John 17:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What does "I sanctify Myself" mean? I offer a sacrifice to Thee. All sacrifices are called holy, just as everything offered to God truly is holy. In the Old Covenant, however, sanctification was in a type, under the form of a sheep. Now it is no longer in a type, but in the truth itself. Therefore He says, "that they also may be sanctified in Thy truth." I also dedicate them themselves to Thee and make them an offering. He says this either because their Head becomes a sacrifice, or because they themselves also will be a sacrifice. It is said, "Present your members as a living, holy sacrifice" (Rom 12:1). And again: "We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Ps 43:23). Thus even without death He makes them a sacrifice and an offering. That by the word "sanctify" He was alluding to His sacrifice is clear from what follows.

"That they also," like Me, "may be sanctified" and offered to You, God, not as sacrifices under the Law, slaughtered in figure, but "in truth."

For the Old Testament sacrifices, such as the lamb, doves, turtledoves, and the rest, were figures. Everything holy in type was dedicated to God, prefiguring something else, something spiritual.

But souls offered to God are sanctified in the truth itself, set apart and dedicated to God. As Paul also says, "Present your members as a living, holy sacrifice" (Rom 12:1).

Therefore sanctify and dedicate the souls of the disciples. Make them true offerings, or strengthen them to endure even death for the truth.

Having now expressly called the Father "holy" (Jn 17:11), and having completed His prayer that the disciples be kept in the truth, that is, in His Spirit, He says that He "sent them" into the world in imitation of His own sending.

For the Spirit is truth, according to John's word (1 Jn 5:6), since He is also the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13), evidently the Spirit of the Only-begotten Himself.

Jesus became the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, according to Paul's word (Heb 3:1), of course in the manner proper to humanity and to the form of His abasement.

Since the disciples were appointed for this, He says, they certainly needed sanctification from the Holy Father, who plainly causes the Holy Spirit to dwell in them through the Son.

Indeed, the Savior's disciples would never have attained such glory as to become luminaries of the whole world. Nor would they have withstood the unbearable evils that came from tempters or from the devil.

This could not have happened unless their mind had been guarded by participation in the Spirit. They had to be strengthened through Him to fulfill an extraordinary and more than human commandment of love.

Through the Spirit's illumination they were also easily guided to a clear understanding of the God-inspired Scripture and of the sacred dogmas of the Church.

So also the Savior, appearing to them after the Resurrection, as it is written (Acts 1:4), and commanding them to proclaim the grace of faith throughout the whole world, "commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem."

He ordered them to wait for the promise of the Father, which they had heard from Him and from the mouths of the holy prophets. For the Lord says, "In those days I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28).

The Savior Himself clearly proclaimed that the outpouring of the Spirit would come upon them, saying, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

"When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16:12-13). And again, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter" (Jn 14:16).

Although the Spirit is the proper Spirit of God the Father, He is nevertheless also the proper Spirit of the Son Himself. He is not another and different Spirit, nor is He conceived or existing separately in Each.

Rather, because the Son is from the Father and in the Father by nature, as the true fruit of His essence, He also appropriates to Himself by nature the Father's own Spirit.

The Spirit proceeds from the Father and is given to creation through the Son Himself. He is not in any respect ministerial, nor is He conceived in subordination.

Rather, as I have just said, He springs from the very essence of God the Father. He is poured out upon those worthy to receive Him through the consubstantial Word, who appeared from Him.

By appearing I mean His coming into existence in Himself, as self-subsistent. He abides in the Father, exists always together with Him, and is, as it were, distinct from Him.

For we affirm that the Son exists hypostatically in Himself. On the other hand, just as He abides in His Begetter, so also He has within Himself Him who begot Him.

The Spirit of the Father is the Spirit of the Son. The Father sends Him or promises to distribute Him to the saints. The Son again gives Him as His own, because of identity of essence with the Father.

