What Does John 17:19 Mean?
And for their sake I set myself apart, that they also might be set apart through the truth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.THE KEY
Jesus’ setting himself apart is for others’ sake, and their setting apart comes through truth.
THE MEANING
Jesus sets himself apart for the sake of others, and your setting-apart reaches you through truth. Consecration here is relational: his self-giving opens the way, and truth carries that work into you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that being set apart means withdrawing from people: Jesus’ consecration is explicitly for their sake.
THE ROOT
ἁγιάζω
hagiazō
GROWS FROM
ἁγι-
hagi-
set apart; dedicate to God
“set myself apart” in this verse is hagiazō. The Greek word family carries the sense of setting something apart for God. Jesus’ setting apart is explicitly “for their sakes,” and the same verb describes what truth does in them: consecration moves outward in service.
ALSO GROWS
hagios: set apart
ἅγιος
This adjective shows the shared root’s core idea: what is set apart belongs to God.
hagiasmos: setting apart; consecration
ἁγιασμός
This noun names the same movement that Jesus undergoes and that his followers receive through truth.
THE PATTERN
Setting apart is God’s work, received through truth and expressed in a life dedicated for others.
Set them apart through your truth; your word is truth.Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, "Surely my sabbaths you shall guard, for it is a sign between me and you through your generations, that you may perceive that I am the LORD who sets you apart."By this will we have been set apart through the offering of the body of Jesus, the Anointed One, once for all.THE THREAD
Set them apart through your truth; your word is truth.The same Greek verb for “sanctify” appears here and in the verse before it, where truth is named as the means of their setting apart. Verse 19 then shows Jesus’ own consecration for them as part of that movement.
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