Are the names of all people originally written in the Book of Life?

Question

The Bible speaks about the "Book of Life". It seems that those whose names are written in it will have life and spend eternity in heaven whereas those whose names are not written in it will be cast into the lake of fire.

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire".

However, the Bible also talks about not blotting people's names out of the book of life.

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. Revelation 3:5

So, are the names of all people originally in the Book of Life? And then are the names of those who reject Christ blotted out of it later? If so, what are the implications of this?

The Bible also speaks of those whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.

Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. Revelation 13:7-8

So, which is it?

Answer 1

As with many issues I start with the Summa Theologica (Summary of Theology), by Thomas Aquinas. Here is one section of use: http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1024.htm#article3.

Here is an interesting quote:

"Let them be blotted out from the book of the living" (Psalm 68:29).

So, yes, people can be blotted out of the Book of Life.

We may think we know who should be in that book, as we feel that person is achieved a particular level of holiness, but, God knows all, so there is information He will have that we don't. So, we may feel someone is definitely going to Heaven, but later they do something that casts doubt on that, so we say they may have been removed from the Book, when they may never have been in there in the first place.

This also leads to the idea of predestination, that Aquinas covers in two parts that help here, but that goes beyond the answer to this question, so I will just give references. This one deals with whether the Book of Life is predestination http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1024.htm#article1

And whether those predestined for Heaven are chosen by God. http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1023.htm#article4

Answer 2

I like to think about this as matter of perspective.

Everything agree that God is omniscient, so He knows everything in the space and time. "Before the foundation of the world", God knows and write in the book of life the names of the saints. But that names are no reveleated to anyone, men or angels. Note the verse that you cited:

and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life

opened = the contents were revealed.

It's obvious that God knows the contents, but all creation don't know it.

From our viewpoint the names are writen and erased over time, just because we don't know the original contents... And it is the better (and safer) thought that we need:

Matthew 24:13 KJV
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

In short, from God's viewpoint the book is immutable; from creature's viewpoint, the names can be added (on salvation proccess) or removed.

Answer 3

Revelation 17:8

"The beast that thou sawest was , and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder , whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was , and is not, and yet is."

This tells us that our salvation is eternal because our names were written there before the foundation of the world. Because there is no time in eternity, your name cannot be erased there.

What happens here is about here. We are to reign and rule here. That's why it's important to confirm our salvation here, not for eternity.