ofHis missionary enterprise. In His
sympathy with the poor, we have a pledge that the time is on the wing, though
it may yet be remote, when all honestlabour shall be equitably and generously
rewarded, and when, in consequence,allthe difficulties that beset the
perplexing problem of right and righteous remuneration for work, shall, by
the logic of love, be satisfactorilysolved.
5. He ever went about "doing good," now preaching on the frequented shore,
now praying on the solitary mountain slope, now teaching, or reasoning, or

comforting, or feeding the hungry, or healing the sick, or enlightening the
ignorant, or delivering those who, in their spirits or their bodies, were the
unhappy victims of influences inhuman and malign.
6. Then He was "full," not merely of "grace," but of "truth"; and of "truth"
not merely as the ethical excellencyofabsolutely veracious witnessing, not
merely, in addition, as the sum of true ideas concerning both God and man,
but likewise as the actual antitypical impersonationof the most significant
shadows offormer ages. He was the true Prophet; the true King; the only One
whose authority may be unreservedly trusted even when absolute; the true
Priest; the true Sacrifice for sins; the true Propitiator and Propitiation; the
true Light that lighteneth the way upward for every man that entereth into
the world; likewise the true illuminated Way to the house that is the Father's
home.
7. He was, from the commencementof His missionary enterprise to its
consummation, engagedin coming under the sins of all mankind without
distinction or exception, so as to suffer by them and for them. Our sins
became His sorrows and His sufferings, till His heart broke, and His self-
sacrifice was complete.
III. For the very reasonthat the model mission culminated in the glorious
propitiatory death of the ideal Missionary, its function as a missionbecame
fulfilled, and room was made for the secondgreatenterprise, with its peculiar
complement of apostolic missionaries. Theyhad, as far as was practicable, to
take the Master's place on the mission-field, and to carry on the work He had
inaugurated. We are thus launched into the third part of our missionary
theme — the part that concerns THE RELATION OF THE APOSTOLIC
AND ALL SUBSEQUENT MISSIONS AND RELAYS OF MISSIONARIES
TO THE DIVINE IDEALS.
1. As it was our Lord Jesus who Himself was the Founder of the secondgreat
missionary enterprise, the aims inspiring that enterprise must have been in
ecactestaccordwith the aims inspiring the original projectof His Father — to
save sinners from their sins, their inhumanities, their woes.

2. It has been within the reachof every Christian mission that has ever
flourished, and it is within the reach of every Christian mission that now
exists, to cultivate and cherish an exactaccordwith the aim which animated
and informed the mission of our Lord. It was in the bosom of our humanity as
well as of His own divinity that He framed and modelled His grand
disinterestedaim, so that we can get nearHim in the ethical peculiarity of His
project.
3. The "ways and means" of the great ideal Missionarymay in part be
imitated by all Christian missionaries. Like Him, they may be —
(1)sympathetic;
(2)ministrant;
(3)meek and lowly;
(4)habitually going about doing good;
(5)abounding in prayer.
4. Even when it is utterly impossible to do as Jesus did, as when in "solemn
loneliness" He bore the sin of the world and made propitiation for it, still it is
permitted to all Christian missionaries, from age to age, to take their stand by
the side of the cross, and pointing aloft to the crucified One, to exclaim,
"Look!the sight is glorious!Lo, the Lamb of God bearing, and bearing out of
the way, the sin of the world! Look!and live."
5. It is a grand privilege to be linked on, as workers, to some disinterested
missionary enterprise!
(James Morison, D. D.)
The ModelMissionary
D. Thomas, D. D.
These words speak ofa two-fold mission; Christ's mission from heaven to
earth, and the Church's missionfrom Christ to the world. The former is at

once the origin, model, and motive of the latter. The text suggests a
correspondence betweenthese two missions. They correspond —
I. IN THEIR AUTHORITY. Both are of Divine authority. God sent Christ
into the world, and Christ sends the Church. Christians have a right to go into
every part of the world to unfurl their banner on every shore, and fight the
battles of the Lord. We want no licence from potentates to authorize us to
preach the gospel, &c.
II. IN THEIR PRINCIPLE. What induced Christ to come into the world and
inspired Him in working out His mission? All-embracing, disinterested,
unconquerable love. The same must influence the Church, and no other
feeling.
III. IN THEIR OBJECT. Why did He come? "To seekand to save the lost."
"This is a faithful saying," &c. This is our work. We have to save from
ignorance, carnality, worldliness, sin, the devil.
IV. IN THEIR MODE. Both are —
1. Spontaneous.
2. Self-denying.
3. Persevering.
4. Diligent.
5. Devout.
V. IN THEIR ENCOURAGEMENTS. Christhad —
1. The Divine presence;so has the Church.
2. The highest sympathy.
3. The assurance ofsuccess.
(D. Thomas, D. D.)

The Christian mission identical with that of Christ
J. Brand.
Here are two impressive facts. One is that Jesus is holding converse with the
Father about the conversionof the world, and the Christians whom He was to
leave in it. The other is that Christ regards the mission of those Christians in
the world as practically identical with His own. The two missions are
identical.
I. IN THEIR PURPOSE AND MOTIVE-POWER. Christ's mission originated
in the bosomof God, in view of an infinite calamity which had fallen on man.
The race was hastening to a wreckedimmortality. There was but one power
that could arrestits fatal progress — Love. God was Love. Christ came to
establishan empire of love, and to change the moral drift of the perishing
race, The apostles caughtthis sublime thought. "If God so loved us, we ought
to love one another." The scope of the Divine mission was universal, and
hence, "All the world" became the watchwordof the Christian ages. Hence,
when Christ gathereda little band of followers, He pushed them out into the
greatworld of want and woe and hate, along the line of His own career — "As
Thou hast sent Me, so have I sent them."
II. IN THEIR METHODS.
1. He ignored "superior races"and civilizations, and pushed His truth out to
the weakestandthe lowest. With a "sublime radicalism" He goes afterthe
most needy.
2. He recognizedthe essentialslownessofthe cause, andhence, taught and
wrought with Divine patience, believing in the immortality of truth, and
looking down through a long vista of years for results.
3. He ignored the principle of demand and supply, as utterly defective for the
lifting of humanity. That principle aims to merely meet existing desires. Christ
ignored desires and acted in view of needs. His method was to come where
there was no demand for Him, but where there was an immeasurable need;
and for love's sake, man's sake, God's sake, to thrust Himself upon the
attention of men, when they wanted something else;thus creating a demand

for spiritual life where none existed. Our mission is to proceedon the same
principle. The apostles so acted. Theywent where there was no demand for
them. The Macedoniancrywhich came to Paul was not the cry of the men of
Macedonia, but the cry of the Spirit of God for Macedonia. Thesethree
principles should characterize our Christian methods.
III. IN THEIR REQUIREMENT OF THE SAME QUALIFICATIONS. The
most impressive aspectofChrist's mission is its divine heroism — the total
abandonment of Himself to the cause ofthe lost. This, too, must be true of the
Christian disciple. To the man who really enters upon the Christian mission,
every land is his fatherland, because man identified with Christ is greater
than the world on which he works, and his final home is above.
IV. IN THEIR SOURCES OF HOPE, THEIR ASSURANCE OF SUCCESS.
We are not to carry to the sin-sick world a doubtful remedy. We go to lost
men as messengersofhope. The Christian's messageis not simply a new law
— that men have now; not a new philosophy — that has failed already; not
merely a sense ofguilt — there is no hope in that. What the world needs is a
gospelof Hope. The story of the cross is such a gospel. The supreme theory of
the Christian, then, is to graspthe Divine conceptionof his mission — to get
Christ's view of the ideal man. The Greek ideal man was an elegantthinker;
the Roman, a greatruler; the modern, a king of commerce. Christ's ideal man
is he who, identified with God, heroicallycommits his consecratedpowers to
the service ofGod's suffering poor.
(J. Brand.)
The union betweenChrist and His Church
R. Glover.
Christ expects that His Church will be in the world as He was in these senses
—
I. THAT THE MIND THAT WAS IN HIM SHALL BE IN HER. He has not
overlookedthe force of evil, so He expects —

1. Penitence to have its perfectwork not ceasing until it grows in humility, and
cleansesthe spirit from viler tastes and sordid vices.
2. Faith that will perpetually fill the nature and lay claim to the gift of the
Holy Spirit, using it in the development of grandestvirtue.
3. That love will thrive in the heart, turning the tyranny of passioninto a glow
of piety.
4. That His Cross will charm the eye, and protectfrom destructive
allurements.
5. That howeverlofty her effort she will not fail in it.
6. That she will look on men with the eye of pity, and spare not herselfin the
work of their redemption.
II. THAT THE CHURCH WILL ENGAGE IN THE SAME WORKAS
OCCUPIED HIM. This naturally follows. There cannot be identity of spirit
without identity of purpose and employment. It is not that the Church sets
before herself some outward action as exactly reproducing that of Christ, but,
looking with eyes like His through the agate windows ofcharity upon the
needs of men, she sees wants whichothers overlook, andfeels within herself
some power to meet them; and using the powershe has it grows until it flows
out into the variety of usefulness which is the image of Him who went about
doing good.
1. Are there children about her? She will feed the lambs and carry them in
her bosom.
2. Do others neglectthe old? She ministers to the solitude and decay of age.
3. Does the false world tread down the fallen? She lifts them to self-respectby
the love and energy with which she reclaims them.
4. She checks Pharisaismby the glow of her realcharity.
5. She cries to the multitudes, "Beholdyour God."

6. She engages in the absorbing effort to save the one sinner at the well. Her
path may be obscure, but consecrating whatshe has she makes many rich. I
do not ask has the Church realized all this; but is she aiming at it? Had she
done so long ago, nations now lying in darkness wouldhave been basking in
the light of love.
III. THAT THE CHURCH WILL ENDURE THE SAME SACRIFICES AS
HE ACCEPTED. Ofcourse there is one part of the sacrifice which we cannot
aspire to. But it is evident that no one can have the mind of Christ or do His
work without being involved in sacrificesidenticalto the spirit in which they
are acceptedand the pain they involve with His. St. Paul speaks ofthe
conflicts of Christ in his body, of being crucified with Christ, of being
conformed to His death, &c. Sanctity will never be without its sorrows. You
will be misunderstood and misrepresented.
IV. THAT THE CHURCH WILL BE SUFFICIENTLYEQUIPPED IN ALL
SHE HAS TO DO AND BEAR. "My grace is sufficient for thee." Let that
grow and it will conquer.
(R. Glover.)
Christ's consecrationfor His people
J. Spence, D. D.
I. THE MISSION OF THE DISCIPLES. "As Thou hast sent Me," &c. They
were sent forth —
1. By the same authority as their Master. This language couldnot be used by
any mere man, and is in harmony with "My Fatherworketh hitherto, and I
work." When a man knows whathe cando, and has to do, he is in the fittest
condition for doing it. Jesus knew that He was sentinto the world, and for
what; and He was equal to it. Whateverauthority belonged to the Fatherin
sending the Son into the world, belongedto the Sonin sending forth His
disciples.

2. Fora kindred purpose. Christ was the Light of the world, but His radiance
was to shine through them, so that they too were lights of the world. The
mission of the Sonof God was personaland peculiar, and could neither have
extensionnor repetition (Hebrews 9:26). To proclaim the powerand purpose
of His death was the mission of the disciples (connectJohn 18:37 with 2
Corinthians 4:2). The mission of the Masterand that of the disciples coincide
in that both were for the glory of Godand the salvationof men.
3. To a similar experience. As the world treatedthe Master, so it treatedthe
servants (John 15:29; Matthew 16:24). And as in the case ofthe Master, so in
the case ofHis disciples now, "No cross, no crown."
II. THE CONSECRATION OF THE MASTER — "Fortheir sakes," &c.
1. By Christ's sanctifying Himself we are to understand His devotement to the
will of the Father, the surrender of Himself as a sacrifice for sin, the climax of
which was at hand in the Cross "I sanctify Myself" is the language ofOne
who had perfectcontrol over His owncourse anal action; who was under no
obligation to place Himself in the position of having to utter them. "He came
not to be ministered unto," &c. Accordingly, His consecrationwas sacrificial
(2 Corinthians 5:21). In the profoundest sense He consecratedHimself for
man; our cause He undertook, our interests He had in view.
2. But how could this consecrationbe for the sanctificationof His disciples? It
had what may be calleda legalpower, making their consecrationpossible.
The sacrifice whichthe Son of God presentedwas the ransomprice of
redemption. If Christ had not become a curse for us, the curse could not have
passedfrom us, and man could not have been sanctified for God. What mere
authority could not do, God effectedthrough His only begottenSon. Truth in
all its purifying and transforming power reachedthem through the
consecrationof their Lord; for thus they saw the things of God as they had
never been unfolded before. Truth is —(1) The element of sanctification, the
sphere in which it is realized and enjoyed. It is only when we are in the truth,
when we know it, and are in Him that is true, that we can be sanctified.(2)The
instrument. Through its influence within, wieldedby the Divine Spirit, the
soul becomes weanedfrom the world, separatedfrom sin, and conformed to

the image of God. It is not an outward service, an imposing ritual, an exciting
ceremony, which cansanctify, but the truth of God, receivedinto the heart,
and applied by the Holy Spirit. "Now ye are cleanthrough the word which I
have spokenunto you." The entrance of the Divine Word gives light, and light
is always for holiness.(3)The end, so that holiness shall become triumphant in
the heart and the history. What is sanctificationin every case but the reign of
"truth in the inward parts"? To be true men, true to God, true to ourselves,
and true to our fellow-creatures— so true in thought and feeling, in word and
action, as to clearlyreflect the image of our Father, is the highest ambition
which as moral creatures we can cherish.
(J. Spence, D. D.)
Spiritual work
S. Hebditch.
Here are remarkable parallels, comparisons, connections:— "As — so,"
"Thou — Me," "I — them." "I sanctify Myselfthat they might be sanctified."
The main thought of the text will come out under three words —
I. COMMISSION— "As Thou hast sent Me," &c. This is a style of speech
which we find often in the lips of Christ; it indicates His unique personality.
He says, for instance, in John 5., "As the Father raiseth up the dead," &c. He
assumes and asserts prerogativeswhichbelong to God. He does so here. This
is the grandestactof God. All that we know of Godseems to be consecratedin
this act:"God so loved the world that He gave His only begottenSon." God,
the Holy, saw with intense repugnance the pollution of men; God, the Creator,
saw with grief the obliteration of His image in man. But the God of salvation
had the thought of salvation. "Godsent not His Son into the world to
condemn," &c. What a wonderful parallel — "Thoudidst send Me, and I
send Thee!"
1. Take allthe missionaries, preachers, teachers, devotedservants of God, all
together, they do not equal the one Jesus. No;the parallel cannot be traced
strictly in regard to the person sent, nor in regard to the specialpurpose of the

sending. The specific purpose for which Christ came was to redeem men by
His own precious blood. He trod the wine-press alone. Our blood, the blood of
our martyrs, does not mingle with His atoning blood. But when we have said
that we may say that there is a very close parallelbetweenthe Father's
sending of Christ and of Christ sending of His apostles;for just as the great
Father sees the world Christ sees it. And He has the Father's love; for does not
He give Himself? Furthermore, He is with men, just as the great Fatherwas
always with His Son. And so Christ says:"I am with you always. Go, teachall
nations."
2. Then, although we have a distinction betweenthe persons, they are living
men whom Christ sends, not books, messages, letters. We may print the gospel
in all the languages ofthe world, and send them to all the world; but it will not
save the world. Christ said: "I will send you." You must go out, living men
and women, sinners saved, hearts through whom the greatlove has passed —
you must be able to say: "This is a faithful saying," &c.
3. The sphere is the same. It is very interesting that though Christ confines His
movements to a very small spot, yet He says, "I am come into the world." If
the Prince of Wales had landed in Ireland, just visited Dublin, and then come
home again, he might truly have been said to visit Ireland; and Christ comes
to Palestine and says, "I have come into the world." He annexed the world by
that act— linked it on to Himself. But it is needful that in a more literal sense
the greatChrist should visit the world; and so He chooses these menand says:
"I send you into the world. Go into all the world," &c.
4. And He sends them with the same purpose, "Go to save." This is a very
ennobling parallel. It is not a mere political or military mission, or a scientific
undertaking; it is like that greatact of God in sending down His Son — it is,
indeed, an expansionof that act.
II. CONSECRATION.
1. Wheneveran honestman accepts anoffice his next thought will be, "How
can I bestprepare for it?" The high priest must be born of the tribe of Levi —
he must be without blemish personally; and after that there must be special
ceremonies;and then he is consecrated, and may go within the veil. But is

there anything so sublime as this the Son of God saying: "I sanctify Myself"?
And do you notice He used the present tense — "I am sanctifying Myself"?
Although the life of our Lord on earth was brief, He retained His connection
with the human race. So we regardthat thirty years, especiallythe last three,
as a period of consecrationon the part of the greatSaviour. He was sanctified
by His daily obedience, prayerfulness, self-denial;by His fierce, but always
resisted, temptations; by His Gethsemane agony;by the Cross.
2. It is a solemn thought that we are to consecrate ourselvesafterthe manner
of Christ. We do not know much about it. We sing hymns of consecration, and
there are some few consecratedpeople among us; but the average Christianis
not a consecratedperson. No;his religion is rather a matter of convenience —
it is not allowedto interfere with his ordinary human life; but we are to make
it, by the grace ofGod, like Christ's — a consecratedlife. Now, that means we
must set apart a life that gathers about one idea; it means, not the waters
which are spread vaguely overa level surface, but the waters that are
confined within deep banks and flow straight on; it means, not lines that are
drawn in all directions, but radical lines that converge towards a centre. It
means, therefore, that just as Christ fixed His thought upon the saving of the
world, we should have our thoughts fixed on the saving of the world. As He
regardedHimself as being here for no other purpose, we should regard
ourselves as being here for no other purpose.
III. CONNECTION.
1. Christ consecratedHimself; He could do that. Can you or I have that
strength to take this heavy, dull, carnalized humanity of ours and consecrate
it? No; it mocks our endeavour, and we seemto lie a heavy carnalmass still.
But see whatChrist says:"I do this for their sakes." So we share in His own
consecration. Thus He was a typical man, in whom, in a certain sense,
humanity is contained;and His consecrationis potentially the consecrationof
men.
2. His consecrationis our complete atonement, the removal of all our guilt.
Oh, what a blessedstep that is towards consecrationto know that your sins
are forgiven!

