Holiness — The Chief Aim of Bible Study
“Sanctify them in Thy truth, Thy Word is Truth,”
In his great intercessory prayer our Lord spoke of the words which the Father had given Him, of His own giving them to His disciples, and of their having received and believed them. It was this that made them disciples. It was their keeping these words that would really enable them to live the life and do the work of true disciples. Receiving the of God from Christ AND Keeping Them, the Mark and Power of True Discipleship.
In praying the Father to keep them in the world when he had left it, our Lord asks that He would sanctify them in the truth, as it dwells and works in His word. Christ had said of Himself, “I am the truth.’’ He was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. His teaching was not like that of the law which came by Moses, giving a knowledge, a promise of good things to come which was but an image or a shadow. “The words I speak unto you are spirit and life,” giving the very substance and power and Divine possession of what they speak of. Christ had spoken of the Spirit as the Spirit of truth who would lead into all the truth that there was in Himself, not as a matter of knowledge or doctrine, but into its actual experience and enjoyment. And then He prays that in this living truth, as it dwells in the Word, and is revealed in Him by the Spirit, and the Father would sanctify them. “For their sakes,” He says, “I sanctify Myself that they themselves may also be sanctified in truth.” And He asks the Father in His power and love to take charge of them, that His object — to sanctify them in the truth, through His word which is truth — may be realised, that they, like Himself, may be sanctified in truth. Let us study the wonderful lessons here given in regard to God’s word.
“Sanctify them in Thy truth, Thy word is truth.” The Great Object of God’s Word Is TO Make us Holy. No diligence or success in Bible study will really profit us unless it makes us humbler, holier men. In all our use of Holy Scripture this must be definitely our main object. The reason there is often so much Bible reading with so little real result in a Christ-like character, is that “salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,” is not truly sought. People imagine that if they study the Word and accept its truths, this will in some way, of itself, benefit them. But experience teaches that it does not. The fruit of holy character, of consecrated life, of power to bless others, does not come, for the simple and most natural reason that we only get what we seek. Christ gave us God’s Word to make us holy, it is only when we make this our definite aim in all Bible study, that the truth, not the doctrinal truth, but its Divine quickening power, imparting the very life of God, that it contains as a seed, can open and impart itself to us.
“Sanctify them in Thy truth. Thy word is truth.’’ It is God Himself Who alone Can Make us Holy by His Word. The word, separate from God and His direct operation, cannot avail. The word is an instrument: God Himself must use it. God is the alone Holy One. He alone can make holy. The unspeakable value of God’s word is that it is God’s means of holiness. The terrible mistake of many is that they forget that God alone can use it or make it effectual. It is not enough that I have access to the dispensary of a physician. I need him to prescribe. Without him my use of his medicines might be fatal. It was so with the scribes. They made their boast of God’s law; they delighted in their study of Scripture and yet remained unsanctified. The word did not sanctify them, because they did not seek for this in the word, and did not yield to God to do it for them.
“Sanctify them in Thy truth. Thy word is truth.” This Holiness Through the Word Must Be Sought and Waited for from God in Prayer. Our Lord not only taught His disciples that they must be holy; He not only sanctified
Himself for them, that they might “be sanctified in truth, but He brought His words and His work to the Father with the Prayer That He Would Sanctify Them. It is most needful to know God’s word and meditate on it. It is most needful to set our heart upon being holy, as our first and chief object in studying the Word. But all this is not enough; everything depends upon our following Christ in asking the Father to sanctify us through the Word. It Is God the Holt Father, Who Makes Us Holy, by the Spirit of holiness who dwells in us. He works in us the very mind and disposition of Christ who is our sanctification. “There is none holy but the Lord’’; all holiness is His and what He gives by His holy Presence. The tabernacle and temple were not holy in virtue of cleansing, or separation or consecration. They became holy by the incoming and indwelling God. His taking possession made them holy. God even so makes us holy through His word bringing Christ and the Holy Spirit into us. And the Father cannot do this except as we tarry before Him, and are still, and in deep dependence and full surrender give ourselves up to Him. It is in the prayer offered in the Name, and the fellowship, and the faith of the Great Intercessor — “Sanctify me through Thy truth, Thy word is truth,” that the Father’s sanctifying power will be found, and our knowledge of God’s word truly make us holy.
How sacred the Morning Watch! The hour specially devoted to the Soul’s yielding itself up to God’s holiness, to be sanctified through the Word. Let us ever remember, the one aim of God’s word is to make us holy. Let it be our continual prayer “Father, sanctify me in Thy truth.”