What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?

Quick Synopsis of This Article

The Bible does not ban or endorse cremation

Joshua 7:25 (GW) – Then Joshua said, “Why did you bring this disaster on us? The LORD will bring disaster on you today!” And all Israel stoned Achan and his family to death. Then they burned the bodies and piled stones over them.

1 Samuel 31:11-12 (TLB) – But when the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done, 12 warriors from that town traveled all night to Beth-shan and took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall and brought them to Jabesh, where they cremated them.

Cremation does not impact the resurrection

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17a (NIV) – For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

Church tradition, not the Bible, banned it early on

Cremation is a cultural issue, not a spiritual one
Cremation is not a sin, it’s a choice

Questions to guide me when it comes to cremation:

What is best for my family?
Is the Bible my authority, or is it something else?
If God is big enough to handle the details of resurrection, then why not trust Him with the details of my life?

Things to Discuss

What did you learn about what the Bible says about cremation?
Why do you think people so easily accept what other people say instead of what the Bible says?
What would make it easier for people to trust God with the details of their lives?

Things to Tell God

Thank You, God, for the clarity about cremation that You provided today
Lord, give me wisdom to know what is cultural and what is spiritual
Jesus, guide me to what is best for my family when it comes to cremation
I commit to research what the Bible says and not just go with what other people say the Bible says
God, I trust you with the details of my life

So What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?

I actually get this question a lot. When a loved one is about to pass away or has just passed away, people want to know if cremation goes against what God says in the Bible. So when someone asks me about cremation, what they really want to know is several things:

“Is cremation a sin?”
“If my loved one is cremated, are they able to be resurrected at the end of time?”
“Is God against cremation?”
“Is cremation disrespectful or desecrating to my loved one?”

All of these are valid questions and at the heart of what we really want to know. And some people live with a lot of doubt and even guilt when it comes to cremation. But what does God actually say?

The Bible does not ban or endorse cremation

It’s true. The Bible does not ban or endorse cremation. In fact, there are only 2 examples of cremation in the entire Bible.

The first is when the Israelites were entering the Promised Land. So this is after the parting of the Red Sea, after Moses gets the 10 Commandments, and right after Joshua marches around the walls of the city of Jericho. And when the walls of Jericho fell, the Israelites were supposed to destroy everything and not take any of the spoils. However, a guy named Achan took some treasure and hid it in his tent.

Well, the next town the Israelites came to conquer was a small town called Ai, that’s spelled A-I. And it was more like a village than a town. I mean, it was tiny. Conquering Ai was going to be no big deal. But God was angry with the Israelites because of Achan’s disobedience, so God allowed the people of Ai to defeat the Israelites and many people died.

Well, Joshua was beside himself at the defeat. So he prayed and God told him that someone had stolen some treasure from Jericho instead of destroying it. After it was discovered that Achan was the perpetrator, here is what happens:

So his whole family was cremated. Now, we don’t know why they were cremated as opposed to just being buried. It might have been because the ground there was all stone, which would make sense because they covered the bodies with stones. Or it might have been because they didn’t have time to do a full burial. Or there might’ve been some other reason. But it was NOT that they didn’t deserve a proper burial because of their sin. We know this because there are many examples in the Bible of people who sinned way worse than this, and they were buried like normal.

The second example of cremation happened when King Saul and his son, Jonathan, were both killed in battle. Their bodies were taken by the conquering Philistines and hung from the wall of the city of Beth-shan. And sometimes these places in the Bible seem mythological. But they’re not, they’re real. In fact, you can still go to the ruins of Beth-shan. In fact, here’s a pic I took just a few months ago when I was in Israel leading a group from Parkway. [SHOW PIC]. Now, the original city was on top of this hill. So there would have been a wall all around it and the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were hanging on the wall. Eventually, the city relocated to below the hill and you can see the ruins there. I guess people got sick of climbing stairs and really, who could blame them. But the bodies of Saul and Jonathan hung there four days until this happens: [PIC DOWN]

Once again, we are not told why the bodies were cremated, but the most likely answer is that after hanging from a wall for four days, the bodies of Saul and Jonathan were in pretty bad states of decay. So a normal burial of wrapping the bodies in linen and anointing them with spices was likely not possible. And so rather than further upset the people by letting them see their king and his son in such badly decomposed states, they chose to burn the bodies. Now, the Bible doesn’t say that specifically, but it’s what most scholars think and seems the most likely.