3. And this consecrationofChrist brings all heavenly blessing down; it wins
the Spirit for us, and is the substance of Divine truth; so that through the
truth, getting these thoughts of God's into our minds, and these greatfacts,
and these holy influences, we become sanctified through the truth.
(S. Hebditch.)
For their sakesI sanctify Myself.
The sanctificationof Christ
F. W. Robertson, M. A.
I. CHRIST'S SANCTIFICATIONOF HIMSELF.
1. He devoted Himself by inward resolve. GodHis Father had devoted Him
before. It only remained that this devotion should be completed by His own
will. In that consistedHis sanctificationofHimself. This self-sanctification
applies to the whole tone and history of His mind. He was for ever devoting
Himself to work: but it applies peculiarly to certainspecialmoments when
some crisis came which calledfor an act of will.(1) The first of these moments
came when He was twelve years of age, "Wistye not," &c. The Boy was
sanctifying Himself for life and manhood's work.(2)The next was in that
preparation of the wilderness, the true meaning of which lies in this, that the
Saviour was steeling His soul againstthe three-fold form in which temptation
presenteditself to Him in after life, to mar or neutralise His ministry.(a) To
convert the hard life of Duty into the comfort of this life: to use Divine powers
only to procure bread of earth.(b) To distrust God, and try impatiently some
wild, sudden plan, instead of His meek and slow-appointedways — to east
Himself from the Temple, as we dash ourselves againstour destiny.(c) To do
homage to the majesty of wrong: to worship evil for the sake ofsuccess:to
make the world His own by force or by crookedpolicy, instead of by suffering.
These were the temptations of His life, as they are of ours. Life thenceforward
was only the meeting of that in fact which had been in resolve met already —
a vanquished foe.(3)He had sanctified Himself againstevery trial except the
last — death: He had yet to nerve Himself to that. And hence the lofty sadness

which characterizes His later ministry. The words as of a soul struggling to
pierce through thick glooms ofmystery, and doubt, and death, come more
often from His lips: for instance, "Now is My soul troubled," &c.; "My soulis
exceeding sorrowful";and here in the text.
2. The sanctificationof Christ was self-devotionto the truth. "Also" implies
that what His consecrationwas, their's was. His death was not merely the
world's atonement; it, with His life, was martyrdom to truth. He fell in fidelity
to a cause — love to the human race. Let us see how His death was a
martyrdom of witness to truth.(1) He proclaimed the identity betweenreligion
and goodness. He distinguished religion from correctviews, accurate religious
observances, and even from devout feelings. He said that to be religious is to
be good. "Blessedare the pure in heart, the merciful, the meek." Justice,
mercy, truth — these He proclaimed as the real righteousness ofGod.(2)He
taught spiritual religion. God's temple was man's soul.(3) He struck a
deathblow at Jewishexclusiveness. ForGodloved the world, not a private
few. Because ofall this the Jewishnation were offended. By degrees — priests,
Pharisees,rulers, rich and poor — He had roused them all againstHim: and
the Divine Martyr of the truth stoodalone at last beside the cross, whenthe
world's life was to be won, without a friend.
3. The self-sanctificationofChrist was for the sake ofothers "Fortheir
sakes." He sanctifiedHimself that He might become a living, inspiring
example, firing men's hearts by love to imitation. In Christ there is not given
to as a faultless essayonthe loveliness ofself-consecration, to convince our
reasonhow beautiful it is; but there is given to us a self-consecratedOne — a
life that was beautiful, a death that was divine — and all this in order that the
spirit of that consecratedlife and death, through love, and wonder and deep
enthusiasm, may pass into us, and sanctify us also to the truth in life and
death.
II. CHRIST'S SANCTIFICATION OF HIS PEOPLE. Those whomChrist
sanctifies are separatedfrom two things.
1. From the world's evil (ver. 15). The only evil — sin: revolt from God,
disloyalty to conscience,tyranny of the passions, strife of our self-will in

conflict with the loving will of God. This is our foe — our only foe that we
have a right to hate with perfect hatred, meet it where we will, and under
whateverform, in church or state, in false socialmaxims, or in our own
hearts. By the blood of His anguish — by the strength of His unconquerable
resolve — we are swornagainstit — bound to be, in a world of evil,
consecratedspirits, or else greatly sinning.
2. From the world's spirit. He is sanctifiedby the self-devotion of His Master
from the world, who has a life in himself independent of the maxims and
customs which sweepalong with them other men. His true life is hid with
Christ in God. His citizenship is in heaven.
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The nature of sanctification
Bp. Huntington.
It is religion shining; the candle lighted, not hid under a bushel, but
illuminating the house. It is the religious principle put into motion. It is the
love of God sent forth into circulation, on the feet and with the hands of love
to man. It is faith gone to work. It is charity coined into actions, and devotion
breathing benedictions on human suffering, while it goes up in intercessionsto
the Fatherof all piety.
(Bp. Huntington.)
Progressive sanctification
Prof. Beet.
This devotion to God is in a sense imperfect, At the end of every day we
acknowledge thatwe have failed to work out fully into all the details of the
day the one purpose which has, by the grace ofGod, been the mainspring of
our action;and that we have often chosenunsuitable means. But eachday we
learn better what will, and what will not, advance the purposes of God; and

