If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.¹

This verse follows the one I quoted in another essay: Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.² This is the main reason I thought Death and Hades were euphemisms for “those who had died.”

If this is a prophecy of future unalterable events, then this knowledge makes the Lord’s wish…for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9b) seem like sentiment. It gives me pause and another opportunity to consider my options if I stood before the judgment seat of Christ and He determined that it was best that I should be thrown into the lake of fire.

First, I believe his judgments are true and just.³ He does not judge by appearances, but…with right judgment.⁴ I can’t imagine all that might run through my mind at that moment, but one thing is certain because it is my practice: I would resolve to face the lake of fire one moment at a time in the strength of his Spirit, relying on God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.⁵

I doubt, however, that Jesus would throw his own Holy Spirit into the lake of fire. So, plan B would be to do everything in my power to cling to Him, to go wherever He is taken, at the moment the Lord withdrew his Holy Spirit. Failing that, well, frankly, I care very little for any residue of me apart from his Holy Spirit. He can dispose of it as He pleases.

None of this was of any concern to me in the beginning, after I prayed to know God. No matter what Jesus had done on the cross I knew the last mile was mine to walk alone. My salvation was ultimately in my hands. My faith differentiated me from all those who would be thrown into the lake of fire. As I wrote before, “I was still pretty cocky.”

“Whosoever will may come” seemed fair to me. It was a popular saying derived from Revelation 22:17 (KJV):

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.⁶ And let him that heareth say, Come.⁷ And let him that is athirst come.⁸ And⁹ whosoever will, let him take¹⁰ the¹¹ water of life freely.

Eternal life is available to all who will (θέλων, a form of θέλω) or want it. Those who do not want eternal life prefer the second death—the lake of fire.¹² Everyone should be smart enough to prefer eternal life to the lake of fire.

So in my early twenties my theology was little changed from that of my five-year-old self. The difference was that my twenty-something self read the Bible more than my five-year-old self. So my twenty-something self was both troubled and intrigued by Jesus’ words (John 6:44, 45 NET):

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day [Table]. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God’ [See Table below]. Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me [Table].

So Jesus taught that the Father’s drawing and teaching preceded my will, my desire, to come to Him for eternal life. Looking back at my own life I had to agree that this was true. But my hearing and my learning could still differentiate me from all those who would be thrown into the lake of fire.

There was another related stream (John 6:28, 29 NET):

So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires—to believe in the one whom he sent” [Table].

I didn’t have the NET at my disposal in my early twenties. I read the KJV or the NASB:

John 6:29 (KJV)	John 6:29 (NASB)
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.	Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

But I understood this passage as translated in the NET: that believing in Jesus was my work, the deed that would differentiate me from all those who would be thrown into the lake of fire. I heard Jesus’ response then as if He answered the question directly: What must we do (NET/Parallel Greek: τί ποιῶμεν)? Or What shall we do (KJV/Stephanus Textus Receptus: τι ποιουμεν)? Now, I assume that his answer was correcting the basic premise of the question (John 6:29b KJV/NASB):

This is the work of God (τοῦτο ἐστιν τὸ ἔργον τοῦ θεοῦ)…

I sat in the airport recently after seven very long days of work, waiting for my flight home. It was delayed four hours. Every sound everyone around me made annoyed me. I was ready to go off on someone, anyone, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit flooded into me—God’s own love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control¹³—against my will, contrary to my desire to lash out at someone.

Whether πιστεύητε (NET: believe) or πιστευσητε (KJV: ye believe) was original, both are in the subjunctive mood: “in order that you may [might] believe in the one whom he sent” is a very fair translation of ἵνα πιστεύητε [πιστευσητε] εἰς ὃν ἀπέστειλεν ἐκεῖνος once the idea that faith is my work is purged from my thinking. And as the result clause of This is the work of God it is fair to understand this as you will believe: “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action.”

In my twenties, though all of this was unknown to me, I did begin to hear Paul’s words as my own (Romans 7:15-25a NET):

For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate. But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me (ἡ |οἰκοῦσα| ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία) [Table]. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me (ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία) [Table].

So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to¹⁴ the law of sin that is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! [Table]

So it may be more accurate to describe my experience at the airport as the sin that lives in me wanted to go off on someone. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.¹⁵ But when I’m tired and crabby, it feels like me.

I was like a wife who thinks she is too tired for sex but acquiesces to her husband’s desire anyway. After a while she begins to think to herself, “Okay, that’s not so bad.” A while later she thinks, “Yes, you can do that as long as you like.” And sometime after that she thinks, “Please, never stop doing that.”

I don’t want to carry this comparison too far. An orgasm as a sensation seems to have a definite endpoint with a hypersensitive discomfort whenever I’ve pushed through it. I’ve never actually experienced any endpoint to the fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more constant, more continuous, more eternal, if you will.

In my twenties and then through my thirties, the more I believed that the one bringing forth in [me] both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God,¹⁶ the better my behavior became. For it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.¹⁷ The more I relied on the fruit of his Spirit, the more I realized that faith, even my faithfulness (πίστις), is an aspect of his fruit.

