A common anchor for those who defend specific predestination especially the so-called "salvation of the elect" is the Book of Life which is mentioned in various ways from the Old Testament to the New (although more specific name-wise in the NT). However, it becomes pretty obvious as one goes through the details with an honest hermeneutical approach that there is a stronger implication about loss of salvation (names blotted out from the Book of Life. Revelations 3:5) than there is about security of being elect.
It is almost the same argument on the word "apostasy" or falling from grace. How can one fall from grace if he was never there in the first place? So, how can one's name be blotted out from the book of life if his name was never written, as some admittedly won't be?
We shall deal with and respond to the following passages on the Book of Life. The literal English translation and at least 2 problematic passages seem to lean toward specific predetermination and we will discuss why it does not.
And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Let's summarize at this point. Although this "book" is almost purely idiomatic (would there be a literal book? how big would this be and how many pages?), let us assume for the sake of argument that this is literal, that there is such a book that one could hold in his "physical" hands to literally open and flip the pages, and write with a giant pen.
It is quite certain in most reference passages except for Revelations 13:8; 17:8 and perhaps Acts 13:48 that one of 2 things are true:
- Names are added to the book of life, or
- All names are in the book of life, but some would be blotted out.
There are really ONLY three verses out of all these references that tend towards the second. The preponderance of passages definitely imply the first. It MUST be noted when interpreting these three problematic verses, that the acceptance of these as a norm or rule for the Divine Plan of salvation virtually THROWS AWAY everything else taught about salvation in the Scriptures. Hence, at its very strongest, we have to take these three verses as special cases or exceptions instead of doctrinal and prescriptive.
So let us deal with these three problematic passages and see if we can resolve synthesize them successfully into the backdrop of the rest of the Scriptures.
Here are a few notes from Kittel.
"The familiar thought of later Judaism and the NT that the names of the righteous are written in the book of life has an OT basis in Ex. 32:32 f.; Ps. 69:28; cf. Is. 4:3; Ez. 13:9."
Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964-c1976. Vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin. (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (5:253). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
The same image of the writing of names in heaven is found at Lk. 10:20 (the disciples of Jesus); Phil. 4:3 (those who stand in the service of the Gospel); Hb. 12:23 (the community of the first-born, i.e., of the NT). The idea may have been fostered by the establishment of genealogies, family lists and national registers in Israel (Neh. 7:5 f., 64; 12:22 f.; Ez. 13:9; this is also the reference in Ps. 87:6), but also by the royal “note-book” (cf. → e.). Yet the belief in heavenly tables of destiny on which the fates of the living are inscribed, to which they are added, and from which they are erased, is an ancient oriental heritage. In the NT the image is freed from fatalism and becomes an expression of the assurance of salvation of the Christian community, which knows that it is elected on the impregnable basis of the divine counsel of grace (2 Tm. 2:19). When Rev. 13:8 calls this βιβλίον the book of life of the crucified Lamb, it again makes the act of redemption on the cross the foundation, as in the case of the sealed book. The reference, however, is not now to the consummation; it is to the salvation of individuals. The opposite is eternal perdition (20:14). This ordination to eternal life goes back behind the crucifixion to the καταβολὴ κόσμου (13:8; 17:8), but only the names of those who overcome are not erased (3:5). The divine foreordination is thus linked with the human readiness to carry the conflict to victory. The thought of predestination is not unaccompanied by an emphasis on the cohortative motive for ready obedience; 13:8; 17:8 (not worshipping the beast) and 21:27 (shunning abomination and falsehood) are also to be seen in this light."
Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964-c1976. Vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin. (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (1:619-620). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
"We do not find the expression “book of destiny” because the eternal basis of the sovereign and historically determinative counsel of God is fundamentally different from εἱμαρμένη."
Acts 13:48
Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
Revelation 13:8
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 17:8
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in theBook of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964-c1976. Vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin. (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (1:619). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
Having quoted the above, here are the three problematic verses:
Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in theBook of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Let us deal with Acts 13:48 first. Luke the physician and historian wrote the book of Acts. We are almost sure that he was educated on doctrine from the "School of St. Paul" as he spent much time with him during his missionary journeys.
Aside from its most common meaning, Strong's Lexicon has alternative renderings for the word as follows (note those in red):
5021 τάσσω [tasso /tas·so/] v. A prolonged form of a primary verb (which latter appears only in certain tenses); TDNT 8:27; TDNTA 1156; GK 5435; Eight occurrences; AV translates as “appoint” three times, “ordain” twice, “set” once, “determine” once, and “addict” once. 1 to put in order, to station. 1a to place in a certain order, to arrange, to assign a place, to appoint. 1a1 to assign (appoint) a thing to one. 1b to appoint, ordain, order. 1b1 to appoint on one’s own responsibility or authority. 1b2 to appoint mutually, i.e. agree upon. Additional Information: For synonyms see entries 1781, entellomai; 2753, keleuo; and 3853, paragello.See entry 5844 for comparison of synonyms.
Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G5021). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.