eachday our one greatpurpose permeates more fully our entire thoughts, and
more fully directs our entire activity. Moreover, eachday brings to us fresh
proofs of the faithfulness, power, and love of God, and thus increases the
strength of the faith with which we lay hold of all the benefits promised in His
Word. This daily submission to the guidance of the Spirit brings us more
completely under His holy influence, and, since our entire Christian life takes
the form of devotion to God; all spiritual progress may be spokenof as growth
in holiness.
(Prof. Beet.)
Sanctificationa process
J. B. Heard, M. A.
As the external man perishes, so the inward is renewedday by day. As in the
process ofpetrification, for every particle of woodwashedawayby the
dropping well, another particle of stone is deposited in its place; so our
sanctificationgoes onby a minute molecularchange of the heart from stone to
flesh, a process ofdepetrification. Little by little the flesh gives wayto the
Spirit, and more and more the spirit becomes accustomedto claim and
enforce obedience.
(J. B. Heard, M. A.)
Processofsanctification
Doing and Suffering.
It is wonderful to see how the little events of our daily life tend to our
sanctification, though we know it not at the time. Every week seems so like the
other! But you know when the sculptor begins his work, he strikes great
pieces off the block. Every stroke tells visibly. But, when the statue is nearly
finished, he takes the fine chisel, and strikes off but a little dust at a time. You

scarcelysee the effects of the blow; yet then it is directed with most art and
skill, — then the work is nearly done.
(Doing and Suffering.)
The difficulty of ascertaining our advance in sanctification
To gauge our process we must employ a measure of sufficient capacity. If we
confine our attention to a few days or weeks,it is likely we shall be
disappointed, being unable to perceive any advance. You must rather take in
months and years. You shall stand by the seashore and be unable first to
discoverwhether the tide ebbs or flows. It is only after diligent watching for
an appreciable period that you decide that the sea is slowly but certainly
advancing.
The evidence of sanctification
T. Brooks.
Look upon a holy man in his calling, and you shall find him holy: look upon
him in the use of the creatures, and you shall find him holy: look upon him in
his recreations andyou shall find him holy. The habitual frame and bent of
his heart is to be holy in every earthly thing that he puts his hand unto.
(T. Brooks.)
Sanctificationseenin little things
H. Bonar, D. D.
A holy life is made up of a number of small things. Little words, not eloquent
speechesorsermons; little deeds, not miracles, nor battles, nor one great
heroic act or mighty martyrdom made up the true Christian life. The little
constantsunbeam, not the lightning, the waters of Siloam"that go softly" in
the meek mission of refreshment, not the "waters ofthe river, greatand

many," rushing down in torrents, noise and force, are the true symbols of a
holy life. The avoidance of little evils, little sins, inconsistencies, weaknesses,
follies, indiscretions, imprudences, foibles, indulgencies of selfand of the flesh;
the avoidance ofsuch little things as these goes far to make up, at least, the
negative beauty of a holy life.
(H. Bonar, D. D.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
I sanctify myself - I consecrateand devote myself to death - that I may thereby
purchase eternal salvationfor them. There seems to be here an allusion to the
entering of the high priest into the holy of holies, when, having offered the
sacrifice, he sprinkled the blood before the ark of the covenant. So Jesus
entered into the holiest of all by his own blood, in order to obtain everlasting
redemption for men: see Hebrews 9:11-13. The word, ἁγιαζω, to consecrate or
sanctify, is used in the sense ofdevoting to death, in Jeremiah 12:3, both in the
Hebrew and in the Septuagint: the Hebrew ‫שדק‬ signifies also to sacrifice.
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
I sanctify myself - I consecratemyselfexclusively to the service of God. The
word “sanctify” does not refer here to personalsanctification, forhe had no
sin, but to setting himself apart entirely to the work of redemption.
That they also … -
1. That they might have an example of the proper manner of laboring in the
ministry, and might learn of me how to discharge its duties. Ministers will

understand their work best when they most faithfully study the example of
their greatmodel, the Son of God.
2. That they might be made pure by the effectof my sanctifying myself - that
is, that they might be made pure by the shedding of that blood which cleanses
from all sin. By this only canmen be made holy; and it was because the
Saviour so sanctified himself, or set himself to this work so unreservedly as to
shed his ownblood, that any soul canbe made pure and fit for the kingdom of
God.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be
sanctifiedin truth.
Sanctify ... here does not refer to being made more holy, because sucha
meaning could not have pertained to Jesus. Thus, anothermeaning of
"sanctify," which is "to consecrate,"is intended (English RevisedVersion
margin). Jesus was in the act of consecrating himselfas the one greatsacrifice
for sin. "The truth," the evident means of Jesus'consecration, was the word
of God, which was the source ofmotivation and powerfor Jesus as he moved
toward the cross. By opening up, through his death, the way of salvationfor
all, Jesus made it possible for the apostles also to be sanctifiedin truth, that is,
by the same word of God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
And for their sakes I sanctify myself,.... Which is to be understood, not of his
making himself holy; for he never was a sinner, and so stoodin no need of
sanctification:he was made like unto us, yet without sin; he lookedlike a
sinner, but was not one; he was traduced, charged, and treatedas such, but
was perfectly holy, and free from all sin; he was essentiallyand infinitely holy
as God; and as man, he was holy in his conceptionand birth; he was filled
with the Holy Ghost, and was holy in his life and in his death: rather this may

