ISB ~ Jude 1 v23

out of the fire … garment spotted:Allusions to Zech 3:2-5.

• Zechariah sees the high priest Joshua indicted by Satan. Despite accusations of guilt, the Lord delivered Joshua from the fire of judgment and disrobed him of the filthy garment of his iniquity. With this example of God’s mercy in mind, Jude urges readers to extend mercy to the victims of false teachers, who had placed themselves under judgment by staining their innocence with transgression.

• The spotted garment is the flesh. We hate, not our flesh as such, but the fact that sin has stained it, and so we work to make what is carnal into something spiritual. This cannot be done on our own, however, but only by the power of God, as Jude says in his final blessing (St. Bede, On the Seven Catholic Epistles at Jude 23).