As I write this, I’m trying to learn to live with the heartache of my dad’s death last week. The past few days have been a blur: planning a funeral, writing an obituary, writing a funeral message to preach, looking through pictures (thousands given that my dad was a photographer by trade), hanging out with family, etc. As we helped my mom clean out my dad’s closet and drawers, various mementos were found that held significance for a kid or grandkid. There were guns, knives, coins, guitars, cameras, and other trinkets from my dad’s life that each of us kids divvied up.
Few of them were all that valuable in themselves and yet they possessed a certain sentimental worth. I have a jacket of his that I used to borrow when I was back home, a tie tack that he received from President George H.W. Bush, a handful of cigar boxes that he collected, and a pipe he used to smoke. These things are precious to me not because they are inherently costly, but because they remind me of my dad. They are precious to me because they belonged to him.
This reminds me of the words of Augustine,
“For if the dress of a father, or his ring, or anything he wore, be precious to his children, in proportion to the love they bore him, with how much more reason ought we to care for the bodies of those we love, which they wore far more closely and intimately than any clothing! For the body is not an extraneous ornament or aid, but a part of man’s very nature.” (Augustine, City of God)
If I treat a relatively inexpensive jacket or pipe with care, how much more should I care for the body of my dad himself?
Such was one of Augustine’s arguments for Christian burial as opposed to the 5th century pagan practice of cremation.
But is this argument morally binding? Should a Christian be buried or cremated? Is cremation sinful? Does it matter? Is it adiaphora (something neither condoned nor condemned)? Does the Bible provide us any clarity and direction on the question?
The question isn’t really whether or not cremation is always sinful (I don’t think that such a case can be made). Neither is the question whether God can reassemble cremated remains in the resurrection (He surely can). But, rather, does either burial or cremation better represent the hope and faith of Christianity? Is this purely a matter of personal choice or is there a biblical pattern and preference to consider and submit unto?
I will argue in this blog that while this is not a matter of definite sin and while there are situations in which cremation would be morally acceptable and even necessary, nonetheless burial is a better expression of the Christian hope and faith. I would therefore always encourage burial rather than cremation where the former is reasonably possible.
Obviously one would need to take into account factors such as the legal requirements of certain countries, financial resources of survivors, 1 and the exact nature, location, and timing of death. In certain contexts, cremation might not only be acceptable, but preferable. But in general, burial is a better symbol of gospel hope and should be the preferred practice of Christians.
As Timothy George notes, “While the weight of Christian tradition clearly favors burial, the Bible nowhere explicitly condemns cremation.” Since the Bible doesn’t explicitly condone or condemn the act of cremation, we should be careful about making absolute statements beyond the text. That said, our reading of the text needs to be deeper than merely what is explicit and must also consider that which is “deduced from good and necessary consequence” (Westminster Confession of Faith). We need a thick reading of Scripture that observes not only what is explicit, but also what is implicit between the lines of the text.
So what are the grounds for arriving at the conviction that burial is the preferred Christian practice? We will consider historical, biblical, and theological arguments to make that case.
Historical Considerations
Historically, cremation was the standard practice for most of the ancient world. Israel (along with Egypt and China) stood out in opposing the practice and preferring burial instead. In fact, the Mishnah (a collection of Jewish tradition) went so far as to declare cremation a heathen practice and Roman historian Tacitus observed that one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Jews was that they “prefer to bury and not burn their dead.”
Since Christianity was birthed out of Judaism, it inherited the preference for burial over cremation. The late 2nd/early 3rd century church father Tertullian was one of the first Christian theologians to explicitly condemn cremation, claiming that only the heathen “burn up their dead.”
In fact the divide between Christian burial and pagan cremation is so stark that Francis Schaeffer once noted that it was possible to trace the spread of Christianity across the Roman Empire by simply observing the transition from cremation to burial as the cultural custom. History records that as the gospel spread, cremation disappeared and was replaced by burial. The same is true in just about every subsequent culture where Christianity has exerted influence. This pattern held sway for nearly two millennia. In the medieval period of Christendom, the impropriety if not immorality of cremation wasn’t questioned, it even being considered a capital offense to burn the dead. It was not until the end of the 19th century that the church’s consensus conviction on cremation was seriously challenged. Such challenges initially came from ‘freethinkers’ who promoted cremation as a defiant denial of the doctrine of resurrection.
But over the past century and a half, cremation has moved from the fringes of a few heretics or pagans to a more common arrangement within the West. In fact, in the past 75 or so years in particular, the number of cremations has been steadily rising such that nearly 2/3 of all corpses are now cremated in the U.S. Considering that cremation rates were in low the single digits (less than 4%) half a century ago, that is a dramatic revolution.
Such a trend has a number of causes. Many of these are pragmatic given the rising costs of funerals and graves. But a number of them are also theological in nature. As Christianity’s influence was correlated with a precipitous disappearance of cremation, so the reemergence of cremation over the past century is correlated to Christianity’s dwindling influence in the Western world.
So let’s look at how theology affects our practices.
