¹⁷ “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

What separates Christians from the world? Certainly, there is a spiritual separation, in that true believers are spiritually alive, while all others are spiritually dead. There may be cultural differences, in that Christians do something differently than non-Christians, having different moral standards. Some Christians try to stand out by the way they wear their clothes, or the standard of living they accept.

Jesus here is talking about a dynamic that is at once holy and at the same time grounded in reality. He prays to the Father, “Sanctify them.” The word “sanctify” is related to the term “holy.” In its most basic meaning, it carries the sense of being separate, to treat differently. As used in the Bible, it most often means to separate something to God, to treat it as special for God. In the Old Testament, when things were sanctified, like a sacrifice, it was given over to God at the temple. To sanctify something was to make it holy, to separate it from its normal use and purpose and set it aside for God’s purpose and use.

Jesus was not asking the Father to create a ritual involving the sprinkling of “holy water” as some do today. He prayed that the Father would separate out His followers, and treat them as special. Don’t treat them as simply part of the “human family,” but as a separate, holy group of humans, different from the rest. This is not a desire for creating a religious order, a clergy—but a reality for any follower of Christ. We are a separate class of people, all believers.

We are all called to separate from the world, because we are not “of” the world. Peter remembered this, when he wrote years later, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). There should be no clergy-laity distinction in the church today. We are all “priests,” with direct access to God.

The term “saint” as used in Scripture is related to the words, “holy” and “sanctified.” Religions of the world like (erroneously) to distinguish those who are “saints” as being particularly holy, in contrast to the rest of the religious practitioners. But Jesus asked the Father to make us all saints. In fact, Paul uses that word in reference to the carnal Christians of Corinth, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.” (1 Cor 1:2). Yes, God has made us all saints. We are special to Him, even when we fall short of living as saints.

Lord, help me live in the constant awareness that You see me as special to You.