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Revelation 20:15

in Revelation 20

And if anyone was found whose name was not written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

KJV

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

This verse in Revelation 20

Commentary

13 notes on this verse
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life,.... Upon the opening of it, Rev 20:12 as all that worship the beast, and wonder after him, Rev 13:8 and all wicked men, everyone of them: was cast into the lake of fire; where are the devil, beast, and false prophet, Rev 19:20. It is a saying of R.

This site's exposition

the sea gave up the dead

on Revelation 20:13-15

Every custodian of the dead surrenders its charge, the sea, and death and hell, hades, the grave's holding place, so no manner of dying hides anyone from this court. Then death and hades are themselves cast into the lake of fire, the last enemy destroyed as 1 Corinthians 15:26 promised, and this is the second death, the phrase the overcomer was promised immunity from at 2:11. The chapter's final sentence is the Bible's most solemn, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, and the exposition leaves it at its full weight, for the whole book was written so that its readers' names would be found there.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

City of God 20.15 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

The "Book of Life" is not for jogging God's memory lest he forget. It is a figure of the predestination of those who are to receive eternal life. We are not to imagine that God does not know them and has to read in his books to find out who they are. On the contrary, the Book of Life is precisely his infallible prescience of those inscribed therein, whose very registration there means only that they are foreknown by him.

A commentator

Apringius of Beja

TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20:15 · Written before 600.

proposed

Whoever did not believe during life and did not open his mouth in confession of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be destroyed along with death and hell because he failed to receive life. Nevertheless, we do not confess that everyone will die or come to …

A commentator

Fulgentius of Ruspe

LETTER TO MONIMUS 1.27.1-6 · Written before 533.

proposed

[In evil persons] God begins his judgment with desertion and ends with anguish. For in this present time as well in which God deserts the evil ones who go away from him, he does not work in them what displeases him but works through them …

A commentator

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius

EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES 7.26 · Written before 325.

proposed

When, however, the thousand years shall be completed, the world will be renewed by God, heaven will be folded up and the earth changed. And God will transform people into the likeness of angels, and they will be white and shining as snow, and they will always be in the sight of the Omnipotent and will sacrifice to their God and serve him forever. At the same time, there will take place that second and public resurrection of all, during which the unjust will be raised to everlasting sufferings. These are they who worshiped idols made by hands, who did not know or who denied the Lord and Father of the universe. But their master will be seized with his ministers and will be condemned to punishment, and together with him the whole band of the impious will be burned in perpetual fire forever in the sight of the angels and the just.

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 550.

proposed

And if anyone was not found written in the little scroll of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. But those who are said to have been in sins and are not worthy of the inscription in life have suffered equally. And if …
6 more voices on this verse

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Irenaeus

Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5 · Written before 202.

proposed

And in the Apocalypse John saw this new [Jerusalem] descending upon the new earth. For after the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens; and there was no more place for them." And he sets forth, too, the things connected with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning "the dead, great and small."

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Alcuin of York

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MANUAL ON REVELATION · Written before 804.

proposed

QUESTION: And death and hell were cast into the pool of fire, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life. ANSWER: That is, whosoever was not judged by God as being alive. Whence it seems to me that the right interpretation for …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life. That is, who was not judged by God to be alive. Hence, it seems more correct to say, as those who interpret the open books as the consciences of individuals and their …

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

And whosoever - All persons, of all ranks, ages, and conditions. No word could be more comprehensive than this. The single condition here stated, as being what would save any from being cast into the lake of fire, is, that they are “found written in the book of life.” All besides these, princes, kings, nobles, philosophers, statesmen, conquerors; rich men and poor men; the bond and the free; the young and the aged; the frivolous, the vain, the proud, and the sober; the modest and the humble, will be doomed to the lake of fire.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The blissful lot of the righteous is not here specially mentioned as their bliss had commenced before the final judgment. Compare, however, Mt 25:34, 41, 46.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Written in the book of life - Only those who had continued faithful unto death were taken to heaven. All whose names were not found in the public registers, who either were not citizens, or whose names had been erased from those registers because of crimes against the state, could claim none of those emoluments or privileges which belong to the citizens; so those who either did not belong to the new and spiritual Jerusalem, or who had forfeited their rights and privileges by sin, and had died in that state, were cast into the lake of fire. This is the way in which God, at the day of judgment, will proceed with sinners and apostates. Reader, see that thy name be written in the sacred register; and, if written in, see that it never be blotted out.

The words behind it

17 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    John 14:6

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

    it leads to

    • Acts 4:12

      Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

    • John 10:9

      I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.

    • Ephesians 2:18

      For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

    • John 11:25–26

      Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

    • John 1:4

      In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

  • Through

    Acts 4:12

    Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

    it leads to

    • John 14:6

      Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

    • 1 Corinthians 3:11

      For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

    • John 3:36

      Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”

Where this verse is studied

About Revelation

The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alcuin of York, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS MANUAL ON REVELATION; Apringius of Beja, TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20:15; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 20.15; Bede, Commentary on Revelation; Fulgentius of Ruspe, LETTER TO MONIMUS 1.27.1-6; Irenaeus, Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, EPITOME OF THE DIVINE INSTITUTES 7.26; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation.