Special Testimonies for Ministers and Workers—No. 7

Necessity of Understanding the Word

“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” Teachers may suppose that they can teach in their own wisdom, retaining their human imperfections; but Christ, the divine Teacher, whose work is to restore to man that which was lost through the fall, sanctified himself for his work. He offered himself unto God as a sacrifice for sin, giving his life for the life of the world. He would have those for whom he paid such a ransom, “sanctified through the truth,” and he has set them an example. The Teacher is what he would have his disciples become. There is no sanctification aside from the truth,—the word. Then how essential that it should be understood by every one! SpTA07 28.3

The prayer of Christ embraces more than those who were then his disciples; it takes in all who should receive him in faith. He says, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” SpTA07 29.1

Wonderful, wonderful words, almost beyond comprehension! Will the teachers in our schools understand this? Will they take the word of God as the lesson book able to make them wise unto salvation? This book is the voice of God speaking to us. The Bible opens to us the words of life; for it makes us acquainted with Christ, who is our life. In order to have true, abiding faith in Christ, we must know him as he is represented in the word. Faith is trustful. It is not a matter of fits and starts, according to the impulse and emotion of the hour; but it is a principle that has its foundation in Jesus Christ. And faith must be kept in constant exercise through the diligent, persevering study of the word. The word thus becomes a living agency; and we are sanctified through the truth. SpTA07 29.2