Theological Considerations
As we dug through my dad’s possessions recently, I was reminded of the idea of separating the wheat from the chaff. My dad was a bit of a hoarder. Why he needed 10 lighters with no fuel and every single iPhone he’s ever owned and multiple versions of the same knife is beyond me. Many of the things that he collected, we simply had to give or throw away. Why? Because they held no financial or sentimental value.
As evidenced in our approach to the piles of stuff my dad owned, how we treat an object depends on what we believe about that object. Is it fragile, valuable, disposable, precious, etc.? And the same is true when it comes to the human body. What we believe about the body influences how we treat the body – even a corpse.
For instance, consider how the philosophical and theological presuppositions of Greco-Roman thought lent themselves to cremation. Following the ideals of Plato, Greek philosophy upheld that mankind was essentially spiritual and the body was viewed not as a fundamental aspect of our nature, but rather as a prison from which we (the true “us” being just our souls) must escape. Well, if the body is but a prison, if the flesh is inferior to the spirit, if what is material is inherently perverse, then why would you take time and effort to prepare a body for burial? If matter doesn’t matter, then it doesn’t matter what you do with a body. Cremation seems a fitting practice given these basic theological and philosophical presupposition.
Or consider Hinduism. To this day, cremation is preferred in India because it better represents Hindu beliefs about the body and afterlife. Hinduism generally believes that after death, the physical body serves no purpose. Rather, the goal is to release the soul from the body and so cremation is the quickest and easiest way to help stimulate the process of reincarnation.
So why did Jews and Christians reject the cultural practice of cremation? Because they held theological convictions that were at odds with what the practice seemed to communicate. In particular, it was a belief in the essential importance of the human body which drove the preference for burial.
To stress the significance of the body, early theologians argued along three related streams of biblical revelation: creation, incarnation, and resurrection. That God created the physical body (Genesis 2:7), Christ joined Himself to a body (John 1:14; Hebrews 2:14), 2 and our bodies will one day be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:12-57), argues decisively for the consequence of the body in the biblical text.
Biblically, humans are embodied souls or ensouled bodies. To represent the biblical picture, we must cling to both the importance of the body and of the soul. Errors abound if we deny one or the other. For example, some (as in Greco-Roman or Hindu thought mentioned above) devalue the body while others (secular materialism) denigrate the soul. 3 Cremation ironically thrives in either of these errors. If the body means nothing, then what you do with it is of little consequence. But, on the other hand, if the body is all there is, then there is no future hope for the body, no afterlife, and thus little reason to concern yourself with what you communicate by the act of disposal. As John Piper states, “The biblical pattern is that burning your children is pagan, and burying your loved ones is a sign that you believe in the resurrection.”
Humans are not essentially spirit or soul housed in non-essential flesh or vice versa and our hope is not disembodied existence or non-existence. Our bodies are an essential aspect of our very nature and we hold out hope for an eventual reunion between body and spirit. In other words, for Christians, burial is not a disposal of a thing, but a person; not the full person, but an essential aspect of the person nonetheless. The body isn’t a shell to be discarded, it is something which is essential to our human nature and something which we will one day reclaim. Hopefully our loved ones have stewarded it well in our absence. Burial best expresses this belief. Death in the Scriptures is frequently portrayed using the metaphor of sleep. 4 While cremation seems to communicate a picture of the destruction of the body, burial better signifies a temporary laying to rest awaiting eventual awakening. 5 The death of a Christian is not the end of life, but is rather a parenthesis between two lives, a life of perishable mortality and a future life of imperishable eternality. As Paul writes, our hope is “not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). The body which is laid to rest will one day rise and burial better depicts this reality.
Can God resurrect a cremated Christian? Of course He can. Just as He can resurrect someone whose body was destroyed in a nuclear explosion, or a Christian burned at the stake by Nero, or someone consumed by a shark off the coast of Florida or torn to pieces by lions in the Roman Empire. But the fact that God can resurrect regardless of the circumstances doesn’t mean that all options are equally fitting. The fact that God can reconstitute the body of someone digested by a grizzly doesn’t imply that we should haphazardly throw our dead into the woods of Montana and neither does the fact that God can reconfigure cremated remains provide justification for that practice either.
God is able to raise any body, whether from dust or ash, whether our bodies have been subjected to decomposition, disintegration, or destruction of some other form. So, God can do whatever is necessary to accomplish resurrection, but the question is which practice, burial or cremation, best represents the Christian faith and hope. As 2nd century apologist Minucius Felix remarked, “We do not fear loss from cremation even though we adopt the ancient and better custom of burial.” For a number of reasons, burial is better. We see this as we consider the biblical pattern more closely.
Biblical Considerations
Attempting to derive an ought from an is can be tricky. In other words, it can sometimes be tricky to know what is prescriptive about a descriptive passage of Scripture. Some patterns are normative while others are not. For instance, polygamy is relatively common in Scripture and yet Christian theology has consistently rejected that practice. On the other hand, male leadership is a pattern that we have retained as being not only normative, but authoritative. The reasons for such differences are not hypocritical or inconsistent, but are instead an outworking of hermeneutics.
