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"Will there be sin in Heaven?"
| John Hoole | July 20, 2003 |
The easy answer is, "Of course not. We'll be perfect in heaven, incapable of sinning." But is this necessarily the case? The Bible is clear that the "unbelievers" and the "corrupt" will be in the "lake that burns with fire and sulfur." (Rev. 21:8) This implies that the believers and those who are not corrupt will be in heaven. The real reason we will not be corrupt, of course, is that we believed and accepted Jesus, who paid the penalty for our sins. Therefore, there will be no sin in heaven.
But someone might say, "Adam and Eve were perfect, living in an idyllic place, and yet they sinned. How do we know it can't start all over again?" So the question about sin in heaven now becomes, "Will we still be temped to sin, in much the same way that Adam and Eve were tempted?" "Will we have a free will in heaven, just like Adam and Eve had?"
This, indeed, is a much tougher question. Will we have a free will in Heaven?
Of course, if we do not have a free will in Heaven, then the answer is not difficult, for then we will not be tempted to sin in Heaven.
On the other hand, if we do have a free will in Heaven, can we be tempted to sin? If we do have a free will, I believe the Bible says that we will never exercise that freedom of will to sin. In other word, we will not sin, because we will not ever want to sin.
I should probably add at this point, that I strongly believe we will have free wills in Heaven. Without it, we would be mere puppets, never making decisions on our own. I can't imagine total happiness and joy - a state of bliss if you will, if we do not have the agency of free will. If we do not have individual free will, then to ever think independently, that I can study this or that interesting subject, or explore the milky way, would not be possible.
God created mankind with a free will, and He is not going to strip that from us at some point in time. God know, and assures us, that we will never use our free will to rebel against Him. In speaking of our heavenly home, the New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:27 (NIV) says;
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.Nothing associated with sin will ever enter this place.One author that I was reading this past week, believes we will have free will in Heaven. He went on to say, "but since we will no longer have sin natures, we will be able not to sin." He goes on to add, in Heaven "we would never choose to sin."
I would probably take his statement a little farther. We will no longer have sin natures, so we will be able not to sin, and, unlike Adam and Eve, we will not have any to tempt us.
We will not be robots. But, out of love, we will serve and obey God forever. God knows the future, and He tells us in the Book of Revelation that Heaven will forever be free of sin.
Revelation 22:3 says, "No longer will there be a curse." The curse was the result of Adam and Eve's sins. In Heaven there will be no sin, so the curse has been lifted.
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