# losing salvation



## Preach (Apr 28, 2006)

Psalm 69:28. It seems to say that someone can lose their salvation. How do we explain this verse. Thanks.
"In Christ",
Bobby


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## Contra_Mundum (Apr 28, 2006)

Bobby,
Remember the genre--poetry. The lines are going to be picturesque, and not necessarily a "realistic" depiction of the actual state of affairs.

Then too, both lines of the strophe need to be examined as a whole. The second part (which is in parallel to the first) says basically: "Don't ever write them *into* the book."


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Apr 28, 2006)

Here are a few remarks by some notable commentators:

Matthew Henry:



> 6. That they should be cut off from all hopes of happiness (v. 28): Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be suffered to live any longer, since, the longer they live, the more mischief they do. Multitudes of the unbelieving Jews fell by sword and famine, and none of those who had embraced the Christian faith perished among them; the nation, as a nation, was blotted out, and became not a people. Many understand it of their rejection from God's covenant and all the privileges of it; that is the book of the living: "Let the commonwealth of Israel itself, Israel according to the flesh, now become alienated from that covenant of promise which hitherto it has had the monopoly of. Let it appear that they were never written in the Lamb's book of life, but reprobate silver let men call them, because the Lord has rejected them. Let them not be written with the righteous; that is, let them not have a place in the congregation of the saints when they shall all be gathered in the general assembly of those whose names are written in heaven," Ps. i. 5.



Matthew Poole:



> Ps 69:28. Of the living; or, of life: either, 1. Of this life. Out of the number of living men; which anciently used to be written in catalogues, out of which the names of those who died were blotted. Or rather, 2. Of eternal life, as both Jewish and Christian interpreters commonly understand it; which agrees best, 1. To the use of this phrase in Scripture; for in this sense men are said to be written in the book, Dan 12:1, or in God's book, Exod 32:32, or in the book of life, Phil 4:3; Rev 3:5; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:12; Rev 21:27. 2. To the last clause of the verse, which explains it of that book, wherein none but the righteous are written; whereas this life, and that attended with health and prosperity, is promiscuously given to and taken from good and bad men. 3. To the quality of the persons of whom this is said; which are the malicious enemies of God, and of his people, and the murderers of the Lord of glory, who shall be punished with eternal death. In this book men may be said to be written, either, 1. In reality, by God's election or predestination. Or, 2. In appearance, when a man is called by God to the profession and practice of the true religion, and into covenant with himself, and professeth to comply with it; and so is written in the writing of the house of Israel, which is said of all that are in the assembly of God's people, Ezek 13:9, and so seems to others, and it may be to himself, to be really written in the book of life. And when a man renounceth this profession and religion, he may be said to be blotted out of that book, because his apostacy makes it evident that he was not written in it, as he seemed to be. For this is a known and approved rule for the understanding of many texts of Scripture, that things are oft said to be done when they only seem to be done, and are not really done; as he is said to find his life, Matt 10:39, who falsely imagined that he did find it, when in truth he lost it; and to have, Matt 13:12, who only seemed to have, as it is explained in the parallel place, Luke 8:18; and to live, Rom 7:9, when he vainly conceited himself to be alive. And in like manner men may be said to be written in or blotted out of this book, when they seem to be so by the course of their lives and actions. But that this blotting out is not meant properly and positively, is clear from the last branch of this verse; which, after the manner of these books, expounds the former, wherein this doubtful phrase is explained by one which is evident and unquestionable, even by his not being written in it; for it is impossible that a man's name should be properly blotted out of that book in which it was never written. The sense of the verse seems to be this, Let their wickedness be so notorious, and the tokens of God's wrath upon them so manifest, that all men may discern that they are blotted out; that is, that they never were written in the book of life, in which the righteous are written. With the righteous, i.e. in the book of life, in which all righteous or holy persons, and only they, are written; whereby it may appear that whatsoever show or profession they once made, yet they neither are nor were truly righteous persons.



John Calvin:



> After having taken away from them all hope of repentance, he denounces against them eternal destruction, which is the obvious meaning of the prayer, that they might be blotted out of the book of the living; for all those must inevitably perish who are not found written or enrolled in the book of life. This is indeed an improper manner of speaking; but it is one well adapted to our limited capacity, the book of life being nothing else than the eternal purpose of God, by which he has predestinated his own people to salvation. God, it is certain, is absolutely immutable; and, further, we know that those who are adopted to the hope of salvation were written before the foundation of the world, (Ephesians 1:4) but as God's eternal purpose of election is incomprehensible, it is said, in accommodation to the imperfection of the human understanding, that those whom God openly, and by manifest signs, enrols among his people, are written. On the other hand, those whom God openly rejects and casts out of his Church are, for the same reason, said to be blotted out. As then David desires that the vengeance of God may be manifested, he very properly speaks of the reprobation of his enemies in language accommodated to our understanding; as if he had said, O God! reckon them not among the number or ranks of thy people, and let them not be gathered together with thy Church; but rather show by destroying them that thou hast rejected them; and although they occupy a place for a time among thy faithful ones, do thou at length cut them off, to make it manifest that they were aliens, though they were mingled with the members of thy family. Ezekiel uses language of similar import when he says,
> 
> "And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel."
> (Ezekiel 13:9)
> ...



and Calvin elsewhere (_Institutes_):



> The words simply indicate the abandonment of those who _seemed_ [emphasis mine] to have a chief place among the elect, as is said in the psalm, "Let them be blotted out of the Book of the Living, and not be written with the righteous," (Ps 69:28).



[Edited on 4-29-2006 by VirginiaHuguenot]


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Apr 28, 2006)

English Annotations:



> V. 28 _out of the book of the living_ ] Make it appear that they are not written in the book of Life, though they seem by their profession to be of that number.
> _the book of the living_ ] Phil. 4.3. Rev. 3.5
> _written with the righteous_ Luke 10.20 Heb. 12.23



Dutch Annotations:



> 29. _Let them be blotted out of the book of life_; [ Or _of the living_) _ie.,_ as the words following do declare it) let it appear that they do not belong to the number of thine elect, and are not written among them by thee, notwithstanding, that both by themselves and by others, they are held to be of the people of God, and accounted among them; but do thou cut them of [sic], etc. ...


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Apr 29, 2006)

One must also understand the background - the idea of "blotting" comes from translation and manuscript scribery. When a scroll of papyrus was created, especially of the Scriptures, the scroll had to contain no errors. Making an error would ruin the scroll and one would have to begin again. Ruining of the scroll could occur if an "ink blot" occurred on the papyrus as a result of the quill not working correctly, or a hand smudge. It was the common practice of non-scriptural scrolls to be "blotted", but the ink stain could not be removed completely and its evidence was still there by the stain. The writer of the Psalms, and the idea in which Moses rebukes the Israelites, is one which holds the notion _that ONLY God can make it as though the writing never existed._ In other words, to be blotted out, would be as _if it were never written in_. Only God can "make one seem as though they were never actually written in the book of life." Personally, one may think they are, and by all standards one may look to seem so here, but in God's decree, it is as though he was never considered, or blotted, in the first place.

The idea of blotting then is an impossibility. Blotting, really, cannot occur in human hands. The phrase, then, takes on a significant imagery and symbolism, not a literal blotting or writing.

[Edited on 4-29-2006 by C. Matthew McMahon]


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