As a pastor, I have been asked more than once, “What does the Bible say about cremation?” I recently decided to put together a formal teaching series on cremation, and this is a brief excerpt from those lessons.
The Scriptures teach us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), which also applies to our bodies after we die. Deciding how to deal with our own bodies and the bodies of our loved ones who have gone on to be with the Lord can be difficult, especially when we consider the significant difference in the cost of cremation vs. burial and the fact that more and more people are being cremated. The NFDA cites that cremations have risen to 53% in 2018 and will soar to 78% by 2040. That is a tremendous increase, especially when recognizing that cremation rates were only about 4% in 1970.
Cremation is not a recent practice. It existed during both the Neolithic period (5500 B.C.) and Bronze age (3000 B.C.). Ancient motivations for this disposal of the body include a prohibition of allowing the spirit to return to the body, a hinderance of witchcraft from being performed on an individual, and a purification of the body and cleansing of the soul in preparation for reincarnation.
Let us reflect upon some Biblical principles that relate directly to whether one should cremate or not. First, consider that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26-27), which includes both body and spirit (Gen 2:7). Therefore, even after death, the body is not just an empty “shell,” but in some way is still associated with the individual. The way we treat the body should resemble our recognition that it is part of that which was created in God’s image.
The importance of burial as a Biblical precept can be perceived from several examples including Abraham’s burial at Machpelah (Gen 23), and the desire of Abraham’s descendants to be buried in their homeland with their ancestors (Gen 49:2; 2 Sam 19; Neh 2). When God disposed of bodies, He did so through burial (Deut 34:4-5; Matt 27), and prophetically Christ was buried in accordance with the Scriptures (is 53:9; 1 Cor 15:3-4). Further, the Mosaic law dictates that failure to bury a body would bring a curse upon the land (Deut 21:23).
In the Old Testament, cremation was viewed negatively, being practiced with involvement in human sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10), as a special punishment for individuals like Achan (Lev 10; Num 16; Josh 6-7), and in desecrating altars of the dead (Numb 19; 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23). The examples of cremation in 1 Samuel 31 and possibly Amos 6 would best be described as general exceptions to the rule. The closest condemnation of practicing cremation is found In Amos 2. The text communicates that Moab’s King burned the bones of Edom’s king to ash, and this was perceived as a transgression by God probably because it desecrated the body (Amos 2:1-2).
The Early Church, which existed during a time when cremation was commonly practiced in the Roman Empire, rejected cremation. Consider what the Church Historian Philip Schaff writes:
The primitive Christians always showed a tender care for the dead; under a vivid impression of the unbroken communion of saints and the future resurrection of the body in glory. For Christianity redeems the body as well as the soul, and consecrates it a temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence the Greek and Roman custom of burning the corpse (crematio) was repugnant to Christian feeling and the sacredness of the body. Tertullian even declared it a symbol of the fire of hell, and Cyprian regarded it as equivalent to apostasy. (Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 383)
Cremation was phased out as Christianity became more prevalent in the empire and was finally outlawed by Charlemagne in 789 AD.
The most powerful argument for burial and against cremation lies in the symbolism of the resurrection (John 2:19-20; John 5:28-29; Phil 3:20-21; 1 Cor 15:44). The burial of a loved one is a lasting testimony to the world of our great hope. One day when Jesus returns our very body will hear the cry of command and gloriously rise from the grave to be joined with our soul and meet the Lord in the air (1 Thes 3:14-18).
Often, Jesus and the disciples spoke of death as sleep to signify its temporal nature (Luke 8:52), hence comes the phrase “rest in peace” (Is 57:2). This idea is also most consistently pictured in the practice of burial as opposed to cremation. The question is never “can God put together the ashes of our loved ones at the resurrection if they are cremated,” which of course He can, but rather “how can I honor God and communicate the hope of the resurrection in the way I dispose of my body.”
This body in the grave we lay.
There to await that solemn Day
When God Himself shall bid it rise
To mount triumphant to the skies.
And so to earth we now entrust
What came from dust and turns to dust,
And from dust shall rise that Day
In glorious triumph o’er decay. (Michael Weisse)