The Father works all things through Him. The Lord Himself clearly indicated this again when He said, "It is profitable for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you" (Jn 16:7).

In another saying He declares, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter" (Jn 14:16). Here He clearly promises that He Himself will send us the Comforter.

Therefore, if the disciples who follow My words are appointed for apostleship in the world according to My example, then "keep" them, "Holy Father, in Your truth."

That means, keep them in Your Word, in whom and through whom the Spirit appears as sanctifying and proceeds.

What is the meaning of these words of the Savior? He was calling down upon us from the Father sanctification in the Spirit and through the Spirit.

What was in us from the first moments of being, and at the beginning of God's creation, He wishes to make alive in us again. We say this because the Only-begotten mediates and represents the person of the Advocate for us before the heavenly Father.

But to free this saying from obscurity and make its meaning clear to the hearers, let us briefly say something about the first-formed man.

The divine Moses said of him that God took dust from the earth and formed man. Then, bringing this living creature to the perfect completion of his creation and teaching how he was given a soul, he says, "He breathed into his face the breath of life" (Gen 2:7).

This indicates that the soul was given to man not without sanctification through the Spirit. It did not remain wholly foreign to, or deprived of, the divine nature.

That which had so lowly an origin would never have proved to be formed according to the image from above, unless by God's will it had received and inherited formation through the Spirit, like a beautiful countenance.

Since His Spirit is the pure image of the essence of the Only-begotten, according to what Paul writes, "Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom 8:29), He makes those in whom He is present conformable to the Image of the Father, that is, to the Son.

Thus all things are brought upward through the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father from whom He is.

For this reason He asks that human nature be renewed and, as it were, transformed again into its original image through participation in the Spirit.

Clothed with that first grace and once more receiving conformity to Him, we are shown to be higher and stronger than the sin reigning in this world.

Caring for love toward God alone, wholly given over to desire for every good thing, and possessing a mind that overcomes love of the flesh, we preserve unchanged the beauty of the Image implanted in us.

In this is the spiritual life. In this is the power of service in the Spirit. But, if a long discourse must again be shortened in a few words, Christ was calling upon us the original gift of humanity.

That gift is sanctification through the Spirit and communion in the divine nature. He called it upon us in the person of His disciples, as in the firstfruits receiving this gift.

Therefore the saying is true: "The hardworking farmer must be the first to partake of the fruits" (2 Tim 2:6).

Yet in order that He might be shown preeminent also in this (Col 1:18), He necessarily added what follows: "For their sake I sanctify Myself."

For the Firstborn (Rom 8:29), conceived as being among many brethren and among us (Heb 2:11) because of His likeness to us, had to be and appear for us the beginning, door, and way of every good.

This saying is somewhat difficult to explain and not easy to understand. Yet the all-sanctifying Word, who reveals "deep things out of darkness" (Job 12:22), will also explain this mystery to us.

According to the custom of the law, he says, that is sanctified which is presented by someone to God as a kind of dedication or offering, as a sacrifice.

For example, all the firstborn that opens the womb among the sons of Israel was sanctified. "Sanctify to Me every firstborn that opens the womb," God said to the glorious Moses (Ex 13:2).

That is, dedicate it, set it apart, and mark it as a sacred offering. Indeed, we shall not say, nor accept from anyone else the assertion, that God commanded Moses to communicate sanctification through the Spirit to anyone.

The ability to do anything of the kind goes beyond created nature. It must be proper and belong exclusively to God alone.

Thus, when God wished to appoint elders together with Moses, He did not command Moses himself to communicate sanctification to the chosen elders. On the contrary, He clearly said that He would take from the Spirit that was upon him and give to each of the designated elders (Num 11:17).

The reason is that the power to sanctify through participation in the Holy Spirit belongs only to the Nature that rules over all.

Solomon himself can make clear for us the meaning of this word, I mean its use in the law. He says, "It is a snare for a man quickly to sanctify something of his own, for after a vow comes regret" (Prov 20:25).

