In verse 17 the Lord prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The Father’s word carries with it the Father’s reality. When the word says, “God is light,” it conveys God as light. Hence, it is the reality, the truth, unlike Satan’s word, which is vanity, a lie (8:44). The word, being the truth, works as reality in the believers to sanctify them.
God’s living word works in the believers to separate them from anything worldly, separating them from the world and its occupation unto God and His purpose, not only positionally (Matt. 23:17, 19) but also dispositionally (Rom. 6:19, 22). This is what it means to be sanctified by the Lord’s word as the truth, the reality. This sanctification not only changes our position but also our disposition, our inward being. In the Bible, sanctification has these two aspects—the positional aspect and the dispositional aspect. In Matthew 23:17 we see that the gold is sanctified by being put into the temple. When the gold is in the market place, it is common, unholy, but when it is put into the temple, its position is changed and it is immediately sanctified, becoming the holy gold in the holy temple. But this kind of sanctification does not affect the nature or element of the gold; it merely changes the gold’s position. Hence, the gold is sanctified positionally. Some Christians only see this much regarding sanctification; they do not see the matter of dispositional sanctification. First Thessalonians 5:23 says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here we are told that our spirit, soul, and body are to be sanctified. This does not refer to positional sanctification but to dispositional sanctification. The sanctification mentioned in John 17 implies both aspects, for in order to maintain the proper oneness we must be sanctified both positionally and dispositionally.
Verse 19 says, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” Although the Son is absolutely holy in Himself, He still sanctified Himself in His way of living while He was on earth in order to set an example of sanctification for His disciples. Consider the way He contacted the Samaritan woman (4:5-7). The Lord did not meet her at night in a private home but during the day in the open air. As far as the Lord Himself was concerned, He could have met with the Samaritan woman, who was an immoral person, at any place and at anytime. But as a man a little over thirty years of age, it would not have been a good example for His disciples if He had contacted her privately in her home at night. If He had done that, the disciples might have been confused. But, in order to set a good example for His disciples, He behaved in a sanctified way. This one example was a great help to His disciples in the future. It is not right for any young preacher to contact a woman privately at night because there is too much temptation there. To do such a thing is not holy; it is worldly. Look at the example of the Lord Jesus: He talked with Nicodemus, an elderly gentleman, late at night in a private home (3:1-2), but He talked with the immoral Samaritan woman during the daytime in the open air. In doing this the Lord sanctified Himself and set an example for His disciples to follow.
Verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” The word “Us” in this verse refers to the Triune God. All the believers are one in the Triune God. In order to be one in the Triune God, we must be sanctified by the holy word. After we have been sanctified, separated from the world by the holy word, we shall enjoy the Triune God and be one in Him. In order to be in the Triune God we must firstly be separated from the beach, the movie theater, the football stadium, the gambling house, and from all other worldly places, and be separated unto the Triune God. Many Christians have not yet been separated to God. Since they still remain in the worldly places, how can they be one? Although you are a brother in life, where are you? You must be sanctified from all worldly amusements to God. In the Triune God, that is, in the Father through the Son as the Spirit, we shall be one.
The oneness in the Triune God through sanctification by the holy word is the second aspect of the believers’ oneness. In this aspect of oneness, the believers who have been separated from the world unto God enjoy the Triune God as the factor of their oneness. In order to maintain this oneness, we must firstly take care of the reality of the divine life and then of the sanctification of the holy word. The holy word separates us from the world and restores us to the Father and to the Father’s home. Although many of the brothers have been distracted by the world during the past years, we thank the Lord that a good number of them have been recovered to the church life through the holy word. Both the divine life and the holy word are necessary for having the genuine oneness which results in the true building up of the church.