Our sanctification, or set apartness, comes in alignment to the truth, not mere statements of truth, but to Jesus, who is himself the word and the truth. This word that existed with God in the beginning, sanctified, or consecrated himself, verse 19, to God on the cross, that those who would follow him might also be sanctified. Jesus needed not to grow in holiness, but rather to obediently set himself apart to God’s divine purposes on the cross.
Carrying out our mission as Christians depends on existing in communion with Jesus, a union made possibly through the cross, and maintaining alignment with his purposes. As we devote ourselves to God through Jesus and consecrate ourselves to his ends by hearing, believing, and obeying his word, God continually sanctifies us to his purposes, marking us out at saints, those who have been devoted, consecrated, and sanctified to the LORD.
This holy relationship, this set-apartness, produces real sanctification, actual transformation, tangible set-apartness, with clear evidence that one has, in fact, been sanctified to a holy God.
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