---
title: Revelation 21:27
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-21-27/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/revelation-21-27.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Revelation 21:27
testament: NT
section: Prophecy
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Revelation 21:27

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "anything defiled and anyone who does what is disgusting and deceitful will in no way enter into it; only those written in the Lamb's scroll of life will enter"

## JW Usage

Watchtower commentary takes Revelation 21:27 as describing the entry requirements for the New Jerusalem after the millennium. Those written in the Lamb's scroll of life enter the perfected paradise; those not written are excluded into the second death. On the JW reading, this culminates the judgment-according-to-works pattern: deeds determine inclusion in the scroll of life, and the scroll determines inclusion in the city.

## Protestant Usage

The verse is decisive on the basis of inclusion. "Only those written in the Lamb's book of life will enter." Notice it is not "only those who lived faithfully" or "only those who remained loyal" or "only those who fulfilled all requirements" — but "only those written in the Lamb's book of life." The Lamb's book is the basis. And the Lamb's book is filled by those Christ has bought with his blood (Revelation 5:9-10) — every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Reformed and Catholic Christianity alike read the passage this way: salvation is by Christ's atoning work, evidenced in lives changed but never grounded in lives earning. The Watchtower's two-class system splits what Revelation 21:27 unifies — one book, one Lamb, one entry, every believer.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Judgment According to Works](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/judgment-according-to-works.md) — Matthew 25, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20 — evidence or basis? [Salvation]
- [One Death, One Judgment — No Second Chance in the Millennium](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/postmortem-salvation-rebuttal.md) — Hebrews 9:27 / Luke 16:26 / 2 Corinthians 6:2 — postmortem evangelism rebutted [Eschatology]