in order to sanctify her, having cleansed her with the washing of water with the word,
5:26 — “to sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word.” Remember that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (1:4). “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess 4:3). The word “sanctify” simply means “set apart.” God tells us repeatedly that we must turn away from all kinds of evil. We are a people separated from the world. Christ died to effect this separation. The person who professes to be a Christian but does not want to separate himself from the world despises the blood of Christ. — “the washing with water by the word”, baptism in water for the forgiveness of sins (Tue 16:16; Ac 2:38; Ac 22:16). God “saved us…by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5), text that perfectly matches Ac 2:38. Although 10,000 sectarian pastors say it is not true, we are purified by baptism, which is “the washing of water by the word.” — “by the word”. “Sanctify them in your truth; Your word is truth”. The new birth is effected by means of the word (1Pe 1:23; Jas 1:18; 1Co 4:15). The gospel is the seed that produces new life. The word obeyed purifies the soul (1Pe 1:22).
Source: Commentary on the New Testament by Partain
to sanctify it. Joh 17:17-19; Ac 26:18; 1Co 6:11; Tit 2:14; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:10; 1Pe 1:2; Jude 1:1.
water washing. Eze 16:9; Eze 36:25; Zech 13:1; Joh 3:5; Ac 22:16; Tit 3:5-7; Hebrews 10:22; 1Pe 3:21; 1Jn 5:6.
for the word Joh 15:8; Joh 17:7; Jas 1:18; 1Pe 1:22, 1Pe 1:23.
Source: The Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
In these verses Paul briefly outlines what Jesus did for the Church. First of all, he loved the Church to the point of being willing to suffer and die for her. What he did not only saved her, but he also sanctified her. In other words, Jesus wanted to project the Church into what it would be, the holy Temple of God.
Source: New Illustrated Caribbean Bible Commentary
sanctify her…cleansed…washed…holy and without blemish. This alludes to the love of Christ for his Church. Saving grace makes believers holy by the intervention of the Word of God (Tit 2:1-9; Tit 3:5), so that they can be like a pure bride. For husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church, it is necessary to have a purifying love. Since divine love seeks to completely cleanse the loved one of all forms of sin and wickedness, a Christian husband should not think of a single sinful thing in the life of his wife that displeases God. Her greatest desire for her should be that she become perfectly conformed to Christ, so her intention and her abiding goal is to lead her toward purity. See the note on 2Co 11:28.
Source: MacArthur Study Bible
5:26 — “to sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word.” Remember that God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (1:4). “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess 4:3). The word “sanctify” simply means “set apart.” God tells us repeatedly that we must turn away from all kinds of evil. We are a people separated from the world. Christ died to effect this separation. The person who professes to be a Christian but does not want to separate himself from the world despises the blood of Christ.
— “the washing with water by the word”, baptism in water for the forgiveness of sins (Mar 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16). God “saved us… by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5), a text that perfectly matches Acts 2:38. Although 10,000 sectarian pastors say it is not true, we are purified by baptism, which is “the washing of water by the word.”
— “by the word”. “Sanctify them in your truth; Your word is truth”. The new birth takes place through the word (1Pe 1:23; Jas 1:18; 1Co 4:15). The gospel is the seed that produces new life. The obeyed word purifies the soul (1Pe 1:22).
Source: Reeves-Partain Notes
Joh 17:19; 1Co 6:11; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 13:12; Tit 3:5.
Source: Hispano-American Interdenominational Translation
— by means of water and words: The Eastern custom according to which the bride was prepared for the wedding by means of a ritual bath, is used here by the author of the letter to evoke the baptism by which those who enter the Church remain, by virtue of their faith, cleansed from their sins. Regarding purification by the word, see Joh 15:3.
Source: Hispano-American Interdenominational Translation
CROSS-REFERENCES
x307 Hebrews 13:12
and 308 Joh 17:17
Source: New World Translation
26 (1) Christ’s purpose in giving Himself for the church is to sanctify her, not only by separating her for Himself from everything profane, but also by saturating her with His element so that she is His complement. He accomplishes this purpose by cleansing it by the washing of water in the word.
26 (two) Lit., lavacro. In the Greek the definite article appears before this word, and this makes it refer to the same laver that was known to all the Jews. In the Old Testament the priests used the laver to wash away their earthly contamination (Exo_30:18-21). Now the lavacro, the washing of the water, cleanses us from contamination.
26 (3) According to the divine concept, here the water refers to the life of God, a life that flows, typified by a stream (Exo_17:6; 1Co_10:4; Jua_7:38-39; Rev_21:6; 22:1,17) . Here the washing of the water is different from the washing of the redeeming blood of Christ. The redeeming blood washes us from our sins ( 1Jn_1:7 ; Rev_7:14), while the water of life washes us from the defects of the natural life of our old man, such as spots, wrinkles and the like, as mentioned in the V. 27. In separating and sanctifying the church, the Lord first washes us from our sins with his blood (Heb_13: 12) and then washes us from our natural stains with his life. We are now in this washing process so that the church may be holy and without blemish (v.27).
26 (4) The Greek word denotes a specific word for the moment. The indwelling Christ as the life-giving Spirit always speaks a specific, present, living word to metabolically remove the old and replace it with the new, bringing about an inner transformation.
Cleansing by the washing of the water of life is in the word of Christ. This indicates that in the word of Christ is found the water of life. This is typified by the laver located between the altar and the tabernacle (Exo_38:8; 40:7).
Source: New Testament Commentary Recovery Version
R521 Τῷ λουτρῷ is an example of the pure dative, which is used as a locative without the preposition ἐν. Blass thinks that the pure locative does not appear in the NT
M78 Ἐν is occasionally used in the accompanying sense. So ἐν ῥήματι perhaps means: accompanied by the formula (or is it instrumental?)
Source: Grammar Help for the Study of the Greek New Testament
* Probably as an allusion to baptism.