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He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Tertullian
Therefore they shall be "clothed in white raiment," that is, in the bright beauty of the unwedded flesh. In the gospel even, "the wedding garment" may be regarded as the sanctity of the flesh.(Matt. 22:11-12) And so, when Isaiah tells us what sort of "fast the Lord hath chosen," and subjoins a statement about the reward of good works, he says: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy garments, shall speedily arise; (Isa. 58:8)" where he has no thought of cloaks or stuff gowns, but means the rising of the flesh, which he declared the resurrection of, after its fall in death. Thus we are furnished even with an allegorical defense of the resurrection of the body. [On the Resurrection of the Flesh Chapter 27]
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Oecumenius
Therefore the white garment symbolizes the purity of the body. and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels: He will confess them as faithful attendants and as willing servants. For in the gospels, too, it is written, “If anyone confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in Heaven.(Matt. 10:32)” To speak about his Father and his Father’s angels does not prevent the holy angels from being his also; at one time they are his Father’s, at another time they are his. For he says, according to Matthew, “Then the Son of Man will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. (Matt. 24:31)”
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St. Andrew of Caesarea
He who is victorious in the above-mentioned victory, will shine like the sun in the clothing of his own virtues and his name will remain indelible in the book of the living. "He will be confessed before my Father and the holy powers,(Mt 10:32)" even as triumphant martyrs, just as he says in the gospel, the righteous will shine as the sun(Mt 13:43).
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St. Bede
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St. Thomas Aquinas
For the book of life is the inscription of those ordained to eternal life, to which one is directed from two sources; namely, from predestination, which direction never fails, and from grace; for whoever has grace, by this very fact becomes fitted for eternal life. This direction fails sometimes; because some are directed by possessing grace, to obtain eternal life, yet they fail to obtain it through mortal sin. Therefore those who are ordained to possess eternal life through divine predestination are written down in the book of life simply, because they are written therein to have eternal life in reality; such are never blotted out from the book of life. Those, however, who are ordained to eternal life, not through divine predestination, but through grace, are said to be written in the book of life not simply, but relatively, for they are written therein not to have eternal life in itself, but in its cause only. Yet though these latter can be said to be blotted out of the book of life, this blotting out must not be referred to God, as if God foreknew a thing, and afterwards knew it not; but to the thing known, namely, because God knows one is first ordained to eternal life, and afterwards not ordained when he falls from grace. The act of blotting out does not refer to the book of life as regards God's foreknowledge, as if in God there were any change; but as regards things foreknown, which can change. Although things are immutably in God, yet in themselves they are subject to change. To this it is that the blotting out of the book of life refers. The way in which one is said to be blotted out of the book of life is that in which one is said to be written therein anew; either in the opinion of men, or because he begins again to have relation towards eternal life through grace; which also is included in the knowledge of God, although not anew. [Summa Theologica]
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Nicholas of Lyra
that shall overcome As if to say, not only these, but everyone who has conquered the world, the flesh, and the Devil will be clothed with a robe of glory. and I will not blot out his name The book of life is God’s predestination from which, when it is written in it, one’s name is not deleted because that one will ultimately be saved; nevertheless, the word ‘deleted’ is used to refer to a person’s falling from justice and being rewritten by restorative grace. and I will confess his name That is, the one who is truly Christian.
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