29. (Vers. 17.). Sanctify them in truth. Holy, that is, without earth; to sanctify, that is, to cleanse and purify; but this truth is in the word of God. Therefore he says: Your word is truth: and by this word of God the disciples are sanctified, that is, purged from error. Chrysostom: " Sanctify them in truth, that is, instruct them, teach them truth; for right doctrines sanctify the soul." For the word of God knows how to purge; therefore it was said above in the fifteenth chapter: "You are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you"; and in Ephesians 5: "Christ sanctified the Church, cleansing her by the washing of water in the word of life." Concerning such sanctification, 2 Timothy 2: "If anyone shall have cleansed himself from these things, he shall be a sanctified vessel, useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work."
30. (Vers. 18.). As you sent me. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the reason for being heard, which is twofold, namely the office committed to them and the sacrifice offered for them. By reason of the office committed to them, they ought to be preserved and sanctified, because they were sent among the wicked: therefore he says: As you sent me into the world, to suffering; so also I have sent them into the world, namely to suffer: whence Matthew 10: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves." Therefore by reason of the office it was fitting that they should be preserved: and also by reason of the sacrifice offered: therefore he adds:
31. (Vers. 19.). And for them I sanctify myself: Chrysostom: "That is, I offer a holy sacrifice. All sacrificial victims were called holy"; Romans 12: "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God"; and as Chrysostom says, "because in ancient times the sanctification was in a sheep as a type, but now it is not in a type, but in the truth itself: therefore he says: That they may be sanctified in truth "; Hebrews 9: "If the ashes of a heifer sprinkled and the blood of goats sanctifies the defiled unto the cleansing of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God"?
QUESTIONS.
32. Question I. There is a question concerning what he says: When I was with them, I kept them.
1. From this he seems to suggest powerlessness in himself, because in his very absence he could not keep them.
2. It also seems from this that the works of the Trinity are divided and performed alternately, because first the Son kept them, and now he asks the Father to keep them.
I respond: It must be said that there are two ways of keeping, namely effectively and dispositively. In the first way, it belongs to him to keep whose it is to give being; in the second way, it can belong to another. In the first way, God preserves man in the good: in the second, one man preserves another by good instruction and example, as a prelate his subjects. I say therefore that Christ speaks here of preservation that was dispositive, by a dispositive mode, namely by example and exhortation and instruction: and this was to be withdrawn along with his bodily presence. In the other way he kept them interiorly with the Father insofar as he is God: but he does not speak of this, and this he did not withdraw, but exercised it together with the Father.
33. Question II. There is a question concerning what he says: Those whom you gave me I have kept: and none of them perished except the son of perdition.
Against this: Above in chapter six: All that the Father gives me shall come to me: and above in chapter ten: No one snatches the sheep from my hands: therefore none of the sheep ought to have perished.
I respond: It must be said that the Father gives some to the Son in two ways, namely by eternal foreknowledge those whom he predestined and foreknew to be conformed to the image of his Son ; and he gives some according to present justice.
When therefore it is said that he lost none of those given to him, he speaks according to predestination; when he excepts Judas, he speaks according to present justice.
34. Question III. An inquiry is made concerning this, that he asks for his disciples to be preserved from evil.
It seems that he asks in a disordered manner:
1. Because they were in charity; but from however small a grace or charity one can resist however great a temptation; therefore, etc.
2. Likewise, from that grace one cannot fall except through mortal sin; one cannot sin except willingly; therefore that each one be preserved lies within the freedom of our will; therefore he asks superfluously.
It is answered to this that, as Augustine says, to persevere in the good received is of divine gift and of our solicitude; for grace is preserved in us through continual inflowing, and therefore it is asked of the Lord that he continually assist. Hence, even if we can fail by will alone, unless divine aid intervenes, we cannot persevere.
In the third part, Christ asks for conformity of grace for those who will believe.
35. I do not ask for them only. This is the third part of the chapter, in which the Lord asks for those who will believe through the Apostles conformity of grace; and he proceeds in this order. First he sets forth the petition; second, the reason for being heard, at: And the glory which you have given.
In the petition, therefore, he asks for those who will believe a twofold unity, namely of love and of faith.
(Verse 20). On account of the unity of love, which he asks for those who will believe through the Apostles, he says: I do not ask for them, namely for the Apostles, only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; for those, I say, I ask:
36. (Verse 21). That they may be one, through conformity of love, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that is, as we are one, that they also may be one in us; Galatians 3: "You are all one in Christ Jesus." This unity is through the adherence of charity; 1 Corinthians 6: "He who clings to God is one spirit." But when they are united to one another in God, then they are one in God; hence 1 Corinthians 12: "In one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."
37. Thus he asks for them the unity of charity; he also asks for the unity of faith; therefore he says: That the world may believe that you have sent me. The world, that is, the universality of the children of God dispersed throughout the world, whom he was to gather into the unity of faith. Above in chapter 11 it was said that he was about to die, "that he might gather into one the children of God who were dispersed," and this by uniting them in faith in his name; because, above in chapter 1, "he gave power to become children of God to those who believe in his name"; and Acts 4: "There is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved."
38. And I the glory. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the reason for being heard, because he had communicated his glory to the Apostles so that the world might be converted to the faith. Now he had communicated a threefold glory to them, namely of power, wisdom, and goodness: of power in working miracles, on account of which the Jews were converted to the faith, who "seek signs";
of wisdom in proclaiming teachings, on account of which the Greeks might be converted, who "seek wisdom ".