An appointment is strictly one of intent but it is RARELY if ever A DONE DEAL. One has to be clear about this. The word is rarely used in the context of an ordained completion (or completed ordination, whatever, but one has to see this point clearly). Hence, in any language, it is fortunate that its most common usage is more like an assignment to a post or an appointment like a date. Appointments can ALWAYS be stood up. Assignments can ALWAYS be rejected. Hence, "to appoint mutually, i.e. agree upon" is the most sensible interpretation of this passage without contradiction to the bigger picture of salvation.
Note Acts 2:47, "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." obviously does NOT mean that this was ENTIRELY the Lord's doing although the Holy Spirit did have a MAJOR ACTIVE role in the start of the building of the Church. Luke's expression here seems to simply glorify God for His role in salvation of the first believers.
Note also that there are different Greek words specifically meant for "foreknow" (proginosko) and "foreordained" or "predestined" (proorizo) (DONE DEAL!).
Note that we are NOT at all denying here that there are those who will never be appointed. But that can be explained by Romans 9 and I have a separate blog on this issue (Relational Theology's response to the exercise of God's sovereignty in Romans 9)
But the best proof of alternative interpretation comes from the Bible itself. Psalm 102:19-20 declares that God "viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, To release those appointed to death..." which means that regardless of the "appointment to death", God CAN reverse it without harm to His integrity and perfection! Classicists should never put more meaning to words than they actually carry, or they miss out on much of God's wisdom and beauty!
This makes Acts 13:48 non-problematic at all.
Let us now deal with the two Revelations verses. The first major thing to note is the phrase "from the foundation of the world" were constructed two different ways. While 17:8 clearly refers to "written", 13:8 follows from "slain" although some translators like the ESV would position the phrase right after "written" as well. Although it is most probable that both refer to "written", it is curious why John changed the construction of his phrasing to describe, let's say, the same thing. What it hints to me is that the phrase is another idiom with implied meanings rather than explicit declarations, and I believe that this is most probably so.
Nevertheless, for the sake of argument, let us assume that traditional classical meaning of the verse that there is indeed predestination declared here. We still refuse to subscribe to the classical implication that this is the general rule instead of the exception. An strict analysis of each passage in the light of the immediate contexts where John uses them can show a limited application only to those whose names were not written and NOT NECESSARILY mean that everyone else's name is written.
It may come as a surprise to many that when Jesus uttered the words in Luke 10:20,..."Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”... that Judas Iscariot was among those spoken to! It is possible but inconceivable to think that Jesus would send out the seventy at the exclusion of the twelve "inner circle" disciples, and when they came back to report, it is even more inconceivable that when He spoke to them, that He was not speaking to the twelve as well.
To introduce a dichotomy here is to court a logical inconsistency. In the Word of God, there should mostly, if not purely, be synthesis since God is a God of order and is the Great Communicator. Note how we defined God as the Trinity and the Trinity as God in the article, "The Major Failure of Classical Thought".
Observe how Luke records what Peter said in Acts 2:22-24:
"22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."
The phrase "being delivered" is actually an ADJECTIVE in the Greek! Also, the word foreknowledge is the same Greek word as the English "prognosis". The strength of this word is much the same as the word "appointment" which we already explained and dealt with above. This puts the phrase in a passive sense if it were ever a verb. In contrast, the words following for "taken by lawless hands", "crucified", and "put to death" are all in the ACTIVE verb mood. This implies a completely independent volitional "active" action by the subject(s) of these verbs. Synthesize that one! It is difficult if you haven't read the foundational tenets of Relational Love Theology. It is even, quite unfortunately, more difficult and close to impossible to conceptualize with logical sufficiency if one has been drowned for years with the teachings and "scholastic" assumptions of classical theology.
Note also the threat in the last chapter of Revelations about adding and subtracting from the declared Word of God. Revelation 22:19 reads, "...God shall take away his part from the Book of Life..." This is the same argument as apostasy or falling from grace. There is nothing to "take away" or blot out from the Book of Life if the name was NEVER there. Furthermore, God the Great Communicator, becomes ridiculous in communicating His point, if He makes an EMPTY threat. An empty threat is one where the one who threatens is really powerless either by ability or by law to carry out his threat.
Before we conclude, let us refer back to Moses in Exodus 32:32-33. This conversation between Moses and God occurred right the Hebrews built and worshipped the golden calf. Note that both Moses in verse 32 suggests to God that his name be blotted out from the book which God has written (what else could it be but the Book of Life?); and God in verse 33, actually confirms that there is such an act as blotting out names from "My book".
To synthesize all these passages and their meanings, the most logical conclusion comes by accepting the declared givens:
- That there could be such an act of writing names from the foundation of the world, and
- In the case of Jesus declaration in Luke 10:20, that names already written, like Judas Iscariot, Revelation 3:5 and 22:19, can also be blotted out.
Incidentally, the fifth point of Calvinism just got another huge dent in their theological armor on these very Biblical and Biblically clear passages.
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