In this episode, Pastor Tim explains why cremation is not faithful to Scripture and why Christians have always buried their dead. This can be a controversial subject so clear, biblical principles must be used to come to our conclusions.
Recommended Resources
Burial or Cremation: Does it Matter? By Daniel Howard https://www.fairviewbaptistchurch.ca/preparing-for-a-funeral-service/ https://christoverall.com/article/concise/christ-is-lord-over-death-a-case-for-burial-over-cremation/
Transcript
Pastor Tim, we have an interesting question to consider today. Is there a biblical argument for burial over cremation? Cremation has become way more popular today. And so is there a biblically right way to think about that or to do it?
Pastor Tim:
Yeah, it’s a question that I get quite often just because a person doesn’t want to burden their own family, and cremation is cheaper and it seems to be more popular. And people wonder, “Well, I’m already dead. I’m already with the Lord, so it’s just my body. It can’t really be that important.” And of course, there are people who say, “Well, the Bible neither explicitly commands burial nor condemns cremation.” And so it’s seen as an issue that is just a matter of personal preference.
But what I want to do is just give some biblical principles to see that burial is actually traditional for a reason, and it’s traditionally Christian for a reason. And so let me give you three principles.
Number one, burial is the biblical practice and there is no other practice. It’s the pattern throughout Scripture. Think about the patriarchs. Abraham went and bought a field to bury his wife in. And so you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all getting buried. You have Joseph in Egypt. It was a big deal for him to have his bones brought to the promised land and buried there with his fathers. David is buried with the kings, in the tombs of the kings. So this is all throughout the Old Testament. You see this emphasis on burial.
And of course when you come to the life of Jesus, he’s buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. His body is anointed. It’s a complete custom when it comes to burial. Stephen, after Christ the first martyr, is also given a proper burial by those who knew him and loved him. So we just see the pattern from beginning to end, all throughout, is burial.
The references that we do see of people being burned in Scripture, and bodies being burned in Scripture, are always associated with God’s judgment. For instance, when Achan was found with the idol after that city was supposed to be devoted to destruction, he and his entire family were judged by God with fire. It says that in Joshua 7:25. In Leviticus 20:14 it says, “If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity. He and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you.” The same thing was true in Leviticus 21:9 for a daughter of a priest who had prostituted herself. And so this was an egregious sin. And I believe that the burning of the body with fire was to show God’s displeasure, God’s judgment, and the purging away of the evil within the camp of Israel. And so those are the cases where you have burning of bodies in Scripture. And so the connotation is God’s judgment, whereas the connotation of burial is rest.
And so when David is buried in 1 Kings 2:10 it says, “David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.” In fact, the word “cemetery” comes to us from the Greek language and it means literally “sleeping place” or “dormitory.” And so this is what Christians have viewed, God’s people have always viewed, in terms of resting in the Lord. And so you rest in burial. So this is the practice throughout. There is no other practice.
The second principle is that the biblical practice of burial is actually a sign of honoring the dead. There’s a reason why burial was practiced, and it was a way that you could honor the dead.
There’s an interesting story in terms of this discussion about cremation and burial when it comes to Saul, because in 1 Samuel 31 it mentions Saul and his body being taken back from the Philistines by the men of Jabesh-gilead. And it says they burn his body and then they bury his bones. And it’s really curious, because is that cremation then if they’re burying his bones after they burn him? But what you see in other parts of Scripture helps us make sense of that. Like in 2 Chronicles 16:14 it talks about when a king of Israel died, they would make this huge fire with all this incense, and the body would be nearby and would be consumed with this incense. It was a burial rite, a ritual, almost like a funeral procession that would anoint that body with the smoke of that sacrifice.
And so when Saul dies in disgrace, they take his body, they give him a proper burial. And then later in 2 Samuel, David actually commends the men of Jabesh-gilead. So in 2 Samuel 2:5 it says, “David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, ‘May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.’” In other words, you honored the memory of Saul. Saul wasn’t going to be remembered by how he turned against David and brought the kingdom to ruin. No, he’s going to be honored as one of God’s kings.
And then in 2 Samuel 21, David takes Saul’s bones—they had buried him under a tree—but he took his bones along with Jonathan’s bones, Saul’s son, and he buried them in the tomb of his father Kish. And this was an act of David honoring Saul. And the whole context of 2 Samuel 21 is in the midst of a three-year famine as God was judging the people. And so when David did this act of honor toward Saul, God was pleased with this and relented from this famine and restored the health back to the land. And so we see here how burial is honoring the memory of those who have gone and honoring them in their death.
