the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
I
ἐγὼegō
G1473
I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
sanctify
ἁγιάζωhagiazō
G37
to make holy · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
myself
ἐμαυτοῦemautoû
G1683
of myself so likewise the dative case
that
ἵναina
G2443
compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
they
αὐτοὶautoi
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — nominative plural masculine
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
might be
ὦō
G5600
(may
sanctified
ἡγιασμένοιhēgiasmenoi
G37
to make holy · verb — perfect passive participle, nominative plural masculine
through
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
the truth
ἀληθείᾳ.alētheia
G225
truth · noun — dative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Hebrews 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
1 Corinthians 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place c…
Hebrews 10:5-10 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
2 Corinthians 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty mig…
1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 17:17-19
The next thing he prayed for for them was that they might be sanctified; not only kept from evil, but made good.
I. Here is the petition (Joh 17:17): Sanctify them through thy truth, through thy word, for thy word is truth; it is true - it is truth itself. He desires they may be sanctified,
1. As Christians. Father, make them holy, and this will be their preservation, Th1 5:23. Observe here,
(1.) The grace desired - sanctification. The disciples were sanctified, for they were not of the world; yet he prays, Father sanctify them, that is, [1.] "Confirm the work of sanctification in them, strengthen their faith, inflame their good affections, rivet their good resolutions." [2.] "Carry on that…
And for their sakes I sanctify--consecrate.
myself that they also might--may.
be sanctified--consecrated. The only difference between the 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 can be presented as 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 sanctifie…
I sanctify myself - I consecrate and devote myself to death - that I may thereby purchase eternal salvation for 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 Heb 9:11-13. The word, ἁγιαζω, to consecrate or sanctify, is used in the sense of devoting to death, in Jer 12:3, both in the Hebrew and in the Septuagint: the Hebrew קדש signifies also to sacrifice.
The Church Fathers
[Christ says], "The reason I bring myself to the passion is so that through me they may obtain the sanctification that comes through the Spirit, and be sanctified and be empowered to preach the truth, being certain of the hope of the resurrection." He says that he sanctifies himself because, after the passion, he would hurry to heaven along with his own body and be in holiness.
And if we may sum up in brief the whole matter, Christ called down upon us the ancient gift of humanity, that is, sanctification through the Spirit and communion with the Divine Nature, His disciples being the first to receive it; for the saying is true, that the husbandman that laboureth must be the first to partake of the fruits. But that He might herein also indeed have the preeminence (for it was meet that He, being, as it were, one of many brethren, and still Man even as we are men, should, through being in our likeness, be seen to be and in fact be the Beginning, and the Gate, and the Way, of every good thing for us), He is impelled to add what follows, namely, the words: For their sakes I sanctify Myself.
Let us pay attention to the distinction of the Godhead from the flesh. In each there speaks one and the same Son of God, for each nature is present in him. And yet, while it is the same person who speaks, he does not always speak in the same way. At one time you see in him the glory of God, at another time human characteristics. As God he speaks the things of God because he is the Word. As man he speaks in a human way because he speaks in my nature.… Even the letter itself [here] teaches us that it is not the Godhead but the flesh that needed sanctification. For the Lord himself said, "And I sanctify myself for them," in order that you may acknowledge that he is both sanctified in the flesh for us and sanctifies by virtue of his divinity.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Lord’s Prayer — The name given to the only form of prayer Christ taught his disciples (Matt. 6:9-13). The closing doxology of the prayer is omitted by Luke (11:2-4), also in the R.V. of Matt. 6:13. This prayer…
Prayer, Intercessory · Christ set an example of — Christ set an example of
Sanctification · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Truth · Is sanctifying — Is sanctifying
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on John 17:19
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 stood in no need of sanctification: he was made like unto us, yet without sin; he looked like a sinner, but was not one; he was traduced, charged, and treated as such, but was perfectly holy, and free from all sin; he was essentially and infinitely holy as God; and as man, he was holy in his conception and 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 set apart for his office as Mediator, which, though done by the Father, and is ascribed unto him, John 10:36; yet may…
John 17:14-19
14. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them; because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15. I ask not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17. Sanctify them by thy truth: thy word is truth. 18. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
14. I have given them thy word. He employs a different argument in pleading with the Father on behalf of the disciples. It is, because they need his assistance on…
I give myself as a holy sacrifice (literally I sanctify myself): Priests and prophets were similarly set apart for service to God (Lev 8:30; Jer 1:5). Jesus recommitted himself to his mission, acknowledging that he was set apart for the purpose of the cross. The disciples would benefit because his death would enable them to experience new holiness in a deep attachment to God.
