BOOK OF LIFE. The NT expression “book of life” (τὸ̀ βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς in Rev 13:8; 17:8; 20:12; 21:27; without the article in Phil 4:3; ἡ βίβλος τῆς ζωῆς in Rev 3:5 and 20:15) is based on OT references to God’s book in which were written the names of the righteous (Ps 69:28; Exod 32:32). This, in turn, is related to the ancient custom of keeping genealogies and national registers in Israel (Neh 7:5ff., 64; 12:12; Ps 87:6; Jer 22:30; Ezek 13:9). Just as these latter records were carefully inscribed and preserved, so God knows His people. In later Judaism the idea developed that God has two books, one for the righteous and one for the wicked, and that the deeds of men are tallied by the angels, archangels, Michael, Elias, or Enoch (TDNT, I [1964], 620, n. 23). The NT avoids such speculation in its use of the expression but uses it to stress the assurance of salvation. Anchored in eternity, that salvation is certain for all those whose names are written in “the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8 KJV). Their salvation is “sure, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim 2:19). They may rejoice because their names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). To be in the book of life is ground for the certainty of salvation. Not to be found in God’s book, or to be blotted out of it (Exod 32:32f.; Ps 69:28), or, not to be found in the book of life (Rev 17:8; 20:15), means separation from God and perdition.

Bibliography IDB, III (1962), 130; TDNT, I (1964), 619f.