Given that Scripture neither explicitly condemns nor condones cremation, we need to look below the surface to recognize which way the grain of the text moves. In addition to the theological reasons mentioned above, I think there are at least three bits of biblical evidence that argue for the preference of burial over cremation.
- All of the positive examples that we have in Scripture involve burial.
It is beyond dispute that the prevailing normative pattern of Scripture is burial. 6 All of the patriarchs were buried, as were Aaron, Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel and David, and Lazarus, and Jesus Himself.
Often at great cost (Abraham buying the cave to bury Sarah, Joseph traveling from Egypt to bury Jacob), burial was preferred and practiced in the pages of Scripture.
The one potential exception to this is found in the death of Saul and his sons in 1 Samuel 31. They are burned before their bones are buried. But most scholars do not believe this is arguing for burning as being a normative practice. Rather, it was an exceptional case given the fact that the bodies had already been desecrated and mutilated and were likely already decaying by the time that the Israelites arrived. As Rodney J. Decker says, “It was probably considered more honorable to cremate the royal retinue than attempt to haul the mutilated, stinking bodies elsewhere for the usual Jewish burial ceremonies.”
In short, burial is consistently presented as the normative practice in both Old and New Testaments and there is not a single example of burning as an approved practice under normal circumstances.
- In certain contexts burial was prescribed.
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. (Deuteronomy 21:22–23)
Obviously the point of this text is not to argue for burial, but it is interesting that God commands burial and doesn’t merely suggest disposing of the body in any manner which is most convenient or preferred. At the very least, this suggests that burial was normative.
We might also consider in this same line of thought the necessity of Christ’s burial. Would cremation have communicated the same picture or was burial necessary to fully embody the theological meaning of His death and resurrection? In 1 Corinthians 15:4, Paul seems to believe that Christ’s burial (and not merely His death) is part of what is of “first importance” to understand about the gospel.
- Burning of the body was considered judgment.
Throughout Scripture, we see that to be buried was considered an honor whereas to be burned or otherwise refused burial was a sign of judgment.
In a number of passages burning of a body was either considered judgment or brought judgment by God. For example, in Amos 2:1, God declares judgment against Moab for burning the dead. And in 1 Kings 13, God’s judgment against false priests involved their being burned on the altar (fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:20). And in Joshua 7:25, the congregation of Israel burns Achan for his sin as a sign of the severity of his offense. Given that hell itself is described as eternal flames, you would think that the last thing that a Christian would want to associate with death would be fire.
This idea of burning as a sign of wrath fits with an overall depiction of the lack of burial symbolizing God’s judgment as when it was said of Jezebel that “none shall bury her” (2 Kings 9:10). In other words, part of what makes burning so bad is that it is contrasted to burial which is seen as a blessing and privilege (consider the importance of kings being buried in the tombs of their fathers throughout the Old Testament).
Concluding Thoughts
If its true that what we believe about the body has historically affected how we treated the body, then the inverse should also hold. Namely, we should choose actions that best communicate our beliefs. We should choose symbols which best symbolize the meaning of the act.
Again, there is no explicit prohibition that says, “thou shalt not cremate your dead,” but there is a substantial implicit case for the preference of burial throughout Scripture and Christian tradition. If burial best expresses what we believe about the body and the afterlife, then it is to be preferred, even if not explicit or absolutely binding in all circumstances.
In other words, this is not inconsequential. While there may be times where cremation is necessary or even preferred, such instances are the exceptions rather than the rule. The Christian rule is burial because of what it communicates about the sanctity of the body and the eventual hope of resurrection.
While not going so far as to say that cremation is sin, the overwhelming weight of historical, theological, and biblical evidence suggests that burial should be the preferred practice. Therefore, I would always encourage burial when possible given its continuity with the biblical tradition and the imagery which it communicates.
For Further Study:
To Bury or Burn: David Jones
Should Christians Cremate their Loved Ones: John Piper
Cremation vs. Burial: Michael Foster
Cremation or Burial: Does our Choice Matter?: Justin Dillehay
- I didn’t realize it until studying for this blog, but there is actually a “Funeral Rule” that demands that funeral homes offer burial options that bring the cost substantially in line with cremation. Though most funerals and burials far exceed the cost of cremation and funeral homes won’t advertise it, it is actually possible to do a simple burial for about the same cost as cremation in most contexts. Ask about “direct” or “natural” burial options. ↩︎
- “Christians should treat the human body, with its strange and idiosyncratic design, with special respect. Why? Because this is the form in which God became flesh.” (John Stott) ↩︎
- “The body is as really and eternally part of man as is his spirit.” (Loraine Boettner) ↩︎
- Matt 9:24; Mark 5:39; Luke 8:52; John 11:11; 1 Cor11:30; 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 2 Cor 5:6–8; 1 Thess 4:13–16 ↩︎
- In fact, our English word cemetery is derived from Latin and Greek words meaning “a place of sleep.” ↩︎
- Examples include: Genesis 23:3-18, 25:9, 35:29, 49:31, 50:13; Deuteronomy 10:6, 34:5-8; Joshua 24:30, 24:32; 1 Samuel 25:1; 1 Kings 2:10; Matthew 14:12; John 11:17, 19:38-42; Acts 8:2 ↩︎