10/16/12- Sanctify Them By the Truth

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17:17-18)

Thoughts: Jesus prayed this prayer- that God would make us holy, or make us more like Him by, through, and in His Word. So if we want to be like Jesus- we do not do this apart from what He has said, but we listen to what He has said. There is a sense in which Jesus is the living Word (John 1), but Jesus apparently was talking about the Bible here. The Bible is not inconsistent with Jesus- but points to and tells us of Jesus. The gospels are as close to eyewitness testimonies as we can get, written while many other eyewitnesses were still alive. In this passage, Jesus is inferring that we can trust the Bible of the Old Testament to not lead us astray. In fact, His prayer is that God would make us a more holy people by listening to it- and doing what it says.  Paul talks about the Church being "washed by the water of the Word."  It is the same idea- that the Word purifies us, making us better- even holy.  The holiness of the Church is not found in our being pure in this life- but in the eternal Word which makes us pure.  The Holy Spirit takes the Holy Word and makes us holy.

Prayer: Sanctify me, Lord, by your truth. Your Word is truth.