be meant of his being separated, and setapart for his office as Mediator,
which, though done by the Father, and is ascribedunto him, John 10:36;yet
may also be attributed to himself; since he voluntarily devoted himself to this
work, and cheerfully acceptedof it: though it seems bestto understand it of
his offering himself a sacrifice for, and in the room and steadof his people, in
allusion to the offerings under the law, the sacrificing of which is expressedby
sanctifying, Exodus 13:2; and because his sacrifice was anHoly One: what he
sanctifiedor offeredwas "himself": not his divine, but human nature, his
body and his soul; and these as in union with his divine person; which gives
his sacrifice the preference to all others, and is the true reasonof its virtue
and efficacy;and this is expressive of his greatlove. He himself is also the
sanctifieror offerer, which shows him to be a priest, and that he had a power
over his own life, and that he sacrificedit voluntarily; and this he is said to do
at that present time, because the time was very near that he was to be offered
up, and his present prayer and intercessionwere a part of his priestly office.
This he did not for his ownsake, nor for the sake ofangels, nor for all men,
but for his disciples, as distinct from the world; and not for the apostles only,
but for all that the Father had given to him; and that as their substitute and
surety, in their room and stead:
that they also might be sanctified through the truth; that is, have all their sins
expiated, and they be cleansedfrom all the guilt and filth of them, through
Christ himself and his sacrifice, who is the truth; or "in truth"; as it may be
rendered, really and truly, in opposition to the legalsacrificeswhichatoned
for sin, not really, only typically; or through the. Gospelof truth, bringing the
goodnews of atonement by the blood and sacrifice ofChrist, and which the
Spirit of Godseals to the consciencewith comfort and joy.
Geneva Study Bible
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the g truth.
(g) The true and substantial sanctificationofChrist is contrastedwith the
outward purifyings of the law.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And for their sakes I sanctify — consecrate.
myself that they also might — may.
be sanctified — consecrated. The only difference betweenthe application of
the same term to Christ and the disciples is, as applied to Christ, that it means
only to “consecrate”;whereas, in application to the disciples, it means to
consecrate with the additional idea of previous sanctification, since nothing
but what is holy canbe presentedas an offering. The whole self-sacrificing
work of the disciples appears here as a mere result of the offering of Christ
[Olshausen].
through — in.
the truth — Though the article is wanting in the original here, we are not to
translate, as in the Margin, “truly sanctified”;for the reference seems plainly
to be “the truth” mentioned in John 17:17. (See on John 17:17).
People's New Testament
For their sakesI sanctify myself. He did this when he came into the world,
when he made it his meat to do the Father's will, and when he gave himself to
death. We sanctify ourselves whenwe "present our bodies as living
sacrifices."
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
I sanctify myself (εγω αγιαζω εμαυτον — egō hagiazō emauton). To his holy
ministry to which the Father “sanctified” (ηγιασεν— hēgiasen)him (John
10:36).

That they themselves also may be sanctifiedin truth (ινα ωσιν και αυτοι
ηγιασμενοι εν αλητειαι — hina ōsin kai autoi hēgiasmenoienalētheiāi).
Purpose clause with ινα — hina and the periphrastic perfect passive
subjunctive of αγιαζω — hagiazō (that they may remain sanctified). The actof
Christ helps us, but by no means takes the place of personalconsecrationon
the part of the believer. This high and holy prayer and actof Christ should
shame any one who uses the livery of heavento serve the devil in as does, alas,
sometimes happen (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
I sanctify myself — I devote myself as a victim, to be sacrificed.
The Fourfold Gospel
sanctifiedin truth1.
sanctifiedin truth. Jesus had sethimself apart (Hebrews 9:14), that the
apostles might follow his example (2 Corinthians 5:14-17), and also the
church, (Romans 12:1,2;Philippians 2:5) that thereby the world might be
saved.
Our Lord's prayer as to the apostles (John17:1-19)is, therefore, a threefold
petition, viz.: that they may be kept in unity, kept from the world and the
devil, and that they may be set apart and equipped for the gospelservice.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible
19.And for their sales I sanctify myself. By these words he explains more
clearly from what source that sanctificationflows, which is completed in us by
the doctrine of the Gospel. It is, because he consecratedhimself to the Father,
that his holiness might come to us; for as the blessing on the first-fruits is
spread over the whole harvest, so the Spirit of God cleanses us by the holiness
of Christ and makes us partakers of it. Nor is this done by imputation only,
for in that respecthe is said to have been made to us righteousness;but he is
likewise saidto have been made to us sanctification, (1 Corinthians 1:30,)
because he has, so to speak, presentedus to his Fatherin his own person, that
we may be renewedto true holiness by his Spirit. Besides, thoughthis
sanctificationbelongs to the whole life of Christ, yet the highestillustration of
it was given in the sacrifice ofhis death; for then he showedhimself to be the
true High Priest, by consecrating the temple, the altar, all the vessels,and the
people, by the power of his Spirit.
James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
THE CONSECRATION OF PERSONALITY
‘And for their sakesI sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.’
John 17:19
The translation is perhaps a little old-fashionedat this point and remote from
our ordinary use, too much so to give us at once the full force of the statement.
We may render it in more modern phrase—‘Fortheir sakes Iconsecrate
Myself, that they also may be consecratedin truth.’
I. ‘I consecrate Myself.’—Whois it that thus unfolds the secretand motive of
His life? ‘I’ and ‘myself’ are terms in which eachone of us speaks ofthat
mysterious force which he calls his personality. I am I, I am conscious of
myself, I have a certain control overmyself, with care I can improve myself,

by neglectI can spoil myself. Moreover, I can awakena response to myself in
the world outside myself. I canput myself into outside things and shape them,
as the artist puts himself into his handiwork and the musician puts himself
into his music. More than this, most wonderful of all, I can put myself, to some
extent, into other persons, as the master puts himself into his scholars, as the
officer puts himself into his men, as the statesmanputs himself into his party.
My personality canmodify the personality of another.
II. It is, then, a Personalitythat speaks to us here and says ‘I’ and ‘Myself’; a
conscious centre ofvital force revealing to us His most sacredsecret, telling us
of His own discipline of Himself and of the effectwhich He looks to produce
on the happiness of other men. ‘I consecrate Myself, thatthey also may be
consecrated.’Personalityis the inalienable possessionofevery human being as
such; it is a gift which eachone of us has receivedfrom God, Who is the
Supreme Personality, in Whose image we have been made. But there is a vast
difference betweenthe force of one personality and the force of another.
Personalities varyin respectofphysical and mental capacity, in respectof
opportunity of development, and, above all, in the use which they make of
their opportunity, whateverit may be. Those persons who are favoured by
natural conditions and by external circumstances,and who use their
opportunity of self-development in a high degree, we are accustomedto speak
of as personalities parexcellence. We make a cleardistinction betweena
personage anda personality. Outward circumstances make a personage;
inward force, disciplined and developed, alone canmake what we honour by
the name of a personality.
III. It is not only a Personality, but the most personalof all personalities, Who
speaks in the text and tells us the secretofHis effective personality. ‘I
consecrate Myself.’The words imply at leastthis—‘I am conscious ofMyself,
I can dispose of Myself;what I do with Myselfwill influence the selves of
others, and therefore when I do the one thing with Myself which leads to the
highest self-realisationandself-development, and which leads at the same
time to the widestand deepestand most permanent influence on the selves of
others, I take Myself, and by an actof self-determinationI give Myself, I
consecrate Myself, to the Supreme Personalityof the universe—the Personal
God. I sayto Him in every conscious momentof My existence, “Father, not

