ACC ~ Jude 1 v23
THE SPOTTED TUNIC. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The spotted tunic of the soul is a spirit which has been corrupted by worldly lusts. ADUMBRATIONS.
THE GARMENT STAINED AND CLEANED. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR: What is meant by “a cloak stained by corrupted flesh”? This is said of those who have a life stained by the lusts of the flesh. We all have clothes which bear the marks of our life, whether we are righteous or not. The person who has a clean cloak is one who leads a pure life, whereas the one who has a soiled one has got mixed up with evil deeds. Or a cloak may be soiled by the flesh if the latter is formed in its conscience by the memory of those evil deeds which spring from the flesh and which still work on the soul. Just as the Spirit can make a cloak for the soul out of the virtues which come from the principle of incorruptibility, so by analogy the flesh can produce an unclean and soiled cloak from the lusts which belong to it. CATENA.
SAVE SOME. ANDREAS: If someone can use the word of God to rescue those who have already fallen into the all-embracing fire set alight by the flaming arrows of the devil, he will snatch the most promising ones from the fire. For this person is not called to snatch back those who have been condemned by God. CATENA.
THE STAINED CLOAK. BEDE: The stained cloak is our flesh. However, we are not called to hate our own flesh as such but only the fact that it has been stained by sin, and we are called to work for its cleansing, so that what is carnal may become spiritual. However, this cannot be done in our own strength but only by the power of God, as Jude goes on to say in his closing blessing. ON JUDE.