The same thing is true with Jesus. You think of when he was anointed and Judas took exception about the lavish nature of that ointment that was put on Jesus. And Jesus rebukes Judas and says, “No, she’s prepared me for burial. She’s done this honorable thing.” And then we have after he died, Joseph of Arimathea puts his own life at risk by asking for the body of Jesus. Nicodemus is there. It says in John 19 that he bought 75 pounds of perfumes and spices to honor the body of Jesus. And it mentions in John 19:40, “as is the burial custom of the Jews.” And so this was a way they would honor the Lord and honor the body of the Lord. And this was their custom.
And so for someone not to be buried, to be left out there just to be consumed by the elements or the wild animals, was a sign of dishonor. Think of Jezebel, what happened to her—dogs eating her flesh. Deuteronomy speaks about how it curses the one who hangs on the tree. And while that text is applied to Christ because the curse of the law was upon him, the text continues and talks about, “Don’t let the sun go down while someone’s still hanging on a tree, but rather give them a proper burial. Otherwise the land would be dishonored and defiled.” And so burial itself is an honorable way to treat someone who’s deceased. And we see that pattern throughout Scripture. So that’s the second principle. It’s an act of honor.
The third thing is burial is a practice of showing the hope of resurrection. So it’s not just to honor someone and honor their memory, but burial is also a foreshadow of the resurrection to come.
Jesus used metaphors all the time, and one of the metaphors he used was like a seed. You have a flower or plant that goes as a seed, and then that seed dies. It falls to the ground, but then it comes into a new plant, and there’s life there from that death. And so that metaphor of a seed going into the ground and resurrecting is a metaphor that’s used throughout Scripture. And burial portrays that hope of resurrection.
So in 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 42, it says, “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable”—speaking about our body—“what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.” So burial pictures that death and then the coming resurrection that we hope in.
At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul mentions the gospel there and he says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” So the gospel talks about the death of Christ, his burial, and then his resurrection. And so likewise as believers, as we die in the Lord, as we’re buried, it’s like we’re portraying that gospel. We’re united with Christ in our life. We have now died in Christ. We are now buried with him. And now we long for and wait for his return and for that coming resurrection. And so burial is that anticipation of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So for these three reasons—it’s a biblical custom, it honors the dead, it anticipates the resurrection—this is why burial over cremation ought to be the choice for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Host:
So do you have then any practical advice for people thinking through their own or family members’ burial?
Pastor Tim:
Yeah, I would say people need to settle their convictions with the Bible before they see the bill. When it comes to the cost of burial versus cremation, people ask, “Well, yeah, burial might be best. It might be the biblical custom, but is it wrong to cremate? Is it a sin to cremate?” And I really think that’s the wrong question. Obviously, if someone is cremated, the Lord can resurrect them. Someone’s body perishes in a fire, they die in the sea—the Lord can raise that body. So it’s not a matter of is the Lord able to raise them or not, but it’s a matter of what’s best, what pictures the gospel, what honors that person, what is pleasing to the Lord. Those are the questions that we should be asking.
And then we should realize that all of our practices stem from a certain world and life view. So cremation has been practiced in cultures like Eastern religions that believe in reincarnation. Burial is practiced in cultures that believe in resurrection. You think of the Roman Empire. The practice of cremation was popular in pagan Rome until Christianity spread and gained prominence in the empire. And then you have burial as the custom across the Roman Empire. And so the history of Christianity can be seen in the cemeteries around the world where you see the earliest cemeteries. That’s when the Christian gospel began, because they would honor their dead while waiting for the hope of Christ’s resurrection. So I think you have to settle this with the Scriptures before you make an overly pragmatic decision just about cost. Think about what is pleasing.
The second thing I would say, and it’s related to cost, is plan in advance and consider your options for burial. There are, you know, in the city of Calgary where we’re in, not every cemetery or funeral home is going to charge the same. They’ll have different options whether that’s for caskets, for tombstones, things like that. There’s things like green burials that don’t use embalming that might offer lower cost options. There’s going to a cemetery a little bit more outside of the city or in a neighboring community. So there’s different options, and someone can evaluate and try to think of something that would be a good steward of the resources, the money that God has given to them, but still be committed to this Christian practice of burying.
I would also say that when you’re planning your end of life and burial and thinking about these things, it’s helpful to think about how your death will bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel, and how the arrangements that you’re making are going to teach your loved ones who grieve, missing you, and the generation following, that you do have that hope in the resurrection and the gospel of Christ.
And the third thing I’d say by practical advice is lean into your church. I know at our church we have several individuals who are willing to offer their time to put flowers together. We have the ladies in the church that provide the food for the reception after a funeral. We provide our facility and our services as pastors free of charge for funerals. We’ll print out programs. We’ll do everything we can to reduce the cost so that the emphasis is honoring the person who has died and being pleasing to our Lord.