Jesus Prayed for Our Sanctification

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer (Jn 17), on the night He was betrayed, the night before His crucifixion, our Lord prayed for our sanctification, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth” (Jn 17:17). Sanctification is the will of God (1 Thess 4:3). Who are the sanctified? Who sanctifies? What does it mean to be sanctified? When does sanctification occur?

First, God’s will is for a chosen people to be set apart for Him to be their God and for them to be His people (2 Cor 6:16; Heb 8:10). This is made known to us through the revelation of God’s Word, by the inspiration and illumination of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:18; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20–21). We remember that God is glorified in the display of His perfect attributes. So, simply put, God displays a number of His attributes when He saves His people from their sins (Mt 1:21).

Second, it is the Trinity that sanctifies the elect. God the Father chooses the remnant people and gives them to God the Son and writes their names in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). He sanctified these people before the foundation of the world when, in love, He predestined them to adoption as sons (Eph 1:4–5).

Jesus Himself was sanctified for the mission of saving those who were sanctified by the Father and given to Him (Is 42:1; Jn 17:2, 6, 9, 24). The principle of setting apart is clearly seen in this aspect of sanctification. This is also the definition of sanctification. God sets apart His people unto holiness, unto Himself.

Jesus’ mission of redeeming these people, His church, brings us to the cross, where the purchase of blood sanctifies with the meaning being cleansing and purification (Acts 20:28). The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). In our redemption, we have the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7; Heb 9:22). Jesus Christ, the righteous, received the sins of the elect by imputation (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Jn 2:1). He who knew no sin became sin for us — His sheep for whom He laid down His life (Jn 10:11, 15). Jesus did not sanctify the goats, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction (Rom 9:22), who will be told to depart from Him on the day of judgment (Mt 7:21–23; 25:32–33).

Next, it is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that sanctifies God’s people by applying the merits of Christ to those who are baptized into His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom 6:3–5). The Spirit’s work of regeneration is the beginning of the manifestation of sanctification (Ezek 37:14; Jn 3:1–8; 6:63; 2 Cor 3:6).

When the Spirit causes one to be born again (1 Pet 1:3), one’s union with Christ is revealed (Rom 6:5). Jesus prayed for His beloved — that we would be one as our God is one (Jn 17:22–23). He who began this aspect of God’s sanctifying work has taken up permanent residence in the soul of the man made new (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Heb 13:5). Hence, what sets apart the Christian from the non-Christian is the permanent presence of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive (Jn 14:17).

The knowledge of God, who is true, is eternal life (Jn 17:3) — a gift that is opened to us by the Spirit, who is our Teacher (Jn 14:26). As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (who is Himself the truth), we are set free from slavery to sin and its domineering reign over the sons of Adam (Jn 8:31–38; 2 Pet 3:18). Sanctification moves God’s elect redeemed people from the domain of darkness, the dominion of Satan, and into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Acts 26:18; Col 1:13).

Third, we see the meaning of sanctification is whatever our Triune God has, is, or will be doing to complete our salvation. We have seen how we were set apart before Creation; set apart at the cross; and set apart when communion commenced at the time of God’s choosing to send His Spirit to baptize and regenerate (Jn 14:26; 15:26). Sanctification, therefore, has no end because it leads into eternal glorification (Rom 8:30). This will occur on the day of Christ’s return, when the resurrection to life presents us with new, glorified bodies to be conjoined with our glorified souls to be caught up together with Him in the air (Jn 5:29; 1 Cor 15; 1 Thess 4:17).

Jesus taught that the day of judgment will be a day of separation for the sheep and the goats (Mt 25:32–34), the wheat and the tares (Mt 13:18–30), the children of God and the children of the devil (1 Jn 3:10). That, too, will be an aspect of our sanctification. Hence, from beginning to end, the people of God, Christ’s church is sanctified according to the eternal purposes of God (Eph 3:11).

No one disputes the positional sanctification (except unbelievers). Ownership of God’s people is eternal. We might say, “Sanctification, like the whole of salvation itself, is eternal.” Therefore, the questions in dispute pertains to the issue of progressive sanctification. Are Christians made more and more holy? And do they partner with God in making themselves more and more holy?

The work of the Holy Spirit, in the life of the Christian, never produces more or less holiness. One is not more set apart than any other person who is set apart unto God in Christ. Performance Christianity is carnal Christianity, which is no Christianity at all. So, not only is progressive sanctification not a thing, but one thinking he is a participant in something that is not a thing is obviously not valid.

Christ lives in each believer via the indwelling Spirit (Gal 2:20). The Spirit lives and works to testify to Christ (Jn 15:26). It is the Word of God, employed by the Spirit of God that is manifesting in the saint. This is what Jesus was praying for in John 17:17. This is why the disciple’s light shines before men. The light of Christ shines brighter in the believer with a greater manifestation of Christ’s person and work.

The Word of God, as the Light of Life, leads the Christian to walk in the light. The Word is a lamp unto the sojourner’s feet. Thus, sanctification is not a process nor a partnership of labor. It is Christ leading and guiding His people from within. He has put His Law within our hearts, as much as His Spirit is there causing us to walk in His statutes (Ezek 36:27). When the Christian is walking in love, he or she is fulfilling the Law of Christ, the Law of love. Christian, walk this way, in a manner worthy of your calling.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

February 11, 2025

John 17:17–19