Therefore, understanding "sanctification" in the usual sense of dedication and separation, we affirm that the Son sanctified Himself for us. He offered Himself as a sacred and holy sacrifice to God the Father.

He was "reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor 5:19) and bringing back to divine love what had fallen away from it, that is, the human race. For "He is our peace," as it is written (Eph 2:14).

Yet our reunion with God must be understood as accomplished through Christ the Savior only through communion and sanctification in the Spirit.

For the Holy Spirit binds us and, as it were, joins us to God. Having received Him, we become participants and communicants of the divine nature, and through the Son and in the Son we receive the Father Himself.

Therefore the wise John writes to us about Him: "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit" (1 Jn 4:13).

Besides this, what does Paul say? "Because you are sons," he says, "God sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal 4:6).

Thus, if we were to remain without participation in the Spirit, God would in no way be known as present within us. If we had not received the Spirit who makes us sons of God, we would in no way be sons of God.

What reunion with God would there truly be? How would we appear as communicants of the divine nature, if God were not present in us and if we were not given over to Him through the call to participation in the Spirit?

But now we are called participants and communicants of the supreme nature and temples of God. For the Only-begotten sanctified Himself, that is, dedicated Himself, for our sins.

He offered Himself as a sacred sacrifice, a sweet-smelling savor to God the Father. He did this so that what separated human nature and, as it were, walled it off from God might be removed.

This was sin. Once it was removed, no obstacle remained preventing man from being near God and having communion with Him, evidently through participation in the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit transforms us into righteousness, holiness, and the original image. For if sin separates and divides man from God, then righteousness must surely unite and, with every intermediary removed, somehow present us to God Himself.

We are made righteous, or justified, through faith in Christ, "who was delivered up for our trespasses," as it is written, "and raised for our justification" (Rom 4:25).

In Him, as in the firstfruits of the race, the whole of human nature was changed to new life. Ascending, as it were, to its beginning, it was transformed into holiness.

Therefore He says, "Sanctify them, Father, in Your truth," that is, in Me. For Your Word is truth, that is, again, I Myself am.

For I sanctified Myself "for them," that is, I dedicated and offered Myself, dying alone for all, so that I might transform them to new life and that they might be "sanctified in truth," that is, in Me.

Having explained and accepted the meaning of the saying under interpretation according to the understanding just set forth, let us not delay in passing to other considerations.

I consider the careful investigation of thoughts not easily grasped to be a most venerable occupation, both for those who desire to do it and for the most studious hearers.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that He sanctifies Himself for us, so that we too might become "sanctified in truth." How, then, is He sanctified, though He is holy by nature, so that we might become sanctified?

Holding to the dogmas of the Church and not transgressing the straight rule of faith, let us again consider this as well as we can.

Since the Mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, became the Head of the Church, they became His members. Therefore in the following words He says: "And for their sake I sanctify Myself." What does "for their sake I sanctify Myself" mean, if not this: "By Myself I sanctify them, for they are Myself"? Those of whom He speaks are, as I have said, His members. The Head and the body are one Christ. [...] To be certain that this is so in this passage, listen to what follows.

Let us note the distinction between the divine essence and the flesh. In both, one and the same Son of God speaks, for both natures are present in Him. And although one and the same Person speaks, He does not always speak in the same way. Distinguish in Him now the glory of God, and now human qualities. As God He speaks what pertains to God, for He is the Word. As Man He speaks in human fashion, for He speaks according to my nature. [...] Does not the very letter teach us that it was not the Divinity that needed sanctification, but the flesh? For the Lord Himself said, "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself," so that you may understand that in the flesh He is sanctified for us, while by His Divinity He Himself sanctifies.

