Conservatives like John Davis, Rod Decker, and Norman Geisler all agree that even though the Scriptures do not explicitly forbid cremation, burial should still be the Christian method of laying to rest our loved ones. The overall pattern of Scripture is interment. G. Campbell Morgan favored cremation. I had one colleague who was a conservative biblical scholar who was cremated. There are obviously differences of opinion on this subject. Let’s define some pertinent words for our study.
I. Keys Terms for the Discussion of Cremation
Barrow: A mound of earth marking a grave
Bury: To deposit or inter a corpse in a grave such as the ground, tomb, or cave
Cairn: A pile of stones marking a grave
CANA: The Cremation Association of North America was founded in 1913 and made up of cemeteries, cremationists, and funeral directors who believe that cremation is preparation for memorialization www.cremationassociation.org
Columbarium: A vault with niches for urns containing ashes of the dead
Cremains: The ashes left after the cremation
Cremation: To dispose of a corpse by means of fire. Cremation is not another form of burying as argued by advocates of cremation
Crematory or Crematorium: A furnace or establishment for cremating corpses
Crypt: a chamber or vault underground
Exhumation To remove a corpse from the grave
Inhumation To bury a corpse in the ground
Mummification or desiccation: The opposite of cremation where the corpse is preserved for millennia
Necroplis: A large elaborate cemetery of an ancient city
Ossuary: A container for the bones of the dead
Pyre: A heap of combustibles for the burning of a corpse
Undertaker or mortician: Relatively new development since the late 19th century to assist families in burying their dead
Urn: A vase for storing cremains. You can now get designer urns in which elements of a loved one's cremains are mixed with clay and glazed to create a piece of lovely pottery
II. Non-biblical Arguments for and against Cremation as a Christian Option
We want to first address non-biblical arguments for and against cremation before we discuss biblical arguments for and against cremation.
A. Non-biblical Arguments for Cremation
1. Cremation makes better use of land
William E. Phipps, a professor of religion at Davis and Elkin College, supports cremation as a Christian practice: “As land becomes more scarce, cremation is more widely endorsed” (“The Consuming Fire for Corpses,” The Christian Century, March 1981, 222). Environmentalists argue also that ecologically, cremation is more environmentally responsible. No metal parts from the casket are left in the earth and no embalming fluids are leaked into the earth.
2. Cremation is cheaper
“The scarcity of land, with the accompanying higher cost of burial plots, is only one reason for the increasing acceptance of cremation” (Phipps, 221).
3. Cremation speeds the process and is more therapeutic
“The realistic person discerns that the only option for mortals is that of either rapid or slow return to dust after death. Clean incineration which quickly reduces the body of the deceased to its component elements can be therapeutic for mourners by expressing the final severance of the physical bond” (Phipps, 222).
B. Non-biblical Arguments against Cremation
1. Land is still available in America
“Over 1,000 people can be buried in just one acre of land. Another option includes using or reusing above-ground crypts” (Norman Geisler and Douglas Potter, “Ashes to Ashes,” Christian Research Journal, 33). Ecologically, cremation is not perfectly “green” because of the fossil fuels used.
2. Direct burial is a cheaper alternative to cremation
The corpse is placed in a simple container with no viewing or funeral service to pay for. However “Economic considerations should not be valued more highly than ethical considerations---eternal values are ultimately more significant than economic values” (Hank Hanegraaff, Resurrection, Nashville: Nelson, 2000, 130).
3. Burial is more therapeutic for some
“Determining the nature and process of successful grief therapy is a difficult one, indeed. Much of the therapeutic value of any funerary ritual depends on cultural conditioning, prior understanding of the death experience, the circumstances of the death itself, the relationship to the deceased, and the emotional make-up of the survivors” (John Davis, What About Cremation, Winona Lake: BMH, 1989, 79-80).
III. Biblical Arguments For and Against Cremation
A. Biblical Arguments for Cremation
1. “There are numerous references to cremations in the Hebrew Bible” (Stephen Prothero, Purified by Fire, Berkeley: Univ. of California, 2001, 6).
He cites Isa 30:33 and four more in an endnote. Thomas Constable’s interpretation disagrees that this is a defense of cremation: “When the OT speaks of burning bodies it is taken as a sign of vengeance or degradation (cf. 1 Sam 31:12; Amos 6:10; Lev 20:14; 21:9; Josh 7:25; ISBE 1:812; IDB 1:475).”
