John 17:17-19

17:17 Set them apart ¹  in the truth; your word is truth. 17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ²  17:19 And I set myself apart ³  on their behalf, ⁴  so that they too may be truly set apart. ⁵ 

[17:17]  ¹ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

[17:18]  ² sn Jesus now compared the mission on which he was sending the disciples to his own mission into the world, on which he was sent by the Father. As the Father sent Jesus into the world (cf. 3:17), so Jesus now sends the disciples into the world to continue his mission after his departure. The nature of this prayer for the disciples as a consecratory prayer is now emerging: Jesus was setting them apart for the work he had called them to do. They were, in a sense, being commissioned.

[17:19]  ³ tn Or “I sanctify.”

[17:19]  ⁴ tn Or “for their sake.”

[17:19]  ⁵ tn Or “they may be truly consecrated,” or “they may be truly sanctified.”