So those are the only two examples of cremation in the entire Bible. But nowhere is cremation condemned and nowhere is cremation endorsed. The Bible is truly silent on this issue. Even the common phrase, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” which seems to imply cremation, doesn’t actually come from the Bible. It’s part of the funeral service verbiage from the Book of Common Prayer, used by some Christian denominations. So the Bible doesn’t ban or endorse cremation.

So what else does the Bible say about cremation? Well…

Cremation does not impact the resurrection

This is actually an issue most people don’t consider until someone else brings up. But somebody always brings it up, so we should deal with it.

The dilemma is this: if the body is cremated, then how can that person be resurrected at the end of time? Because the Bible does teach that although we go to Heaven the moment we die, at some point there is also going to be a bodily resurrection. And no, I’m not totally sure when that is going to happen in God’s plan for the end of the world. In fact, most Bible scholars don’t know. The only thing we know for sure is that at the end of time, as described in the book of Revelation, there will be a bodily resurrection.

So the question becomes, If a body is cremated, how can it be resurrected?

To answer this, I think it’s best to use an illustration. Let’s take this paper airplane. If I were to tell you that I could set this paper airplane on fire, burn it up, and then remake it again, you would think I was crazy. You would think, “How in the world are you going to remake that? There’s nothing left to glue back together. It’s not like you can rehydrate the ashes. How in the world are you going to remake that airplane? It can’t be done.”

To which I would say, “Of course it can. I’ll just use a different piece of paper.”

See, we think so small when it comes to God. We think God is locked in to using the exact same atomic particles to resurrect my body. Scientifically, that is how we think. But who says God has to use the exact same atomic particles to make my resurrected body?

In fact, look what Paul says when he writes about the resurrection at the end of time:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17a (NIV) – For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. That’s the resurrection. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And that is known as the rapture.

But what I want you to notice is that God is not the least bit concerned about where He is going to get the atomic particles to remake your body. He’s not the slightest bit concerned about it. And to think that God is limited to using my original matter doesn’t even make sense. Because when I die, my body is going to decompose into the ground, which is going to be absorbed by plants, which is good to be eaten by animals, which are going to be eaten by other people, and so now my atomic particles are part of someone else’s body! Circle of life baby!!

But God is not worried about that. He looks at this “supposed dilemma” and laughs as He pulls out a different piece of paper and says, “Well how about I just use this?”

So cremation doesn’t limit God’s ability to resurrect your body. Because if it did, then what about all the people throughout history who have died in a fire? It’s not like God is saying, “Yeah, if you had only drowned, you’d be better off.” No! God is up in Heaven waving His white piece of paper saying, “I got this! This is easy for Me!”

OK, last thing God says about cremation…..

Church tradition, not the Bible, banned creamtion early on

Look, God did not ban cremation, the church did. Not this church, but the church in the early centuries. And tried to research to find an exact date they banned cremation, but I couldn’t pinpoint anything for certain. The only thing I can say for certain is that sometime in the first hundred years of Christianity the church banned cremation.

So the real question is, Why?

Well, the answer is because people in the pagan Roman culture in the days of Jesus and for the next three centuries, often burned people who died so they could send them on their way in the afterlife. So if Christians burned their dead as well, it was as if they were also sending their loved ones, “on their way in the afterlife,” just like the Romans. And since as Christ-followers we are called to be IN the world but not OF the world, The early church thought it best that Christians not cremate their loved ones so they would be distinctly different from their unbelieving culture.

But cremation doesn’t affect where you go when you die. Banning cremation was simply an attempt to make it clear that Christians believed in the God of the Bible and not the many gods of the Romans. BUT when the Roman culture died out, the church ban on cremation remained. So even though the purpose of the ban had gone away, the ban stayed in place.

