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Protestant Apologetics

Revelation 20:12

NT Prophecy
Revelation 20:12
12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
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JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes as describing the judgment of resurrected humanity at the end of the millennium. The "scrolls" are taken to record each person's deeds during their lifetime and during the thousand-year reign; the "scroll of life" registers those who pass the post-millennial test. Final survival depends on works through the millennium combined with name-inclusion at the close.

Protestant Usage

The decisive observation is the TWO sets of books. The first scrolls record deeds — and says all have sinned. Anyone judged by the deeds-scrolls alone is condemned. The second scroll is the Lamb's book of life, which records those Christ has bought by his blood. Salvation is not by the deeds-scrolls; it is by the Lamb's book. The deeds-scrolls are the public evidence; the Lamb's book is the basis. As v15 will say: "whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire." The book of life is decisive. The works are evidence, not basis. Treat Christian assurance as frames it: "I write you these things that you may know that you have life everlasting."

NWT Issue

The NWT renders biblia as "scrolls" rather than "books" (consensus ESV/NASB/NIV/KJV). The choice is historically faithful — first-century books were scrolls — but consensus English versions standardly render "books." Mild stylistic divergence rather than a doctrinal shift.