Will There be Free Will in Heaven?

[thedream233]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

 

[Calminian]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

There will be limited free will in heaven (libertarian free will). We will not have the desire nor temptation to sin. On earth we have a choice to become the slave of God. Once we choose that there's no going back. God will change us so radically in heaven, we will never have the desire to rebel, thus no real choice. We will be free in many regards, but not in that regard. For this I'm very thankful! The choice is here. Choose wisely.

 

[tapero]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

I think that's a great question. I have often wondered about the angels that now serve God. I wonder what keeps them from becoming fallen angels. Perhaps they can still fall, we don't know we aren't told. Perhaps God has a covenant with them that we don't know about either.

No, we won't sin in heaven. However it is written that:

25Therefore he is able to save completely[c] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

I've often wondered about this verse. I think it depends on the precise meaning of the word always.

I don't agree with the previous poster that we won't have free will. We will always have free will. It isn't explained that I know of how it is we won't sin. I have thought about this some.

We will see in full what we now see in part.

 

[Brucea]

I believe man has a choice. I'm not a Calvinist; however the term free will is erroneous! The scripture teaches us in Romans 6:15-23. We are a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. Jesus put it this way, your father is the devil if you don't believe in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, your Father is God Almighty. I know we have for generations used the term freewill. I think we are a little off on that issue.

True salvation involves the surrender of our will! Jesus said those who belong to Him do the will of the Father!

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world.
17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

 

[Calminian]

My thinking is somewhat along the lines of Brucea's. I'm actually not a calvinist either, but do acknowledge that behavior often is deterministic. But neither calvinists nor arminians believe we will be free to leave Heaven. There is indeed a surrender of the will. It's interesting that all the apostles referred to themselves as slaves of Christ.

 

[MikeMcK]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

Yes, there will be free will in Heaven and we will be free to make moral choices.

However, the Bible tells us that we will no longer have the fallen nature that causes us to sin so, while we could theorhetically sin, we will not have the desire or the inclination to sin.

 

[Calminian]

Well, Adam and Lucifer didn't have sin natures either. Yet they chose to sin. A sin nature is not required to sin. One merely needs a temptation. Without it there can be no libertarian choice. We will not be free to sin in heaven. We should be thankful for this.

 

[Key]

This question has been brought up quite a bit, and it is a fine question.

Now, other members have provided you great answers.

I'll provide you mine, and let you decided what you think of what has been said.

"When you get to Heaven, you will be made whole and complete and content, by the presence of God, as such, alto you will have a freedom of thought, because you are contended and basked in glory of God Almighty, you will not desire to succumb to any sins"

I hope this provides you an answer to your question regarding the concept of Free Will in Heaven.

God Bless

Key

 

[rocklife]

some very good replies here. I believe after sin and death is dealt with, we will then have no reason to seek it again. Sin brings death. Sin separates us from God. For those who seek to fight sin now, seeking it again when in God's presence even more is just an insult. We need God's help and power to fight sin though, which thankfully He does give us the power, good conquers evil with His help. We can deal with our sin today, fight it now, life is the reward, sin brings death.

 

[Zeena]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

Yes, of course!

God does not repent of His design!

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

We will not, and I repeat NOT have sin in our bodies to cause us to stumble, however.

There will be no desire to sin emminating from sin in us, for we shall ALL [you included] have new bodies, ones without sin in them!

 

[Faith In God]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

Yup.
Just like it is possible for angels to change sides now. But I don't read that happening.
Just like it was possible for Christ to sin on earth.
But He would not. Arguably, impossible, but for the sake of "does free will exist", yes.
(unknown (rather, I can't remember ) quote "Christian perfection is the preference to die rather than displease God."
Christians like that in heaven...
will not sin.

 

[PhilosopherD]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

I don't believe so. We will be transformed and united with Jesus.

 

[Calminian]

Yup.
Just like it is possible for angels to change sides now. But I don't read that happening.

This would mean even the elect can fall. This is simply not the case. The angels that did not choose to go with Satan at the beginning of creation will never sin. There will be no such temptation (i.e. opportunity) in the future. Their chose has already been made. They are now called the elect (have always been, in fact).

1Tim. 5:21 I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.

Seems there is a lot of confusion about freewill. I'm going to start a thread in Soteriology, where we can debate it. This ought to be interesting.

