Rev 22:19 and perseverance of the saints

[abacabb3]

An Arminian quoted to me Rev 22:119 KJV as proof against the doctrine of perseverance.

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

To be honest, I never had a fully formulated view of the "Book of Life" so my answer essentially was, "God may be writing the book of life as we fulfill the events that are preordained to occur in it, but God as already chosen His elect before the foundation of the world was set (Eph 1:4) and we know that God works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11) so when God says that He will lose no one He has given to Christ (John 6:39) that means absolutely no one! So, if God can threaten to remove someone from the book of life, this would mean that God would have known their name would not be added before the foundation of the world."


However, the NASB reads this way:

if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

What say you?

 

[JM]

This might help:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h77BDAgzEAs

 

[JM]

Considering what MacArthur said in light of Rev. 13 and then re-read 22. Those written in the book of life can never be removed (rev. 3), those who appear to be religious are not written in the book (rev. 13.8, LK 8.18) so now, in light of the previous context, what seems to be taken away was never there...only the religious actions of the false believer who perform them in the environs of the church.

Gill:

Verse 19. And if any man shall take away from the prophecy of this book,.... As he may be said to do, who denies the authority of this book, which has been done by some, and which the Holy Ghost foresaw; or takes it away from, or denies the reading of it to the people, as the Papists do with respect to the whole Scripture; and who wilfully pervert the sense of it, and will not have the things in it, relating to antichrist, to belong to him.

God shall take away his part out of the book of life; by which is meant eternal election, which is the meaning of the phrase throughout this book, in which whoever are written shall certainly be saved. The worshippers of the beast, or the antichristian party, who are chiefly regarded here, are not written in it, Revelation 13:8 wherefore taking away the part of such, is only taking away that which they seemed to have; see Luke 8:18 and the sense is, that such shall be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, and will be the portion of all that are not written in the book of life, Revelation 20:15. The Alexandrian copy, one of Stephens's, and the Complutensian edition, read, "the tree of life"; and so do the Syriac and Ethiopic versions; the sense is the same; see John 15:2 and out of the holy city; the new Jerusalem, before described, a part in which is a right to enter into it through the gates, and possess the glories of it: what is mentioned here is only a seeming one, which wicked men may flatter themselves with; and the meaning is, that such shall never enter into it, and enjoy the happiness of it, but shall ever be without, Revelation 21:27

and from the things which are written in this book; the blessings promised to the overcomers in Revelation 2:7 which such as detract from this book shall have no share in. The Alexandrian copy, with some others, and the Syriac version, leave out the copulative "and," and read "which are written," &c. connecting them with the book of life, and holy city, which are written, and spoken of, in this book. The Ethiopic version connects the words with the holy city, only reading them, "which is written," &c. The Jews say of their Talmud, that nothing is to be added to it, or diminished from it {o}.

 

[abacabb3]

Thank you, at least I will have more to speak about with the young men who came to me. The above was the best I had on the top of my head.

 

[robh59]

I don't believe a true saved reborn Christian would do such a thing to begin with...especially after such a warning. I believe GOD would intervene and prevent it if it were possible that a saved person attempt such a thing. I expect that the LORD is expressing the gravity of this book. It certainly doesn't doesn't disprove once saved always saved. Just like the false prophets being so convincing so as to even fool the elect...if it were possible, I believe violation of this book by the elect, in the manner GOD warns us about, to be impossible. Misinterpretation of and errant teaching of it however, is certainly possible.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (ESV)

I notice the parallelism in the grammar. If you take away X, then I take away Y. The words of the prophecy are tied to the benefits of the prophecy. It's just saying that if you commit this sin, then you get that punishment.

If God wrote a person's name in the book of life, only to remove it later, I'd have to say that some names must be written in ink and others in pencil, because God already knows the outcome. Hence, there would only be value in having one's name written in ink, and the other would be as bad as not being written in at all.