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Eternal Security
How can I be certain God won't erase my name from the book of life?
Does God Have an Eraser?
He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life. Revelation 3.5
This passage is often cited to cast doubt on the doctrine of eternal security. The argument runs something like this:
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The Bible teaches that those who overcome will not have their names erased from the book of life.
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Not every believer is an overcomer.
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Therefore, those who do not overcome run the risk of having their names erased from the book of life.
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If it is impossible for anyone's name to be erased, what is the point of saying a particular group will not be erased?
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Besides, David prayed that the names of his enemies would be blotted out of the book of life (see Psalm 69:28).
On the surface this argument appears to be a strong one in favor of those who believe salvation can be lost. We will begin our investigation of this line of reasoning by looking first at what the New Testament has to say concerning the book of life. Then we will examine David's prayer in Psalm 69.
Congratulations!
It is unfortunate that this passage in Revelation has become a focal point of controversy. The result has been a fixation on what the verse does not say rather than what it does say. This verse was never intended as a warning. Within its context there is nothing negative or foreboding about these words. In fact, it makes a strong statement in favor of eternal security. It is a passage of encouragement and praise.
The comments are directed to a group of faithful believers from the church in Sardis. Unlike the majority of the folks in their congregation, this handful of members had remained unsoiled by the world around them. The verse in question contains Christ's commendation to this group for their consistent walk.
To assume from what is said here that God will possibly erase names from the book of life is to read into the text a concept clearly not present. At best, it is an argument from silence, for the verse simply reads, "And I will not erase his name from the book of life." If this statement raises doubts for some about eternal security, they would do well to search the Scriptures for an answer. But to base one's answer to this important question on this verse is to adopt a method of study with the potential of leading to all kinds of problematic conclusions.
First Printing
The apostle John refers to the "book of life" five other times in Revelation. From two of these passages it becomes evident that he certainly did not believe names could be erased:
And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Revelation 13:8, emphasis mine
And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Revelation 17:8, emphasis mine
In these passages John informs us about the time when the book of life was filled out. This information comes as a surprise. Without it, our assumption would be that when men or women put their trust in Christ, their names were added at that moment. But that is not the case at all. The book of life has been complete since the foundation of the world.
By "world," John does not mean "earth." In both passages "earth" and "world" appear. These are from two different Greek words. The one translated "earth" means just that--this ball of dirt upon which we live. The Greek word translated "world" is kosmos from which we get our English word cosmos.
John is using "world" here to refer to the entire universe (see John 1:3; Acts 17:24). In light of the scientific limitations of John's day, it could very well be a reference to all created things. Either way, his point is the same: The book of life was filled out before the first entry was ever born.
If that is the case, God's foreknowledge had a great deal to do with who was written in and who was not. In anticipation of Christ's death on man's behalf, God wrote the names of those He knew from eternity past would accept His gracious offer. The apostle Paul had this same idea in mind when he wrote,
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)
God wrote before we did anything. He filled out the book of life in anticipation of what He knew we would do. Therefore, He did not write in response to what we actually did; rather, He wrote in response to what He knew we would actually do.
This distinction is very important. For if God put names in the book as history unfolded--as we actually believed ---it could be argued that He erases them as history unfolds as well. But if God entered names according to His foreknowledge, it follows that He would erase them according to His foreknowledge, which makes no sense at all. If God wrote and erased according to foreknowledge, both His writing and His erasing would be complete before the world began. In that case, no one needs to live with the fear that his or her name will be erased from the book of life sometime in the future. But if that is the case, Revelation 3:5 is no longer a problem.
Missing Persons
There is a second reason these passages eliminate the possibility of names being erased. Both passages indicate that the lost people in these verses had never had their names written in the book of life. John does not say these names were simply not in the book at that time. He says, "Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world."
Who is he talking about here? "All who dwell on the earth." In other words, no lost persons alive at that time had ever had their names in the book of life. Of course, they had never had their names erased from the book, either.
The only way around this problem for those who hold to the erasable name view is to maintain that all the unsaved people who had their names erased were already dead by this time in history. That is certainly possible, but it is highly unlikely. It is especially unlikely in light of the intense persecution those who name the name of Christ will be facing during this time(see Revelation 13:7).
Good News
The good news is, God's pencil has no eraser. Before you breathed your first word, God knew how you would respond to His offer of grace. According to His foreknowledge, He wrote your name in the book of life. And there it shall remain forever. Jesus said it this way:
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. John 10.27-28
And as if that were not clear enough:
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. John 10.29
It would seem that such clear statements would make books like this one unnecessary. Maybe one day that will be the case.
Notes
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Some have argued that John is employing a figure of speech known as litotes. A litotes is an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary. A modern example would be a baseball coach's saying to a player who just hit a grand slam, "Well, son, I guess you're not a bad player." The coach is simply complimenting his star player. To paraphrase what John is trying to get across in 3:5, "You who have remained faithful will certainly not have your names erased; on the contrary, you will be announced by name to the Father."
Zane Hodges cites Hebrews 6:10 and Revelation 2:11 as other examples of litotes. See Grace in Eclipse, pp. 109-10.
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Concerning the textual options in Revelation 22:19, I am in agreement with the editors of the NASB and NIV who chose the reading "tree of life" rather than "the book of life." Other verses in Revelation that refer to "the book of life" are 3:5; 20:12, 15; 21:27.
This material has been adapted from:
Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure?
by Dr. Charles Stanley
Used with permission. Thomas Nelson Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee
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