Is There Regret in Heaven?
John Piper is one of my favorite living theologians. His writings and preaching have had a profound impact on my thinking, and he is regularly a means of great encouragement and motivation. I rarely find myself disagreeing with him.
I recently picked up the 24-volume John Piper Collection from Logos and have been enjoying working through Life As a Vapor. It’s composed of 31 chapters making it an ideal book to read for a month’s worth of devotional reading.
The second chapter is entitled “Suffering, Mercy, and Heavenly Regret,” in which Piper poses the question, “Is there regret in heaven?” He continues, “Can regret be part of the ever-increasing, unspeakable joy of the age to come, purchased by Jesus Christ (Romans 8:32)? My answer is yes” (19).
Piper reasons that since we will spend eternity praising Christ for ransoming us (e.g., Rev 5:9), we’ll certainly remember our sinful condition from which we’ve been ransomed. And those memories will yield feelings of regret.
It is inconceivable to me that we will remember our sin for what it really was, and the suffering of Christ for what it really was, and not feel regretful joy. . . . It does mean that regret will not ruin heaven. There will be kinds of joys, and complexities of happiness, and combinations of emotions in heaven of which we have never dreamed. (20)
Piper feels some tension leading him to speak in terms of “regretful joy.” He addresses Revelation 21:4, but concludes that he doesn’t think that it “rules out tears of joy” or “regretful joy.”
I’m having trouble being convinced. Regret is defined as “a feeling of sorrow, repentance, or disappointment” (Concise OED), “a sense of repentance, guilt, or sorrow, as over some wrong done or an unfulfilled ambition” or “a sense of loss or grief” (Collins English Dictionary), and “sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one’s control or power to repair” or “an expression of distressing emotion (as sorrow or disappointment)” (Merriam-Webster’s).
Revelation 21:4 speaks of the permanent removal of mourning (πένθος), crying (κραυγὴ), and pain (πόνος). BDAG defines πένθος as “sorrow as experience or expression, grief, sadness, mourning” (795), κραυγὴ as “outcry in grief or anxiety, wailing, crying” (565), and πόνος as “experience of great trouble, pain, distress, affliction” (852). It’s clear from a passage like Isaiah 65:14 that πόνος can refer to emotional pain (πόνον τῆς καρδίας) as well.
I struggle to see how the elimination of these leaves room for genuine regret (i.e., sorrow, disappointment, grief, guilt, distress). But since Piper never defines regret or “joyful regret,” it’s hard for me to know exactly what he has in mind. I’m really having a difficult time getting my mind around the concept of “joyful regret.” And if our praise of Christ for His work of ransoming us will be unceasing, and that praise requires that we remember our sin, then it would seem that our regret would be as constant as our praise.
Is it even right for believers to feel regret when recalling past sin? If it is right, should we do it intentionally? In other words, should we try to conjure up feelings of regret? Should we do so frequently? Or does genuine confession and faith in the work of Christ—and confidence in the sovereignty of God—put regret away permanently and give place to unceasing joy so that whenever our minds recall past sin we turn immediately to the cross? Is regret something to strive for or against? Or is it more like a necessary evil of sorts?
What are your thoughts? Will regret be part of the ongoing experience of the redeemed when God makes all things new?
calling Piper on semantics and word definitions? unbelievable.
According to your review, for Piper’s “regretful joy” to work, redemption-based rejoicing must include the memory of sin. I don’t think that’s necessary. Under the New Covenant, God promises not to remember sin any longer (Jer. 31.34). It seems that in Scripture, God’s remembering involves more than simply intellectual possession of facts, but a deliberate response to those facts. If God promises that He won’t remember (respond to) forgiven sins, should we insist that rejoicing requires us to remember our sin and to respond emotionally to it? Respond to forgiveness, yes! To our security, of course! To our position in the Beloved, absolutely! To God Himself, without a doubt! But does joy require us to focus on sin? Not that I’m aware of. I see great joy over the destruction of sin’s dominion (I Cor. 15.55-57), our repentance from sin (Lk. 15.7, 10) and the Savior’s triumphant atonement for sin (Col. 2.13-15). In Revelation itself, the worship centers on who the Lamb is and what He has done – not what the worshipers formerly did (Rev. 4, 5, 7, 11, 19). We can rejoice in God’s judgment of sin without dwelling on the details of the sins we committed. I strongly suspect that the glory of God’s character is infinite enough that we can spend eternity rejoicing in it – we will see the brilliance of light without needing a dark background (Rev. 21.23).
Piper has a point. We will look to the One who is worthy and worship him on the basis of his worthiness. And we will worship the redeemer and rejoice in his gracious redemption. Inherent in that is an acknowledgment of one’s own unworthiness and need of redemption. Will we forget why we are unworthy (our sin) and from what we were redeemed? If we will not forget that, then we would surely have to regret; for not regretting a rebellion against God would in itself be immoral.
However, the focus will surely be on the redeemer. In the same way, Paul tells us to remember our past condition in order to fully appreciate the grace we have in Christ (Ephesians 2.11)—and in that teaching there is no sense of focusing on past sin or conjuring up regret.
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” 2 Cor 7:10
My experience has been that genuine repentance over my own sin and a deeper revelation of the mercy of God and His love for me demonstrated on the cross produces joy in God without any regret. He removes our sin and shame and brings us from glory to glory as we behold him.
When I have regret over past sin it usually turns out to be that I truly haven’t brought it to the cross. Also, often I think our regret is an inverted form of pride. “I should have done better or be more Christ like by now.”
You pose a very interesting question. You would think in heaven there would be nothing but positive things, and something like regret would not be in heaven. But in the afterlife we will remember everything. We will remember our family, friends and everything we have done. If there is regret in heaven, the love that Jesus has for us will over power it. It is God’s love that draws us to repentance. —Richard
“By and by, when I look on his face, I’ll wish I had given him more”
The song these words are from is in many old hymn books. But hymnology does not always equal good theology.
John Piper’s preaching does my heart immense good, but there are occasions when some of his writing leaves me with a ‘rushed to print’ feeling. Maybe this is one such case.
I have heard the ‘no regret in heaven’ discussion before, and I think it is still an unsettled question in my mind. The verses I have heard used in the past to defend the position are Ecc. 1 v.11 and Ps. 9 v.6. However, I believe using them to support the present matter is to take them out of context.
I think I look to another hymn writer to set my impression of heaven; ‘Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.’
Thanks for all the comments, guys. Some helpful thoughts.