Here's the new thread. Free Will in Heaven??

 

[hlaltimus]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

Will there be free will in Heaven? Yes. And would it be possible to sin there like Satan? No. This is a great mystery which opens up the wisdom of God on a horizon to the scale of infinity. Adam was made a creature of free will, only while still in a mutable state just like Lucifer, his angels and the universe in which they were created. Lucifer didn't fall from the third heavens, an immutable realm, but from our universe, or the second heavens, a perfect realm at the time, but a perfect and mutable realm which didnot demand defect but allowed for it's possibility. Now, Adam was not initially created in this immutable realm of the Third Heavens but was made to inhabit it all in God's good time, and so we shall if we truly know the Redeemer, Christ. Those who will be blessed in that heaven to come will not fall because, achieving immutability of state, they will no longer have that capacity. Saints in heaven, now, still possess free will as "the gifts and callings of God are without repentance", only their natures have been fixed in a truly unchangeable state, forever, and the nature of a saint is Christ's righteous nature, now their's by spiritual union with Him. This is why a dying Christian must leave his or her physical body behind before entering into heaven, lest that corrupt "body of sin" be eternally, unchangeable fixed in an immutable state. The only "man" that will ever enter heaven, short of the resurrection day, is the "new man", one which has already been perfected forever by the beautiful penal and preceptive righteousness of Christ. That man, the new man, can afford to step into a realm which forever locks the party into that nature which they possess at the time. When the scripture commands us to "make you a new heart" while still in time, it is not playing games. This explains both the eternal, infallible security of the redeemed in glory and the permanency of the damned in hell as well. When Satan fell, while still in the second heavens, in some way which I donot yet understand, he foolishly was hurled into the eternal, immutable and unchangeable realm of eternity that he coveted to be in and the door shut behind him locking him into that sinful nature forever and ever. What worked against Adam, Satan and the fallen angels in the past, mutability of state, still works in favor of the repentant sinner who seeks this new nature "here and now" before the "then and there" arrives and seals their eternal state forever.

 

[Zeena]

I don't believe so. We will be transformed and united with Jesus.

And this is exactly why we won't sin! We will have free will TO sin, but "Christians" won't, because they will see thier Lord as He really is!!!

Heathens, on the other hand...

 

[Calminian]

Seems there's a lot of confusion about the term "free will." What's being described here by most is a compatibilistic version of free will, which actually denies libertarian free will (LFW). All those that say we won't sin because we will be transformed, are actually denying LFW, and espousing determinism.

Anyway, I just noticed a thread in soteriology that was dealing with this subject before it was brought up here. For anyone who is interested, here it is.

Freewill In Eternity

 

[FrAnthony]

and would it be possible to sin like Satan did when he was in heaven?

Yep...now, can you really think of a reason you would want to?

 

[Faith In God]

Yep...now, can you really think of a reason you would want to?

I know, right?
If nothing else, this reasoning stands firm.

 

[tapero]

Seems there's a lot of confusion about the term "free will." What's being described here by most is a compatibilistic version of free will, which actually denies libertarian free will (LFW). All those that say we won't sin because we will be transformed, are actually denying LFW, and espousing determinism.

Anyway, I just noticed a thread in soteriology that was dealing with this subject before it was brought up here. For anyone who is interested, here it is.

Freewill In Eternity

Hi,

I don't know what libertarian free will is, but I do know that we have free will now and will in heaven.

 

[Calminian]

Hi,

I don't know what libertarian free will is, but I do know that we have free will now and will in heaven.

I gather most here don't, from the responses. Even the staunchest 5 point calvinist believes we do, and always will, have free will—the ability to chose what we want. The debate is not free will vs. no free will, it is libertarian free will vs. compatibilistic free will. All the the arguments so far for freewill in heaven are supporting the compatibilistic concept, which is the deterministic view. Thus they support my original response that we will not have a libertarian choice to rebel in heaven.

The reason I point this out, is because most, when they ask about freewill, are referring to the libertarian concept. Therefore the actual answer to the OPs question is, no.

For anyone interested in this debate, I suggest googling for key words, libertarianism & compatibilism. Without these distinctions the freewill debate becomes a meaningly confusion of terms. For those not interested I guess you can just keep supporting the deterministic view unaware.