Objection 42

From Sovereign Grace and the Scope of Election: A Comparative Examination of Attainment Theology and Grace Theology, with Particular Attention to the Question of Whether God's Elect Are Found Among All Nations and Religions

Matthew 7:21 and Revelation 22:14, "he that doeth the will of my Father"; "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life." Doing decides destiny.

Matthew 7:21 is aimed at a specific class: miracle-claiming professors, "have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have done many wonderful works?" (7:22), the sign-gifted, wonder-working religious, the closest first-century analogue to a modern movement staking its identity on manifestations. Christ's verdict on them is not "you lacked consecration" but "I never knew you", never, an election word. The will of the Father that marks the saved is defined by Christ Himself in John 6:40: "this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life." As for Revelation 22:14, the oldest manuscripts read "blessed are they that wash their robes", and even in the received text, doing His commandments is the family badge of those whose right to the tree is the Lamb's purchase (Revelation 5:9-10), just as 1 John 2:3 makes obedience the evidence of knowing Him, never the deed to the inheritance. The tree of life stands in a city whose gates bear the names of tribes and whose foundations bear apostles' names, a city entered by birth and blood, adorned by obedience.