The interpretation timeline

Jude 1:5

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

6 Patristic · 1 Orthodox

Jude 1:5 · Douay-Rheims
“I will therefore admonish you, though ye once knew all things, that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, did afterwards destroy them that believed not:”
Patristic before A.D. 750
215
A.D.
Clement of Alexandria Patristic
c. A.D. 150–215
“"For the Lord God," he says, "who once delivered a people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not;" that is, that He might train them through punishment. For they were indeed punished, and they perished on account of those that are saved, until they turn to the Lord.”
183 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
398
A.D.
Didymus the Blind Patristic
c. A.D. 313–398
“When Moses delivered the people from Egypt, all those who did not believe perished.”
239 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
637
A.D.
Andreas of Caesarea Patristic
c. A.D. 563–637
“Jude shows that although God led his people out of Egypt, they turned away from him, and for that reason he gave them over to destruction if they would not repent.”
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“I wish to remind you, although you know these things once and for all. Namely, knowing all the mysteries of the faith and not needing to hear new teachers as if they were holier.”
735
A.D.
Bede Patristic
A.D. 673–735
“Because Jesus, saving the people from the land of Egypt, etc., he calls Jesus not the son of Nave, but our Lord, showing first that he did not have his beginning from the birth of the holy Virgin, as the heretics affirm, but according to the mystery of his name, he has existed as the eternal God for the salvation of believers; then indicating that in the same way he mercifully saves believers, he also justly condemns the unbelievers. For just as he first saved the humble who cried out to him from the affliction of Egypt, he later cast down the proud who murmured against him in the wilderness. He emphasizes this so that we now remember that he saves believers through the waters of baptism, which the Red Sea signified, so that even after baptism he demands a humble life in us, apart from the filth of vices, such as the conversion of the wilderness in its seclusion rightly indicated. Indeed, if anyone defiles this life, whether by deviating from the faith or by acting wrongly, just as if returned in heart to Egypt, he will merit to perish among the wicked rather than reach the promised homeland of the kingdom. Alternatively: Secondly, he destroyed those who did not believe, because as a just judge, he strikes some now and later due to their faults. He frees solely those from punishment whom he transforms in suffering. For those whom present evils do not correct, they lead to future evils.”
Source
391 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Scholastic c. 1100 – 1500
1126
A.D.
Theophylact of Ohrid Orthodox
c. 1055–1107
“Having spoken about the debauchery of the impious Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, he adds also that the Lord delivered the people from the land of Egypt, and so on. By this he shows that the Founder of the Old and New Testaments is one and the same God, and not as those vile ones say, that one God, wrathful and cruel, gave the Old Testament, and another God, without wrath and loving of mankind, gave the New Testament. By this he also shows that those who now act impiously will not remain unpunished, just as those who came out of Egypt did not remain so. For although God by His surpassing power and by the oath to their fathers freed them from Egyptian slavery, nevertheless, when they transgressed the law, He did not leave them without punishment, but rendered to them the due retribution: neither the favor of God toward their ancestors nor the supernatural power of miracles helped them in the least; and those who at that time crossed the Red Sea on dry land later perished for their departures from the faith.”
Source
Undated date unknown
Oecumenius Patristic
c. A.D. 550
“I want to remind you, when we know once that the Lord, after He had saved the people from Egypt, again destroyed those who did not believe: and that He kept the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their own dwelling, in eternal chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, which were similarly defiled with them through sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. After Jude spoke of the corruption of the impure Nicolaitans, Valentinians, and Marcionites, and as if by a certain branding he marked them out from their own foul filth, he also adds this: "after He had saved the people from Egypt," etc., indeed showing through these things that the same God is the author of both the Old and the New Testament: and not, as these wicked ones say, that there was one God of the Old Testament, vengeful and cruel, and another of the New, gentle and humane: and Jude also states that neither those who now sin will remain unpunished, just as neither did those who were brought out of Egypt. For indeed, by the enormous power of God, and because of the oath made to their ancestors, God had freed them from the slavery and tyranny of Egypt: yet those who acted immorally did not remain unpunished, but they received deserving penalties; and it did them no good that God had been generous towards their ancestors: nor did the enormous evidence of signs presented for them have any effect: just as neither did the angels who had fallen, although they were formed by God and endowed with intellectual nature; nor did the Sodomites, because they dwelt with Lot. But those who first crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land, later became unbelievers and perished. Those who had indeed received the honor of angelic position, since they did not remain in their origin, but corrupted the gift given to them from the goodness of celestial life, were reserved and kept for judgment or condemnation on the day of great and intolerable punishment. For this also now signifies kept (τετήρηνε). According to what Christ said: "Who is prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:41) And certainly, the Sodomites are presented as a sign of the eternal fire that will receive them. "and pursued strange flesh," and committed fornication, that is, turning aside, which means to engage in prostitution (πορνεύειν). But strange flesh refers to male flesh, which does not benefit the union that is for the sake of generation. For the flesh that engages in union is the flesh of a woman, according to what was said by the first parent: "Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." (Gen. 2:23) The flesh of men, however, is strange, I say, from sexual intercourse. Although in a woman, indeed joined by the laws to one man, her flesh is her own and moral: but that which is poured out and public is foreign and strange, and left almost to the atonement of male wickedness. But when Jude had set forth these examples, he left it to the listener to understand what followed from them. What is that? To bear what follows from it. If, therefore, he has so destroyed these, not satisfied by their previous happiness, does he now allow these to act immorally and lustfully, when the Son of God came into the world for men and suffered injuries and afflictions for them? No one would ever say this. For although he is kind and compassionate, yet he is also truly just: and for the sake of true justice, he did not spare those who have sinned (2 Peter 2:4): but for the sake of kindness, he introduced harlots and tax collectors into the kingdom (Matt. 21:31). Since it was thus necessary that the discourse should promise, he himself omitted it, for the reason we have mentioned. Or also speaking in a similar manner with blessed Peter, when he said: "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned," etc. (2 Peter 2:4) And indeed it has been said of these things.”
Source
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.