John 17:17
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jesus prays that His friends would be set apart and shaped for God by the truth of His word.
Context
The closing prayer of the upper room, sometimes called Jesus' great prayer for His followers, just before He goes out to the garden and the cross. Having taught the disciples all evening, He now turns to the Father and prays for them by name in their hearing.
What Does John 17:17 Mean?
On His last night, Jesus prays aloud for His disciples, and this is one of His requests for them: sanctify them. To sanctify is to set apart for God, to make holy, to dedicate something wholly to His purposes. And Jesus names the means: through thy truth. The instrument that shapes a life toward God is the truth, and He says plainly what that truth is. Thy word is truth. God's word does more than ring true; it is the very thing that cleanses and forms His people.
There is deep tenderness in hearing Jesus pray this over us. He asks that His followers be made holy right where they are, in the midst of the world, shaped by the truth as they go. The same word He had spoken to them all evening would keep doing its quiet work long after He was gone. For anyone who longs to be changed and made more like God intends, this verse reveals both the prayer Jesus prayed and the means He named: His word, working truth into us over time.
In the Original Language
hagiazo (ἁγιάζω), 'sanctify' -- to set apart as holy, to consecrate wholly to God.
Application
When we long to be changed and made more like what God intends, this verse hands us both the prayer and the means. Jesus asks the Father to set us apart by the truth, and that truth is His word, doing its slow, faithful work in us as we take it in.