2. The body is valuable only while living
“The allegedly preserved body is a Promethean [creative] rejection of Isaiah’s judgment that ‘all flesh is grass’ and Paul’s claim that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.’ On the other hand, a memorial worship service after cremation sets the transitoriness of the physical in bold relief against the everlastingness of the spiritual. The ‘consuming fire’ has transformed but not destroyed the essential self of the person honored at the service” (Phipps, 222).
3. Fire in Scripture symbolizes good to Jews and Believers
“In biblical times fire was often regarded as symbolic of the divine presence, so it was appropriate to feature fire in sacred ceremonies. God was represented by a flaming torch in an encounter with Abraham, and at Mt. Sinai ‘the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire’ (Exodus 24:17)” (Phipps, 221).
4. There is no physical resurrection of the dead, therefore what happens to the body after death is not important
“Paul did not believe that the residual dust in a tomb would be the substance of a new heavenly organism. When the apostle writes about ‘the resurrection of the dead,’ he does not mean the reassembling and the reanimation of the corpse. The expression ‘spiritual body’ (1 Cor. 15:44) which he uses does not refer to the physical skeleton and the flesh that hangs on it. Rather, in modern terminology, it means the self or the personality. Paul’s view is fully compatible with body disposal by cremation. Contrariwise, those who adamantly advocate earth burial because it enhances bodily resurrection have a weak New Testament foundation on which to stand” (William E. Phipps. Cremation Concerns, Springfield, IL. Charles C. Thomas, 1989, 55).
B. Biblical Arguments against Cremation
1. There are only three instances of cremation in the Hebrew Bible
(There is additional Old Testament material, such as the prohibition of cremation and prescriptive passages declaring cremation a punishment for heinous sins. Here are the three cases of cremation in the Hebrew Bible).
a. The first case of cremation in the Hebrew Bible is a favorable account of the cremation of King Saul and his sons in 1st Samuel 31:8-13.
There is a chiasm in 1st Samuel 28-31. Saul’s last night is in ch. 28 and his last day is in ch. 31. The people of Jabesh Gilead cremate the mutilated bodies that were in the last stages of decomposition. Phipps says “The Israelites generally buried their dead, but the bodies of their first royalty, Saul and his sons, were honored by cremation after death in battle” (“The Consuming Fire for Corpses,” Christian Century, 221). The honor was not in exposing the mutilation performed by the Philistines. King David later praised the people of Jabesh Gilead for their kindness (2 Samuel 2:5). The bones of Saul and his sons were later buried in the family tomb (2 Samuel 21:11-14). The first case of cremation in the Hebrew Bible discloses a special case where the atrocities of war present situations that are different from normal life.
b. The second case of cremation in the Hebrew Bible is the judgment of fire as a punishment for cremation in Amos 2.
This was not a special circumstance like Saul and his sons but perhaps tomb desecration. “This is as close as the Bible gets to condemning the act of cremation …. One must be careful not to transfer inappropriately what was perhaps a deliberate war atrocity to normal funeral practice. The point of the text is significant in this regard, but it is not legitimate to cite this as a proof text which forbids cremation in all situations” (Rodney J. Decker. Is it Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture. (click to open) The William R. Rice Lectures at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, March 15, 2006, 7). John Davis quotes James Fraser making this mistake, “if there is any verse in the Bible that positively emphasizes God’s disapproval of the burning of human bodies, it is this” (John Davis, 68).
c. The third case of cremation in the Hebrew Bible is another wartime special circumstance in Amos 6:9-12
“This passage, like the account of Saul and his sons, represents unusual circumstances in which simple inhumation was not possible or was hygienically unwise” (Davis, 69). “In the carnage of war, normal burial is not always possible, especially when the number of casualties is high. There is one biblical passage that shows a contrast here. In the prophecy of Ezekiel 39 (Gog and Magog) massive causalities will be buried, not burned. The weapons will be burned, but the text describes a period of seven months during which the land is searched for human bones which are then marked and later buried. This contrasts with the picture of Amos 6 in that the bodies are not in a limited area (the city), but scattered across a large geographical area and have been picked clean by birds and animals” (Decker, 8).
Here are my conclusions from the three cases of cremation in the Hebrew Bible
1) There are only three. Cremation, therefore, was not the common practice of deposing bodies in the Old Testament.
2) Cremations were allowed only in exceptional cases.
3) There are no New Testament cases of cremation.