"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself." I voluntarily offer Myself in sacrifice. By sanctification here Jesus Christ means offering in sacrifice, since the word "sanctification" can have this meaning among many others. "That they also may be sanctified in truth." This means: that My disciples also may be offered as a true sacrifice. The legal sacrifice was only a type, not the truth. Thus they too are to be offered in sacrifice, as their Head was offered. Or: "that they also may be sanctified in truth," as those who have sacrificed themselves. It is said in Scripture, "We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Ps 43:23). And again: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice" (Rom 12:1). Thus one can offer oneself in sacrifice and yet not be killed. And so that no one might think that Jesus Christ says this only about the apostles, He continues His discourse.

Here the Savior prays for the sanctification of the disciples by the truth, which is the word of God. That is, He prays for their confirmation and preservation on the path of goodness and truth. He prays that, through preserving Christ's truth, they may become holy. They need this sanctification with special urgency. As the Son was sent by the Father, so they are sent into the world to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. They must spread and preach Christ's truth to others. Therefore, first of all, they need the word of God to be established in themselves and to bring forth abundant fruit. "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." 'Αγιάζω means to make holy and to dedicate, that is, to the service of God and as a sacrifice to God. Thus the meaning of this verse is this: for their sake I offer Myself in sacrifice, so that they also may be able to dedicate themselves wholly to the service of truth and offer themselves in sacrifice to it.

As He completed His ministry to the human race, Jesus was leaving only eleven apostles and a few disciples. This little flock of Christ had to go into the kingdom of darkness and bring into it the light of divine truth. It is clear with what fury they would be met in that kingdom. Persecutions would begin against them and their followers. Even the word "Christian" would become hateful to the sons of darkness. What unshakable faith and what courage they needed to withstand the assault of the savage enemies of God's righteousness. Yet precisely this unshakable faith and this courage were lacking in them at that time. Soon they would abandon their Teacher. Peter, who until then had seemed the firmest believer in Him, this rock of apostolic faith, would deny Him three times.

"And for their sakes I dedicate Myself," that is, I sanctify Myself. Having been sanctified by the Father before being sent into the world (Jn 10:36), the Lord Himself accomplishes this sanctification in time. He does so by offering Himself in sacrifice to the holy and righteous God for the sinful world (Heb 9:14; Eph 5:2; cf. Chrysostom and Theophylact). This sanctification of Himself by Christ differs from the sanctification of the apostles in this way. Christ is at once High Priest and sacrifice, and therefore He sanctifies Himself. The apostles must be sanctified by God in the Holy Spirit, as sacrifices for the truth of the word.

What do the words "I sanctify Myself" mean? They cannot be understood as dedication for being sent into the world (Jn 10:36). In His prayer the Savior speaks not only of His mission, but of His whole earthly life, as already completed (verses 4 and 11). Yet here He says, "I sanctify Myself." Nor is the gracious sanctification which we need meant here, since He is holy from His very birth (Lk 1:35). Nevertheless He uses of Himself the same word that He used of men: "sanctify" (Jn 17:17). The fundamental thought of sanctification there and here is one and the same. Christ Jesus appears as priest and sacrifice. He offers Himself, as the Lamb of God, for sanctified sacrificial use. Should one also understand moral sanctification in relation to Christ?

Why do we call the Church holy? In His prayer to God the Father for believers, the Lord Jesus Christ said: "Sanctify them in Your truth; Your word is truth... And for their sake I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth" (Jn 17:17, 19).

The Lord points to one common work performed by Him, both as God and as the God-man who offers Himself in sacrifice, and by those whom He sends into the world as His "witnesses." The common goal is the salvation of men in the name of Christ the Savior; see below, verse 20, concerning all believers. Because of this common work, the Lord is pleased to establish a closeness between Himself and mortal, sinful men. They are chosen by Him, but sanctified by God's truth. In order that these chosen men might become spreaders of the Word of God, and that the world might hear the Word of God and believe unto salvation, the Lord offers Himself in sacrifice: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." "He," says St.