Can A Christian Be Removed From The Book Of Life?
Quick Answer:
No. Because, the emphasis is not on being erased but the focus is a strong way of saying "the guarantee of once saved always saved". The promise/covenant Jesus is making is if one believes in Him as Lord/Savior resulting in a transformed holy life (e.g. one is clothed in white garments), they will always be in "The Book of Life"; eternally saved.
Context:
The Jews were somewhat obsessed with accurate records (See From God to Us by Giesler & Nix); whereas, Jews would literall memorize the specific positioning of hebrew letters in the OT scrolls.
Also they kept statistics and registrations of families (Neh 7:5-6, 12:22-24; Ezek 13:9). The culture of those days were to have everyone's name attributed to a specific city for census (Luke 2:1-7). Once one died they would be removed to ensure accuracy in those people currently living in that city. Therefore, to have your name removed from that city was to "kick one out of the city" or be "Dead" and no longer needed to be recorded. Just like today, when one dies, you are removed from the phone book, active employment records, your house is sold ect.
Analysis
So when one says you will never "be removed/erased" from the book - it was to keep you a living member of that city (e.g. Eternal Life).
This text does not imply that Jesus actually erases people/Christians from the book of life. Per John Piper on his Desiring God website:
"The promise “I will not erase his name from the book of life,” does not necessarily imply that some do have their names erased. It simply says to the one who is in the book and who conquers in faith: I will never wipe out your name. In other words, being erased is a fearful prospect which I will not allow to happen. I will keep you safe in the book. That is one of the promises made to those who persevere and conquer. It does not say that those who fail to conquer and fall away from Christ were written in the book and got erased. In fact, there are two other verses in Revelation that seem to teach that to have your name written in the book means that you will most definitely persevere and conquer. Consider
Revelation 13:8
“And all who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], 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.”
This verse implies that those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life “from the foundation of the world” definitely will not worship the beast. In other words, having our name in the book of life from the foundation of the world seems to mean that God will keep you from falling and grant you to persevere in allegiance to God. Being in the book means you will not apostatize." (http://bit.ly/fxq6s0)
This may also be called the "Perseverance of the Saints" because once your written in the book you will succeed in your salvation; thus, you will know your saved. [Philippians 1:6; 1 John 5:13]
Therefore, this is a promised worded strongly in negative terms to assure faithful Christians in Sardis. It assure them they are absolutely safe and secure in their salvation, declared by Jesus the Christ.
There is one piece of data not discussed yet; are all people originaly in the book until they deny Christ and then removed or are only the elect/saved written in the book?
According to the following scholars/theologians:
Second, He will not (double negative for emphasis in Greek) erase their names from the “book of life” (cf. Luke 10:20), another metaphor for eternal life (cf. 2:7). There appear to be several “books” (records) that God keeps in heaven (cf. 20:12). Since God is omniscient He does not need to record things in books. People keep books for later recollection, so the figure of a book is an instance of contextualization: giving revelation in terms the recipients can easily understand. There is the book of the living, namely, those who are presently alive on the earth, including the unsaved (Exod. 32:32-33; Deut. 29:20; Ps. 69:28; Isa. 4:3). There is also a book containing the names of the lost and their deeds (Rev. 20:12). There is a book with the names of the elect in it (Dan. 12:1; Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:15; 21:27). A fourth book evidently contains the names of faithful followers of the Lord (Mal. 3:16; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 3:5).[152]152
See Charles R. Smith, “The Book of Life,” Grace Theological Journal6:2 (Fall 1985):219-30.
“The Book of Deeds and the Book of Life are distinguished in Rev 20:12. . . The motif of having one’s name erased from, or blotted out of, the Book of Life is a metaphor for judgment (Exod 32:32-33; Ps 69:27-28; . . .), based on the notion of expulsion or disenfranchisement from the record of citizenship. Originally, however, to be Aune, p. 224.blotted out of the Book of Life meant ‘to die’ (Exod 32:32-33; Ps 69:27-28; Isa 4:3).”[153]153
Several reliable Bible students have believed that the book of life contains the names of everyone living, but as unbelievers die God removes their names from the book. Thus at the end the book contains only the names of believers.[154]154
E.g. Thomas, Revelation 1—7, p. 261; Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 82, McGee, 5:915; and Wiersbe, 2:577-78.
Summary
When reading this, I believe we should not split hairs on the above question (i.e. Are all people - saved and unsaved - originally in "The Book of Life" then removed based on the denial of Jesus or are only the elect/saved the only one's put into "The Book of Life"); rather focus on the intent of this text - that is, if you declare Jesus as the Messiah/Lord/Savior, due to new "roots" which produce new "fruits" (Matthew 7:15-28) - you can bank on you will always have your salvation and never lose it. It is clear, in the context of this text Revelation 3:5, this is the purpose.
Created about 1 year ago
