Robert N. Wilkin, a proponent of “Free Grace theology” offered the following comments about Rev 3:5:
Note that Jesus does not say that He will
blot anyone’s name out of the book of life. Many regard this as litotes,
a figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its
opposite. If I say, “It is no big deal,” then I mean, “it is a little deal.” If
this is litotes, then what Jesus is saying is that He will exalt the name of
the overcomer. Another option, resulting in essentially the same conclusion, is
that the term “name” (onoma) does not mean name here but reputation.
. . . This does not mean that the believer who fails to persevere is no longer
found in the book of life. It means that his “name” (i.e., his exalted reputation)
has been blotted out. (Robert N. Wilkin, “Christians Will Be Judged According
to their works at the Rewards Judgment, but Not at the Final Judgment,”
in Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment, ed. Alan P.
Stanley [Counterpoints: Bible & Theology; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan,
2013], 45)
In
their essays responding to Wilkin, Thomas R. Schreiner (Reformed Protestant)
and James D. G. Dunn (a leading advocate for the New Perspective on Paul) responded
thusly:
Revelation 3:5. Wilkin says that Revelation 3:5, where Jesus
threatens to blot out a person’s name from the book of life, refers to their
reputation but not their identity. In other words, they will experience eternal
life but will not enjoy rewards and privileges granted to those who obeyed. But
in Revelation 3:5 John draws on Jesus’ words, “But whoever disowns me before
others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Matt. 10:33 NIV). Paul picks
up the same saying in 2 Timothy 2:12. The one who denies Jesus will be denied
by him. It is not merely the reputation of the person that is denied but the person
himself. The text doesn’t say that they will not be given rewards but that
Jesus himself will deny them. So too, in Revelation 3:5 being blotted out of
the book of life most naturally means that those who defile their garments by
pursuing a life of sin will not be in the book of life. (Thomas R. Schreiner. “Response
to Robert N. Wilkin,” in Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final
Judgment, ed. Alan P. Stanley [Counterpoints: Bible & Theology; Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2013], 55-56)
What a contrived interpretation of
Rev. 3:5 is offered by Wilkin: to have one’s name blotted out from the book of
life “means that this ‘name’ (i.e., his exalted reputation) has been blotted
out” (p. 45). But the most obvious (plain sense) reading of the Revelation
references is that to have one’s “name (in) the book of life” (3:5), to have
one’s “name written in the book of life” (13:8), and to be “found written in
the book of life” (20:15) are all alternative ways of saying the same thing,
that is, a way of affirming particularly for those suffering for their faith,
that they will be vindicated in the final judgment. (James D. G. Dunn, “Response
to Robert N. Wilkin,” in Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final
Judgment, ed. Alan P. Stanley [Counterpoints: Bible & Theology; Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2013], 59 n. 58)
