Conditional Election

by Vance Stinson

According to Calvinist John MacArthur, the Lamb’s Book of Life “is the registry in which God inscribed the names of those chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1–11, p. 50). All whose names are in the registry are said to be secure, their salvation sure. For them, apostasy cannot happen.

But does the Bible support this claim?

The Book of Life

The apostle Paul says the names of his fellow workers “are in the Book of Life” (Philippians 4:3). The Book of Life will be opened in the final judgment, and anyone whose name is not found in it will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:12, 15). Indeed, only those whose names have been “written in the Lamb’s Book of Life” will be permitted to enter the Holy City (21:27).

The unregenerate who marvel at the “beast” are described as those “whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world” (17:8). Presumably, this is the text MacArthur had in mind when he wrote the above since this is the only text that connects the “Book of Life” with “the foundation of the world.” He and other Calvinists think this verse indicates that the names of all the elect were recorded in the heavenly registry before the world was created. But the text doesn’t actually say that. It speaks of those whose names have never—from the foundation of the world onward—been recorded in the Book of Life.

But what of the person whose name is in the Book of Life? Is he unconditionally secure in his salvation? Is apostasy impossible for such a person?

To the spiritually dying Christians of the church in Sardis, Christ says, “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” (Revelation 3:5; cf., Exodus 32:31–33; Psalm 69:27–28).

But what about the spiritually dying believer who does not “strengthen the things…that are ready to die” (Revelation 3:2), does not “hold fast and repent” (verse 3), and does not overcome (verse 5) his sinful behavior but persists in it? Christ’s promise to not blot the name of the faithful overcomer from the Book of Life suggests that the believer who does not overcome but persists in his sins may have his name blotted out of the Book of Life. This is consistent with Paul’s admonition to the Gentiles who had been “grafted in” to God’s “olive tree”:

“Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches [unbelieving Israelites], He may not spare you [grafted-in Gentiles] either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:20–23).

Notice the conditional element here: “if you continue in His goodness…if they do not continue in unbelief….”

In Paul’s “olive tree” analogy, the natural branches that have not been broken off are the Israelites who make up the “remnant, chosen by grace,” the “elect” who obtained the salvation Israel sought (Romans 11:5, 7). The rest, symbolized by the branches that were broken off, are the Israelites who “were hardened” (verse 7). They have been given “a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear” (verse 8). They are clearly not a part of the elect body! They are in fact contrasted with the elect remnant.

Yet, Paul makes it clear that these spiritually blind, deaf, and hardened Israelites—the broken-off branches—can come to faith in Christ and be added to the elect body. He also makes it clear that members of the elect body can be “cut off” if they do not continue in faith.

To put it another way: The names of the believing Gentiles have been recorded in the Book of Life, but if they do not continue in faith, their names will be blotted out. And if the unbelieving Israelites turn to God in faith, their names will be added to the Book of Life.

Election, then, is conditional.