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How can we be free in heaven and not sin?
I know that God created us to be in relationship with Him. He wanted us to have free will in order to choose to love Him. His perfect plan was for us to live with Him, glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever. Love that is coerced or forced is not true love.
According to the Bible, the first human beings were created in a perfect state and given free will. But instead of choosing to follow God they chose to disobey Him and so introduced sin into the world.
With this choice, they changed their nature — and the nature of all human beings. We all inherited this fallen sinful nature.
However, there is good news. The good news of Jesus Christ.
When we are saved or “born again” we are given a new nature. The moment we turn and trust in Jesus as our Saviour we receive this new nature which is radically different than the fallen nature we inherited.
When we are born-again, we become a new creation. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
However, here on earth we still contend with our old nature. We still sin because we are still fallen human beings. The two natures — our new Christ-like nature and our old sinful nature — war against each other. Our new nature loves God and wants to be free from guilt and sin but our old nature loves sin and wants to live a sinful lifestyle. The struggle is real. Paul, the Apostle, said it best when he wrote:
For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:18–20 NIV)
However, there is good news. When our bodies die, our old nature passes away as well. It leaves us with a new, divine nature.
In Heaven, we are free from sin. So although we still have free will in heaven, we no longer have the capacity to sin. Only our pure, holy, and righteous nature resides in us.
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