2. The human body is sacred while living or dead
a. Creation by God includes the physical body (Gen. 2:7)
God not only created the first physical body but God created the body before He created the soul. Man is both material and immaterial. Other verses on the dual nature of man: 1 Cor .7:34; 2 Cor. 4:16; 7:1; Rom. 8:10. When God was finished with His creation He declared “It is very good” (Gen 1:31). Our bodies are gifts from God (1 Cor 6:19-20). Incipient Gnosticism in the first century viewed the body as evil (Col 2:9). Man is complete only when he is both material and immaterial or the future resurrection would not be necessary. “Burial preserves the Christian belief in the sanctity of the body” (Geisler, 34).
b. Salvation by God includes both redemptions of the soul and the body
The body of the believer will be redeemed at the resurrection (Rom 8:23). Our bodies belong to the Lord (1 Cor 6:13), are members of the Lord’s body (1 Cor 6:14-15), and are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20). “Though not technically indwelt after death, if the body is a member of Christ due, in part to the resurrection, then the body is still, somehow, united to Christ” (Decker, 19).
c. Separation of soul and body at death by God means man is incomplete until reunited at the resurrection
The soul at death is “naked” until clothed with his resurrected body or “house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor 5:1-4). These verses have at least three different views: the future resurrected body, the temporary body (Chafer, Systematic Theology, 4:414-15), and the resurrected glorified body at death (Murray Harris, Raised Immortal, 98-100) who holds to a monistic anthropology which includes an immediate resurrection at death.
At death, the corpse in the grave is referred to as a person in the New Testament. The dead body of Jesus in Mark 15:44-47 is referred to as “him” not “it.” Dead Lazarus in the tomb was addressed by Jesus as “Lazarus” not “Dead corpse, come forth” in John 11:43. “His soul was not in the tomb; it was the body that had lain in the tomb four days” (Decker, 21).
Conclusion: Death is not the end of a person’s existence as materialists believe, but there is a connection and continuity between the soul and the body of each person or a future resurrection would not be a necessity.
3. Fire in the Scriptures represents God’s judgment in relation to the body
Fire does represent well in some instances like Abraham (Gen 15) and Mt. Sinai (Ex 24). Fire more often represents God’s judgment in relation to physical bodies.
God directly judged with fire Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2); Korah (Num 16:1-38); Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19:24).
God prescribed cremation as capital punishment in Lev 20:14 and 21:9.
God forbad cremation in human sacrifice in Lev 18:21 (Fire used in a negative sense).
Fire is one of the eternal punishments for the unsaved who die without Christ (Mt. 25:41: Rev 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:10, 14). Conclusion: Fire when associated with human bodies in Scripture cannot be used to justify cremation because of its negative connotation.
4. The physical resurrection of the body places importance on how the body is treated after death
Jesus affirmed that all would one day be raised physically from the grave in John 5:28. This statement shows again the common practice of burying the dead. This statement also reveals that the resurrection is a physical resurrection. This statement signifies the importance of the physical body. God is going to raise every person’s body at some point in the future. He is not finished with our bodies.
Paul answers questions concerning the nature of the resurrected body (1 Cor 15:35-58). Paul does not explain how the body will be raised, he only provides an example (1 Cor 15:36). Paul does explain what the resurrection body will be like.
The resurrection body will be different from our present mortal body (1 Cor 15:37). This answers the question raised by The Providence Journal article: “Who ate Roger Williams?” When his [Roger Williams] remains were exhumed, it was found that one large root of an apple tree followed the spine, divided at the thighs, and turned up at the toes of Roger Williams. More than one person had eaten its apples. This root may be seen today in the cabinet of Bronw University”(A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1019).
The resurrection body will be similar to our present body (1 Cor 15:38-50). Just as there is an organic connection between the seed sown and the plant, there is a connection between the “natural body” and the “spiritual body” (15:42-44). The “spiritual body” is still material just like the “spiritual meat” and the “spiritual drink” Israel consumed in the wilderness was material though supernaturally supplied by God in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.
Conclusion: The resurrection body is physical and at the same time similar but different from the body that is buried. Therefore the way the person is buried is important. Burial by interment shows the significance of the physical body and the organic continuity between the “natural body” and the “spiritual body.” Here is an appropriate application for pastoral ministry by Decker:
In an effort to comfort those mourning the loss of a loved one, we have too often adopted terminology that does not reflect a biblical view of resurrection or a full-orbed, biblical view of the human person. When we say, referring to a body lying in a casket, “This is not really Joe, it’s just his body; the real Joe is in heaven with Jesus,” we have not made a full biblical statement. It is certainly true that Joe is in heaven with Jesus (assuming Joe was a Christian), but we have implied that the body in the casket is no longer important. More significantly, we have divorced the body from the person; it was only a disposable possession. That corpse is certainly nonfunctional now that it has been separated from the immaterial, but it is still an integral part of the person, else there would be no point in a resurrection. If the spirit was the real person, there would be no further need for a body, or, if a body were desired, it could be created with no reference to the original body. God, however, has said that our mortal bodies will be resurrected and glorified” (Decker, 24).
