Jude’s beautiful threefold description of his readers is “those who are called, sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). This is the blessed state and glorious standing of all the participants in the common salvation found in Christ. What breathtaking beauty is embedded in each descriptor! (See yesterday’s blog for a consideration of “called”.)
Sanctified. The God of heaven adds all His children to His family. He has no step or illegitimate children. That collection of saved persons—God’s house—is called the church (1 Timothy 3:15). It has been set apart, i.e. sanctified, for a specific function. It is to be a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21) with the explicit purpose of offering up spiritual sacrifices to God (1 Peter 2:5). As God’s own special people, the sanctified are to proclaim His praises because He has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).
To live as God intends, the sanctified must sanctify the Lord God in their hearts (1 Peter 3:15). There is to be an unrivaled affection for their Father who has granted them every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3) and who promises an incorruptible, undefiled, imperishable inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4). As His bride, the church is to have an unrivaled affection for Jesus, her bridegroom (Ephesians 5:22-24). Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and living soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:12) befits the sanctified who have sanctified the Lord God in their hearts.
