Verse 19 is sometimes misunderstood as teaching loss of salvation, but in fact, it teaches loss of reward (compare I Cor 3:15 with I Cor 9:27). This can be reasoned through: if one has eternal life, then one surely will not need eternally to eat the fruit of the tree of life in order to maintain eternal life.

Furthermore, there is both the ‘water of life’ and the ‘tree of life’ (22:1–2), and this debarment is from the tree only. It seems best, therefore, to understand that the tree of life represents the benefits, or rewards, of eternal life—the enhanced quality of eternal life which is an element of reward. Likewise, as we saints inherit a part in the holy city (21:7), the heretic forfeits this inheritance.

Reformed and Always Reforming,