Identity in Heaven?

[Bladesinger]

I've been wondering to what extent—if at all—personal identity exists in Heaven. What I mean by this is when we arrive at Heaven, will we be able to recognize each other as who we were on Earth? I feel like the answer is no. I also remember being told by my mom years ago that marriage doesn't exist in heaven—as in, a couple who was married on Earth would not be married in Heaven. If Heaven is eternal life with God, and we will be praising Him for all eternity, is identity necessary? Are there any passages of scripture that elucidate this?

It comes to mind because a man from church, only a few years older than me, took his life a couple of weeks ago (TOTAL shock). At the service, I heard people say "We'll see him again in Heaven." But that made me think about whether or not that was really true—while of course our individual souls ascend to Heaven, will we be really be able to identify each other? Will we even care?

Thanks for any insight.

[Nicene Nerd]

There is quite literally no reason at all to think we even might lose our personal identities in "heaven."

But first, what do you mean by "heaven?"

Do you mean where we temporarily go after we die, without body or senses?

Or do  you mean the New Earth on which we will physically live after the resurrection for all eternity? Bear in mind that, in the end, we will spend eternity in the same physical bodies we have no, only renewed. So why not the same mind/soul/consciousness?

But it is correct to say that there will be no marriage in the age to come (Matt. 22:30 answers the question rather directly).

[Bladesinger]

I'm speaking of the new Earth. I didn't realize we'd have the same bodies! I always assumed only our spirits would go on to live with God. I guess I wasn't reading closely enough! That's really cool and makes sense now that I think about it. Thanks for your answer.

[Nicene Nerd]

12 hours ago, Bladesinger said:

I'm speaking of the new Earth. I didn't realize we'd have the same bodies! I always assumed only our spirits would go on to live with God. I guess I wasn't reading closely enough! That's really cool and makes sense now that I think about it. Thanks for your answer.

Sadly, the heretical view that only our spirits or souls experience eternal life is a common misconception these days. But the New Testament really only talks about the resurrection of the body. It only mentions our disembodied state between death and resurrection in passing once or twice. The paradigm for our future is what happened to Christ. He died and rose in the same body with the same identity, and what the New Testament promises is that, because we are united to Christ by His Spirit, what happened to Him will also happen to us.

Coming to realize this more clearly is one of the most interesting and exciting things that happened to me in Biblical study.

[Arlene]

I think that we will look young and we will be able to recognize them because in heaven we will know everything so if we do we know who everyone is and we will be able to know who is who and if we knew them on earth

Edited September 2, 2017 by Arlene

[gregoryroberts]

Yes, I think that Arlene is right. I think that everyone will look like they were at the last moment of their life or we will look like at the best time of our life

Edited November 8, 2017 by gregoryroberts

[Roselyn Dyke]

this is similar to what i think too. spiritually we are all brothers and sisters in Christ so therefore we are all related. Also the main reason of husbands and wives was for re population and god doesn't want us to be alone on earth because we all have feelings and need to have a best friend we can talk to that is why we have marrage.