But what does that leave me to differentiate myself from all those who will be thrown into the lake of fire? It’s one thing to say, “but for the grace of God…” It’s another thing entirely to come face-to-face with the fact that the only thing that differentiates me from all those who will be thrown into the lake of fire is God: his mercy, his patient instruction, his grace through Jesus Christ, his indwelling Spirit.

“Then who can be saved?”¹⁸ Jesus’ astonished disciples asked when He told them it was hard for those they had thought the best (at least, the blessed) among them to enter the kingdom of heaven. And here, I think Jesus answered their question directly in the context in which they had asked it (Matthew 19:26 ESV):

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man (ἀνθρώποις, a form of ἄνθρωπος; e.g., people, humankind) this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So now, it’s more difficult for me to gainsay the Lord’s wish…for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9b) over some knowledge I think I have. I’ll look more seriously at the Book of Life (τῇ βίβλῳ τῆς ζωῆς) instead.

According to a note (68) in the NET Jesus quoted from Isaiah 54:13. The table below compares Jesus’ Greek to that of the Septuagint.

John 6:45 (NET Parallel Greek)	Isaiah 54:13a (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 54:13a (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ ἔσονται πάντες διδακτοὶ θεοῦ	καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱούς σου διδακτοὺς θεοῦ	καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱούς σου διδακτοὺς Θεοῦ
John 6:45 (NET)	Isaiah 54:13a (NETS)	Isaiah 54:13a (English Elpenor)
And they will all be taught by God.	And I will make all your sons taught by God	And [I will cause] all thy sons [to be] taught of God

Where the passage in Isaiah had limited all (πάντας) to your sons (τοὺς υἱούς σου), Jesus expanded it to they will all (ἔσονται πάντες).

Tables comparing Isaiah 54:13 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Isaiah 54:13 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing Revelation 19:2; 22:17 and Romans 7:23 in the NET and KJV follow.

Isaiah 54:13 (Tanakh)	Isaiah 54:13 (KJV)	Isaiah 54:13 (NET)
And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.	And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.	All your children will be followers of the Lord, and your children will enjoy great prosperity.

Isaiah 54:13 (Septuagint BLB)	Isaiah 54:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)
καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱούς σου διδακτοὺς θεοῦ καὶ ἐν πολλῇ εἰρήνῃ τὰ τέκνα σου	καὶ πάντας τοὺς υἱούς σου διδακτοὺς Θεοῦ καὶ ἐν πολλῇ εἰρήνῃ τὰ τέκνα σου
Isaiah 54:13 (NETS)	Isaiah 54:13 (English Elpenor)
And I will make all your sons taught by God and your children to be in great peace.	And [I will cause] all thy sons [to be] taught of God, and thy children [to be] in great peace.

Revelation 19:2 (NET)	Revelation 19:2 (KJV)
because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”	For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
ὅτι ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἔκρινεν τὴν πόρνην τὴν μεγάλην ἥτις ἔφθειρεν τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐξεδίκησεν τὸ αἷμα τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς	οτι αληθιναι και δικαιαι αι κρισεις αυτου οτι εκρινεν την πορνην την μεγαλην ητις εφθειρεν την γην εν τη πορνεια αυτης και εξεδικησεν το αιμα των δουλων αυτου εκ της χειρος αυτης	οτι αληθιναι και δικαιαι αι κρισεις αυτου οτι εκρινεν την πορνην την μεγαλην ητις διεφθειρεν την γην εν τη πορνεια αυτης και εξεδικησεν το αιμα των δουλων αυτου εκ της χειρος αυτης

Revelation 22:17 (NET)	Revelation 22:17 (KJV)
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge.	And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ νύμφη λέγουσιν· ἔρχου. καὶ ὁ ἀκούων εἰπάτω· ἔρχου. καὶ ὁ διψῶν ἐρχέσθω, ὁ θέλων λαβέτω ὕδωρ ζωῆς δωρεάν	και το πνευμα και η νυμφη λεγουσιν ελθε και ο ακουων ειπατω ελθε και ο διψων ελθετω και ο θελων λαμβανετω το υδωρ ζωης δωρεαν	και το πνευμα και η νυμφη λεγουσιν ερχου και ο ακουων ειπατω ερχου και ο διψων ερχεσθω ο θελων λαβετω υδωρ ζωης δωρεαν

Romans 7:23 (NET)	Romans 7:23 (KJV)
But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.	But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν μου ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντα με |ἐν| τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν μου	βλεπω δε ετερον νομον εν τοις μελεσιν μου αντιστρατευομενον τω νομω του νοος μου και αιχμαλωτιζοντα με τω νομω της αμαρτιας τω οντι εν τοις μελεσιν μου	βλεπω δε ετερον νομον εν τοις μελεσιν μου αντιστρατευομενον τω νομω του νοος μου και αιχμαλωτιζοντα με εν τω νομω της αμαρτιας τω οντι εν τοις μελεσιν μου