Which means, for us, the bottom line is this: Cremation is a cultural issue, not a spiritual one

And as Christ-followers, we should live our lives differently than the world. And that’s exactly what the early church was doing when they banned cremation. But since cremation is no longer associated with pagan gods, banning cremation no longer sets Christ-followers apart from the world. So it was always a cultural issue and never a spiritual one.

And so now that we understand the historical background, it becomes clear that for us that,

Cremation is not a sin, it’s a choice

It’s not a sin. It’s simply a choice. If you or someone in your family wants to be cremated, that’s fine. If they don’t want to be cremated, that is equally fine. It’s not a sin. In fact, it never was a sin. It was always meant as a way to set Christ-followers apart from the world.

So, let’s wrap it up with some Questions to guide me when it comes to cremation:

What is best for my family?

When it comes to burial or cremation, do whatever is best for your family. Cremation tends to be about 1/8 of the cost of a traditional burial. So if finances are a concern for your family, then cremation might be the best for you. Or maybe you want your ashes scattered somewhere. But do what’s best for you and your family

In fact, that’s why they burned the bodies of King Saul and his son, Jonathan. It was best for the kingdom that people not see their king and his son in a mutilated and decomposing state. So they did what was best for the people left behind. So do what’s best for the people left behind in your family.

Is the Bible my authority, or is it something else?

Remember, some people have thought cremation was sin, not because it was in the Bible, but because someone else said it was. And that actually points to a deeper question, “Is the Bible my authority, or is it something else?”

So for you, what is your authority? You should always take whatever someone tells you and line it up against what the Bible says. Don’t take someone’s word for what the Bible says, confirm it yourself. Don’t even take my word for it, confirm it for yourself. Research it for yourself. Our lives need to be based on what God says and not on what someone else says that God says. That’s how cults get started!

If God is big enough to handle the details of resurrection, then why not trust Him with the details of my life?

Think about it, if God is able to resurrect every believer from the first century until whenever Jesus comes back, and that includes everyone who has ever been lost at sea, eaten by a tiger, and even people who were burned and their ashes scattered over multiple continents, if God is able to resurrect every one of those people and has solved the problem of their atomic particles—then don’t you think He can handle the details of your life?

And yet, we get so wound up about whether God is going to provide enough money for college, or the repairs on a car, or the right job, or the right person for our kids to date, or the right person to one day meet and marry, or a surgery for my child or my spouse—we get so wound up about those things and consumed with stress and anxiety that we forget God is more than capable of handling all of those things.

Now, I am not suggesting that we don’t pray about those things or that we don’t bring them to God. In fact, I’m saying that we should do that even more!

So let me put it like this: Do you trust God with what you cannot control? The way you know is by where you go first. When things happen that are outside your control, do you turn to God first? Or do you post your dilemma on social media first? Or do you call your friends first? Where do you go first when things happen outside of your control? Because where you go first is an indicator of where you truly believe your best solution lies.

Now, I’m not asking anybody to confess out loud where you go first. That’s not the point. The point is that if God has all of the details worked out about the resurrection for every single believer who has ever lived and who will ever live, including the more than 2 billion Christ-followers alive now, if He has all of that worked out, then don’t you think He is big enough to handle the details of your life? Of course He is!

So continue to pray, continue to seek, continue to take those things that stress you out and offer them up to Him. Because really, He is the only One in control of what you cannot control. But go to Him FIRST and go to Him OFTEN.

But the biggest thing you need to put in God’s hands is your eternity. Look, if you have never asked Jesus Christ to come into your life to save you from your sins, then you will NOT spend eternity in Heaven. Because the only way to Heaven is through Jesus. You don’t go to Heaven by doing good deeds. You only go to Heaven by asking Jesus Christ to come into your life to forgive you of your sins. That’s why He died on a cross. He died so that His life could pay the price for your sins. And in return, He only asks that you follow Him while you are alive here on earth. And while you are alive, He will take care of all the details of your life if you will just trust Him. And that trust starts by trusting Him with where you will spend eternity. So if you want to ask Jesus to come into your life to forgive you so that you can spend eternity in Heaven, then I want you to pray the prayer linked here.

Pastor Mike McGown