IV. Conclusion
While cremation is not strictly forbidden in Scripture, it is clearly not the pattern.
When practiced in the Old Testament, cremation was the exception as in war and in both cases, the wars were because of disobedience. The war at Mt. Gilboa (1 Sam 31) was the result of King Saul’s disobedience and the war predicted in Amos 6 would be the result of Israel’s disobedience. Even in the two exceptions where cremation was not performed in a negative sense, disobedience was a factor.
Cremation in the Old Testament was either mentioned as a sin that pagan nations practiced which Israel was not to emulate
Or as capital punishment for, particularly offensive sins. All of the references to cremation in the Old Testament could therefore be said to be negative, which does not establish a positive precedent for disposing of the dead.
On the other hand, burial has more favorable theological implications.
It is stated in Jesus’ teaching that the dead will resurrect from graves (John 5:28).
Paul connects “the natural body” that is sown in the grave with “the spiritual body” that is raised in his agricultural illustration in 1 Corinthian 15. This analogy is better reflected in burial where the natural body is planted in the ground and the glorified body is raised.
Both Jesus (John 11) and Paul (1 Thess 4) describe death as “sleep” which burial better depicts. When someone died it was the custom to close their eyes because death is like sleep and people do not sleep with their eyes open. “Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes” (Gen 46:4).
Jesus’ only direct statement about burial, “Let the dead bury the dead” (Luke 9:60), also reflected the common practice of his day. The early church as well-practiced interment. “For the most part, the early church practiced inhumation and rigorously opposed cremation. Prompt burials followed death and a special memorial service was conducted on the third day following the believer’s death. The choice of the third day was a means of reaffirming belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the ultimate resurrection of all believers” (Davis, p. 32). Also, burial gives more honor to the body that God created and will resurrect than burning and grinding the remains.
God’s preference for burial is seen in two cases.
God directly acted as funeral director only once when “He buried him [Moses]” in Dt. 34:1-6.
The second time God revealed His preference was when He ordained that Christ be buried in Isaiah 53:9.
Since cremation is advocated by either theological liberals (William Phipps) or nonchristian religions (Hinduism and Buddhism) and nonchristian philosophies (naturalistic atheism and environmental greenism) true believers should not follow their lead.
Is cremation a Christian option? The RCC changed its position of forbidding cremation, which it held since 1886, to allow it at the Second Vatican in 1963. The RCC “now allows cremated remains to be buried in consecrated ground, unless the desire for cremation was based on a denial of Christian dogma” (Kenneth V. Iserson. Death to Dust. What Happens to Dead Bodies? Tucson: Galen Press, 1994, 258). Decker takes the position of an “active discouragement” position. In some situations, cremation could well be considered a sin if done as an act of defiance to God---but that is not a typical Christian motive (Decker, 37).
My position on cremation is to recommend burial as a Christian practice because of the stated reasons, which should be taught to local congregations so they can make more Biblically informed decisions, but also to state that there might be exceptions when burial is not possible.
Bibliography
Davis, John J. What About Cremation? A Christian Perspective. Winona Lade, Ind.: BMH, 1989.
Decker, Rodney J. Is it Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture. The William R. Rice Lectures at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, March 15, 2006.
Fraser, James W. Cremation: Is It Christian? Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, 1965.
Geisler, Norman and Douglas Porter. “From Ashes to Ashes: Is Burial the Only Christian Option?” Christian Research Journal (July 1998) 29-35.
George, Timothy. “Cremation Confusion.” Christianity Today, 5 May 2002,
Hanegraaff, Hank. Resurrection. Nashville: Nelson, 2000.
Irion, Paul E. Cremation. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1968.
Iserson, Kenneth V. Death to Dust. What Happens to Dead Bodies? Tucson: Galen Press, 1994.
Phipps, Williams E. “The Consuming Fire for Corpses,” The Christian Century, March 1981.
_____. Cremation Concerns. Springfield: Thomas, 1989.
Prothero, Stephen. Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America. Berkeley: University of California, 2001.
Strong, A. H. Systematic Theology. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1907.