Board index ‹ Free Will

[Wasabio]

Hey, I was having a conversation with a couple of buddies yesterday concerning our free will in Heaven. Will this be like the angels' free will, where they have the capacity to do evil but the temptation is so minuscule it doesn't really have an effect? Or will it be like God's free will, where it is impossible for him to sin?

[jimwalton]

When we get to heaven, we will be changed in many ways (1 Cor. 15; 1 Thes. 4, and others). 1 Jn. 3.2 says "we shall be like him." From that, and other texts, I can easily learn that any desire and capability to sin, disobey God, or blaze a rebellious trail of my own will be transformed out of me, because I freely submitted my will to God to allow him to do this, and my free will will conform to the character and nature of God. Neither sin, disobedience, nor rebellion will be an options or a desire. My free will will fall into a different set of limitations than they do now. It's one thing now, on earth, that God cannot interfere with my free will, and I'm free to do whatever righteousness or sin within my scope. When I commit my life to Christ, I'm saying, "Take these sinful parts of my free will and take them away. Conform my thoughts and heart to yours, Jesus." Having been given access, then, to my free will, God is able to transform me into the likeness of his Son and change my free will, because I freely gave him the right to do that with me. C.S. Lewis wrote, "Wherever the will conferred by the Creator is perfectly offered back in delight and delighting obedience by the creature, there, most undoubtedly, is Heaven..."

[Wasabio]

Doesn't our nature in heaven present a shortcoming in this argument? Are you saying we will not have the capacity for unrighteousness and imperfection with our new perfected free will" If so, then it's not possible to claim that anything that is created, being less than God, has a capacity for unrighteousness and sin. It turns out that this argument is not true in all cases, namely, when we get to heaven. If this argument is not true because of the counterexample presented above, then why didn't God initially make us with his divine free will?

[jimwalton]

> Forgive me if I'm being redundant -- Doesn't our nature in heaven present a shortcoming in this argument?

I don't think so. When by our own free will we submit our free wills to the sovereignty of God and give him carte blanc to make any changes He desires, we open the gate for Him to transform us as he wishes, and it's not a violation of our free will. In the transformation, according to numerous NT passages, we will become like him, be transformed into a different kind of reality and existence, and made new. Our capacity for unrighteousness and imperfection will be purged out of us, because we have given permission for God to do that.

Why didn't God initially make us with his divine free will? Because it was not possible before our coming to him in love and using our free will to open that door.