My will but Thine be done; and since Thy Will is the consecrationofall
personalities, the union of all wills with Thine, oh, therefore, Father, for their
sakes IconsecrateMyself, that they also may be consecratedin truth.”’
IV. The more forcible the personality that is consecrated, and the more
complete the consecration, the greaterand truer the saint.—Letus take a
parallel. The commanding personalities ofthe world, devoted to greatends
and favoured by congenialcircumstances, are its heroes. The commanding
personalities of the Christian Church, consecratedto God, and calledto great
service or greatsuffering, are the saints. You cannot all be heroes, and yet you
have a certain capacityfor heroic resolve and even heroic action, and so the
heroes help you. The study of greatmen’s lives is one of your best aids to the
development of your personality. The sight of their memorials has stimulated
many a young man to the effort to realise his own personality and to leave his
permanent recordin the world, and just in like manner you cannot all be
saints, heroes of the spiritual life; and yet you have your personality, which is
wholly your own, and the powerof consecrating it according to your
opportunity. Therefore the study of the saints may help you, and the
commemorationof saintliness neednot depress you. You, in your place, in
your measure, you canconsecratewhatyou are to God; you can yield your
lesserpersonalities, as theyyielded their greaterpersonalities, to the Supreme
Personality. So by the mercy of God, Who judges not according to what a man
hath not, but according to what he hath, even you may come at lastto be
numbered and rewarded with His saints.
DeanJ. Armitage Robinson.
Illustration
‘Parents, for your children; masters, for your pupils; friends, for your friends,
consecrate yourselves thatthey may be consecratedalso. This is how
Christianity is spread from the very beginning, for it follows the generallaw
which governs the spread of ideas and the deepening of convictions. It is
propagatedby personality far more than by argument. Convictions produce
convictions, consecrationleads to consecration, personalityreaches
personality. You are passing, or you have passed, into years when habits are

fixed and characteris already almost unchangeable. Foryourselves you have
little hope that life can be much modified now, or that it canbe rescuedfrom
its failure or comparative failure, but you do want those whom you love more
than yourself to be better men and womenthan you have been. You want the
“might have been” of your life to find a sure realisationin theirs. Then you
must go down on your knees and bring what is left of your neglectedand
impaired and dwindling personality into the PresenceofGod. But young and
eagersoul, you are not to be depressedby the thought of the peculiar
greatness ofthe hero or of the saint, for your lives are before you to do with
them as you will. Eachone of you has this most mysterious gift of
personality—ofsaying “I am I,” of being a conscious centre ofliving force, a
person capable of a purpose, able to actupon outside things, able to act upon
other persons, capable of developing your own personality, of acquiring
mental strength and moral character. To you God comes to-day, and this is
what He says:“Recognisethis capacity, take pains, be all that you can be, not
selfishly, but for the noblest ends.” Consecrateyour personality to Him, watch
over it, and develop it for Him.’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
SECRETSOF SANCTITY
Holiness is spiritual wholeness—Godlinessis Godlikeness.
The root idea of Christian holiness is possibly best seenon its human side by
studying the word, Sanctification. In both Testaments the words, Holy,
Hallow, Holiness, exactly correspondwith Saint, Sanctify, Sanctification. The
ruling thought of eachis separation. Sanctificationinvolves separationalways
and under all circumstances,whetherin the Old Testamentor the New.
I. Sanctificationis separationfrom sin.—Here is one of those fundamental
truths writ large for us in Scripture. The man who is truly separatedmay
expectthe Holy Spirit to revealfrom time to time whatever may be sinful or
inconsistent;and until that thing is renounced or forsakenno further advance
is possible. Israel, separated from Egypt, was thirty-eight years in the
wilderness before it learned this lesson. MayGod write it speedily in our
hearts! We may talk and pray and go softly all our days, but until we obey the

intimations of the Spirit and the plain teaching of Scripture, we come to a
standstill.
II. Sanctificationis separationunto God.—It was so in Israel’s days; it is so
still. The minute observancesofthe Mosaic law appearat first sight arbitrary,
formal, and unspiritual. Wherein lay the powerof the Old Testamentritual to
sanctify the heart, to produce, in other words, holiness of life? The answeris
clear. It was not these ceremonials which in themselves separatedIsraelfrom
the nations, for ritual observancesare the natural effort of the heart to please
God.
III. Sanctificationto-day is separationin Jesus Christ.—It has been strikingly
observedthat from the moment our Saviour uttered the high-priestly words,
‘Sanctify them in Thy truth: Thy word is truth,’ ‘For their sakes Isanctify
Myself,’the meaning of the word sanctificationin the Bible deepens and
widens. It no longermerely means separationfrom evil, but likeness to ‘the
God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ.’ The Old Testamentprovides for
the one, the New Testamentprovides for the other, and the transitional words
are those of our greatHigh Prieston His way to Gethsemane.
God has a definite ideal for my life: it is likeness to His own life. Let me
ponder this well. It is very wonderful; but never let me forgetthat the first
greatcondition of all holiness is separation. Separationfrom sin; separation
unto God; separationin Christ Jesus;and all this through the powerof God
the Holy Spirit.
—Rev. Canon Barnes-Lawrence.
Illustration
‘A well-knownChristian man had publicly accusedanotherof some serious
fault or sin. As events proved he was mistaken, and this was pointed out to
him. His duty was clear;reparation was due, and a public retractation
needed. It was not difficult, the opportunity came, but there was no apology
then or afterwards. That public utterance was never takenback publicly, and
from that time the speaker’s spiritual influence waned. Doubtless he “brought

