WILL WE BE CAPABLE OF SINNING IN HEAVEN?

People have said, “Heaven will be perfect, but a sinless environment doesn’t mean we can’t sin; Adam and Eve proved that. They lived in a sinless place, yet they sinned."

It's true that Satan tempted them, but he too originally was a perfect being living in a perfect environment, beholding God himself. Not only was there no sin in Heaven; there was no sin in the universe. Yet Satan sinned. Hence, Heaven's perfection, it seems, doesn't guarantee there'll be no future sin.

Some people also argue that being human demands free choice, and therefore we must have the capacity to choose evil in Heaven. If that's true, then we could experience another Fall.

Clearly, this is a question of great importance.

CAN WE KNOW WE WON'T SIN?

Christ promises on the New Earth, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Since "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), the promise of no more death is a promise of no more sin. Those who will never die can never sin, since sinners always die. Sin causes mourning, crying, and pain. If those will never occur again, then sin can never occur again.

Consider the last part of Revelation 21:4: "For the old order of things has passed away." What follows the word “for” explains Heaven's lack of death, mourning, crying, and pain. These are part of an old order of things that will forever be behind us. The sin that caused them will be no longer. We need not fear a second Fall.

Scripture emphasizes that Christ died once to deal with sin and will never again need to die (Hebrews 9:26-28; 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18). We'll have the very nghteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). We won't sin in Heaven for the same reason God doesn’t. He cannot sin. Our eternal inability to sin has been purchased by Christ's blood.

"For by a single offering himself, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14, ESV). On the cross, validated by his resurrection, our Savior purchased our perfection for all time.

"Nothing impure will ever enter it, the New Jerusalem, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:27). The passage doesn't say: "If someone becomes impure or shameful or deceitful, that person will be evicted." There's an absolute contrast between sinners and the righteous. That Satan and evildoers are cast forever into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10 and 21:8) shows an eternal separation of evil from the New Earth. Heaven will be completely devoid of evil, with no threat of becoming tainted. Three times in the final two chapters of Scripture, we're told that those still in their sins have no access to Heaven, and never will (Revelation 21:8, 27; 22:15). Evil will have no footing in Heaven and no leverage to affect us.

Hebrews 9:26 says with an air of finality that Christ sacrificed himself "to put away sin" (NASB) or "to do away with sin.”  Sin will be a thing of the past.

We'll be raised "incorruptible" (1 Corinthians 15:52, NKJV). Incorruptible is a stronger word than uncorrupted. Our risen bodies, and by implication our new beings, will be immune to corruption. Since the wages of sin is death, if we cannot die, then we cannot sin.

"Anyone who has died has been freed from sin" (Romans 6:7). Christ will not allow us to be vulnerable to the very thing he died to deliver us from. Since our righteousness is rooted in Christ, who is eternally righteous, we can never lose it.

(Excerpt from: Heaven, Randy Alcorn)