Sin in Heaven: Part One

Can there be any sin in heaven?

     The simple response to the first question is "No," but it does require a more in-depth, philosophical answer. According the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"[T]he souls of all the saints...who died after receiving Christ's holy Baptism have been, are and will be in heaven. [T]hese souls have seen and do see the divine essence with an intuitive vision, and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature. This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness." (1023-1024)

Here, the key words are divine essence, vision, ultimate end, and supreme happiness. Using the reason of Saint Thomas Aquinas to define these terms can help us provide an appropriate answer to the first question.
     The divine essence is God. God exists eternally in and of Himself and is the primary cause of everything that exists; therefore, every existing thing derives its essence from God. Saint Thomas tells us that there are five transcendental attributes that each thing receives from God as part of its essence. They are "being", oneness, goodness, truth, and beauty. God possesses them in absolute perfection, but everything else possesses them at various, lesser degrees of perfection. The transcendental attribute pertaining to our current argument is goodness.
     Since humans comprehend things through the senses, we come to know that something is "good" when we desire it; hence, the essence of goodness is desirability. "Now it is clear that a thing is desirable insofar as it is perfect."[1] If you had to choose between sleeping on a lumpy old mattress and a brand new one made of the space-age foam they use in the space shuttle, you would likely choose the latter because it is more desirable, or better (more perfect), than the former. If you merely desire the good, space-age mattress, though, you will not be happy. In order for your will to be satisfied, you must actually have the mattress and delight in it (which in my case means sleeping on it). But, alas, even this mattress will become old and lumpy some day and your happiness will be lost and you will desire anew.
     What you really desire is supreme happiness, "the perfect good which lulls [satisfies] the appetite altogether...This is not to be found in any creature, but in God alone"[2] as alluded to above. God is the most desirable since he is perfect goodness and the source of all goodness. As Saint James tells us in his epistle, "All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (1:17 NAB). So, the lesser goods of earth are just shadows of God’s goodness. Their goodness directs us to Him as our ultimate end because "God...created man to...share in his own blessed life [i.e., heaven]."[3] Which is to say: Our purpose for existing in the first place is to be in perfect communion with God forever. Or, in a more thought-provoking manner, "the last end is considered first because it determines everything else in life."[4]
     Herein, we must discuss the term vision, namely that eternal face-to-face encounter with the Holy Trinity in heaven, for "perfect happiness can consist in nothing else."[5] This vision, therefore, must extend beyond simply knowing that God exists to knowing what His very Essence is because "the object of the intellect is what a thing is...[w]herefore the intellect attains perfection."[6] In other words, if you don’t know what a space-age mattress is, you won’t desire it; yet, if I tell you about the mattress and all its benefits, you may then desire it, but you still won’t know what it is until you see it and experience it. Once you do, your intellect will be more perfect in regards to the mattress since your desire to know will be satisfied. In this manner, we desire to know God and supreme happiness.
     Finally, we arrive at the heart of our answer. In order to be supremely happy, your desires must be at rest without any fear of losing the delight you have gained. In addition, you must be assured of retaining that delight; else, you have not attained perfect and sufficient goodness.[7] Aquinas argues that "the vision of the Divine Essence fills the soul with all good things since it unites it to the source of all goodness;" hence, it would be impossible for you to reject it by seeking something better.[8] Unlike the things we seek on earth, which are insufficient to satisfy since they come with some inconvenience, God fulfills every longing completely and perfectly; therefore, no evil can be conceived of or perpetrated in heaven even though we retain our free will.

---

1 Peter Kreeft, Summa of the Summa (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1990), 91.
2 Summa of the Summa, 375
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993), 1
4 Summa of the Summa, 349, footnote 2
5 Ibid., 381
6 Ibid.
7 ibid., 396
8 Ibid., 397