Sandals

“Sanctify them in truth;  Thy word is truth.”   John 17:17

Sanctify – What is the first thing that comes to mind when you read this verse?  Do you think that Jesus, in the prayer before the crucifixion, is asking the Father to keep His followers morally and ethically pure?  Does sanctification for you mean sinless perfection – or at least an attempt to reach that goal?  If we don’t really understand what Jesus says, then we will be confused about the second part of this prayer.  How is sanctification (whatever that means) directly connected to God’s Word (the Old Testament Scriptures)?

Let’s do some detective work.  First, the Greek term here is hagiason, from the verb hagiazo.  You can see the connection to the English word holy, and that is just what it means, “to make holy.”  In Greek, Jesus is asking the Father to make his disciples holy.  But Jesus is not speaking Greek.  So, when we look for the Hebrew equivalent, we find the word qadash.  The root qds is used about 900 times in the Old Testament.  Its principle meaning is to consecrate, to set apart, and, as a result, make holy.  You can find a clear example in Exodus 20:8, where God makes the Sabbath day holy.  There are some important nuances to this word that cannot be overlooked. 

First, when this Hebrew verb is used reflexively (an action applied to the subject, like “He watched himself”), God is the only subject.  Only God is holy in Himself.  That means that whatever holiness is applied to any person, place of thing, it is derived holiness, not inherent holiness.  It owes its condition to the only One Who is truly holy.

Second, qadash does not imply moral or ethical conditions.  The word is about consecration and separation, not about moral and ethical behaviors.  So, places can be holy.  So can utensils, garments and ox carts.  More importantly, people can be made holy by being set apart to God, dedicated to God’s purposes.  This does not mean that they are holy because they have ethically pure lives.  It means that they serve God alone.  They are His possessions.  How they express that consecration might involve ethical purity, but they are set apart for God before ethical considerations enter the picture.  Therefore, God can require that the first- born be consecrated to Him before a child has made a single moral decision. 

How does this help us see what Jesus asked the Father?  It corrects our misunderstanding about moral purity. Sanctification is not about becoming perfect.  It is about becoming perfectly His.  It is about giving more and more of my life over to God for His possession.  When Moses met God at the burning bush, he took off his sandals to show that he had no ownership of the ground he stood on.  It belonged to God.  That’s what we must do – transfer ownership to Him, give up our claims and consecrate ourselves to His purposes.  God is not asking for the perfect life.  He is asking for separation of the life we have.

Qadash corrects our vision about perfection. I can’t make myself holy, but I can give myself completely to Him.  I can stop pretending that my life is mine to control and turn ownership over to God.  Jesus prays that the Father will separate us – for His use.  Now you and I get to assess the ownership issues in our lives and ask, “Have I taken off my shoes?”