Does this verse teach the possibility of the loss of salvation? If so, it hardly sounds like a promise. MacArthur states, “Incredibly, although the text says just the opposite, some people assume that this verse teaches that a person’s name can be erased from the book of life. They thus foolishly turn a promise into a threat.”5 The implication of the passage is that those who put their trust in Christ and thus conquer by faith have the privilege of being recognized as the saints of God throughout eternity—even saints from the church at Sardis where so much was offensive to their holy Lord.
