The Eternal Decree
The Book of Life and the New Man
From the foundation of the world, the Lamb was slain. Scripture does not present this as poetic flourish but as eternal fact. Revelation 13:8 declares, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Christ’s sacrifice was not a reaction to human failure; it was the eternal provision of God, established before time began. Redemption is not an improvisation, it is the outworking of a plan God set in place long before man ever sinned.
Isaiah affirms this divine foresight when he records the Lord saying, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10). God’s omniscience is not passive awareness but perfect knowledge of all things from eternity. Yet His foreknowledge is not fore‑willing; knowing all things is not the same as causing all things. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world not because God predestined some to believe and others to perish, but because God, foreseeing man’s fall, prepared a salvation sufficient for all and offered to all, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1Timothy 2:4).
The stage of history is not the unfolding of arbitrary selection, but the revelation of God’s eternal remedy for a race He knew would need redemption.
The New Man: Born of God, Not of Adam
Scripture draws a sharp and uncompromising distinction between the old man born of Adam and the new man born of God. John writes, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). This is not a license to sin but a declaration of spiritual identity. The new man is not an improved version of the old; he is a new creation, generated by incorruptible seed and untouched by Adam’s corruption.
This truth forms the backbone of eternal security. The new birth is not moral reform, it is resurrection. Paul writes, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). The new man is not merely forgiven; he is reborn, sealed, and sanctified. What is born of God cannot return to death, for death comes by sin, and the new man cannot sin.
Overcoming: The Prerequisite of Eternal Life
Revelation 3:5 presents both a promise and a warning: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Only the overcomer retains his name in the Book of Life. But Scripture does not leave us to guess who the overcomer is.
John answers plainly: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4–5). The overcomer is not the morally superior but the spiritually reborn. To believe on Christ is to be born of God; to be born of God is to overcome. Salvation is not earned, it is received. And once received, it cannot be revoked.
The Book of Life: Written from Conception
If only the overcomer’s name remains, then whose names are blotted out? The biblical logic is both simple and beautiful: every soul conceived begins with their name written in the Book of Life. This aligns perfectly with God’s stated desire “for all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). It also exposes the fatalism of Calvinism, which denies universal invitation and reduces election to arbitrary selection.
God’s heart is not selective but sacrificial. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise… but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The blotting out is not God’s desire, it is man’s rejection. The Book of Life begins full; it is diminished only by unbelief.
Triply Sealed
Salvation rests on three unshakable pillars.
First, the name of the overcomer cannot be blotted out. Christ promises, “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5). The statement is future, emphatic, and unconditional.
Second, the new man cannot sin. John writes, “He cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9). Death comes by sin, and the new man cannot sin; therefore, he cannot die. Paul affirms, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). What is hidden in Christ cannot be lost.
Third, the believer is sealed by the Spirit. “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:13–14). The Spirit is not a temporary visitor; He is the down payment of eternity.
Death Defined: Separation, Not Cessation
Scripture defines death not as annihilation but as separation. James writes, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). Physical death is the separation of spirit from body. Spiritual death is the separation of spirit from God. But the new man, born of God, is never separated. Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35). The answer is thunderous in its simplicity: nothing and no one.
The new man cannot die, for he cannot sin; and he cannot be separated from the God who begat him.
Quod Deus genuit, non perit - What God has begotten cannot perish
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 1979 -