his gift to the altar,” and with tears;but to his brother, who had something
againsthim, he was never reconciled, and God could not accepthis gift.’
John Trapp Complete Commentary
19 And for their sakesI sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
Ver. 19. And for their sakesdo I sanctify] As both priest, altar, and sacrifice;
and this Christ did from the womb to the tomb; at his death especially, when
this PaschalLamb was roastedin the fire of his Father’s wrath, that his
people might be made partakers of his holiness, Hebrews 10:10. Here also it is
worth the noting, that these petitions in our Saviour’s prayer do so sweetly
depend one upon another, that if you take awayone, you deface the other.
Phavorinus in Gellius, comparing betweenthe style of Lysias and Plato,
observes this difference; Quod si ex Platonis oratione aliquid demas mutesque
de elegantia tantum detraxeris; si ex Lysiae, de sententia.
Sermon Bible Commentary
John 17:19
Sanctification
I. The sanctificationof which our Lord speaks in this place, is the consecration
of the whole creature, of the whole being, to the spiritual purpose of the
service of our heavenly Father. To give up everything in order that His will
may be accomplished, to do that will to the very full—this is the perfect
sanctificationof all things. And, of course, this sanctification, in itself, does not
necessarilyimply any change in the thing which is sanctified. If we think of

things which stand at the lowestend, and of things which stand at the highest
end of being, there is no change atall in the consecrationofeither to the
fulfilment of the will of God. But when we think of all that stands between
these, when we think of the consecrationofa finite creature—or, still more, of
a finite creature, intelligent and possessedofwill, and yet the evil in that
will—it is plain that the consecration, ofnecessity, must imply a real change in
the thing that is consecrated. If there is evil, that evil cannotbe dedicatedto
God; if there is anything which hinders the service ofour Father, that
hindrance must be takenaway.
II. In all work that has to be done for the sake ofGod here among men, the
same unchanging rule ever prevails; and the man who would undertake to do
it, must himself begin in his own personthat regenerationwhich he is desirous
to produce in others, and must begin to sanctify himself. If he is to help others
to sanctify themselves, if he is to be the source of any moral and spiritual
growth, it must be because there is in him the same moral and spiritual
growth, and he must derive it from the source of all moral and spiritual
growth—the sanctificationof the Lord Jesus Himself. It is only by beginning
within, and by seeking to be what He was, that it is possible for us to do His
holy work;and those who desire to be a blessing to their fellowmen must copy
the words of the Lord, and since it is their sanctificationthat is really needed,
they must begin by sanctifying themselves.
Bishop Temple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 82.
References:John 17:19.—F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 204;E.
Bersier, Sermons, 1stseries, p. 120;John 17:20; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life
after the Mind of Christ, p. 18. John 17:20, John 17:21.—Spurgeon, Sermons,
vol. xii., No. 668;H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 376;R.
Thomas, Ibid., vol. x., p. 112.
Expository Notes with PracticalObservations onthe New Testament

The word sanctify here, is not to be takenfor the cleansing, purifying, or
making holy, that which before was unclean; but Christ's sanctifying himself
imports,
1. His separationof setting himself apart to be a sacrifice for sin.
2. His consecrationordedication of himself to this holy use and service.
Hence learn, that Jesus Christ did dedicate and solemnly sethimself apart to
the greatwork and office of a Mediator.
Learn, 2. That the great end for which Christ did thus sanctify himself, was,
that he might sanctifyhis members; therefore did he consecrate andset
himself apart for us, that we should be consecratedto, and wholly set apart
for, him.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
19.]See above on John 17:17. Notice, says Meyer, the emphatic correlationof
αὐτῶν— ἐγὼ ἐμαυτόν— καὶ αὐτοί.
It is clearagainstall Socinian inferences from this verse, that all that part of
ἁγιάζεινimplied in ch. John 10:36 is here excluded: and only that intended
which is expressedHebrews 2:10 by διὰ παθημάτωντελειῶσαι. Of this, His
death was the crowning act, and was also the one to which the ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν
most directly applies; but the whole is included. The confining the meaning to
His sacrifice (Chrys., Euthym(236)), and the ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ.… to their
martyrdom, or their spiritual self-offering, Romans 12:1 (Euthym(237)), is
insufficient for the depth of the words.
ἐν ἀληθ.]in truth: what truth, is evident from John 17:17, where, in the
repetition, ὁ λόγ. ὁ σὸς ἀλήθειά ἐστιν, the article is also wanting: see also ch.
John 1:14; John 4:24 : 3 John 1:3,—for ἀλήθ, without the article. But the
distinction is perhaps somewhatobscuredafter a preposition.
Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae
DISCOURSE:1713

THE END FOR WHICH CHRIST DEDICATED HIMSELF TO GOD
John 17:19. For their sakesI sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth.
THE sanctificationof men is no less necessaryfor their usefulness in this
world, than it is for their happiness in the world to come. Hence our blessed
Lord, in his intercessoryprayer, made this a very prominent subjectof his
requests in behalf of his Disciples whomhe was about to leave in the midst of
an ensnaring world: “sanctifythem through thy truth: thy word is truth
[Note:ver. 17.].” And for the encouragementofall his followers to the latest
period of the world he declares, that the attainment of this objectin their
behalf has been a very principal end of all that he ever had done, or was at
that instant doing, for them: “Fortheir sakes I sanctifymyself, that they also
may be sanctified through the truth.”
In opening to you these words I will shew,
I. What is that actto which our Lord here refers—
To “sanctify” means to purify from sin, and to devote to God. In the former
sense it may be properly applied to men: but it is in the latter sense only that it
can have any reference to Christ.
Under the Mosaic law the priests and all the vessels ofthe sanctuarywere
sanctifiedto the Lord [Note: Exodus 30:26-29.]. The offerings there made, all
shadowedforth the Lord Jesus Christ, who sanctifiedand setapart himself to
the work of saving a ruined world. This he did,
1. When he first undertook our cause—
[From eternity he entered into covenant with the Father to redeem our souls
by his own obedience unto death: and the utter insufficiency of all other
sacrifices being acknowledged, he engagedto offer himself a sacrifice for the
sins of the whole world [Note: Psalms 40:6-8.]— — —]
2. When he assumed our nature—

Jesus was a sanctifier

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