Cremation Is Not for
Christians
by Paul L. Freeman
Many people today are choosing cremation because
they have been led to believe it is less expensive. Burial
expenses are deemed to be not worth it, an unnecessary expense.
Some Christians may have been influenced along these lines
without stopping to consider what God has to say in the matter.
Christians are Bible believers and the Bible is their sole
authority for faith (what they believe) and practice (what they
do). When we turn to the Bible we find that the Christian's
body, soul, and spirit have been purchased by the blood of
Christ. The Bible says, "...and I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:23) and that we are "...
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
"We are sealed by the Holy Spirit...until the redemption of the
purchased possession..." (Ephesians 1:14). Our body belongs to
the Lord and is His to do with as He pleases.
Everywhere we read in the Bible we find the saints of God
burying their dead to await the coming day of resurrection. None
of the people of God cremated their dead. Cremation was then and
still is a pagan practice. God spoke to Abram and said, "And
thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a
good old age" (Genesis 15:15). God's direction to Abram was that
his body should be buried. We conclude that God ordained burial
for the body. Abram understood God and buried his dead wife
(Genesis 23:19). Later Isaac and Ishmael buried their father
Abraham (Abram) alongside his wife Sarah (Genesis 25:9,10). The
Bible records the burial of Rachel, Leah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob,
Miriam, Aaron, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Samuel, David, Solomon,
Elisha, and many others whose names are too many to mention. It
is also written of Joseph, "So Joseph died, being an hundred and
ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt." (Genesis 50:26). God Himself buried Moses on the top
of Mt. Nebo after his death (Deuteronomy 34:5,6).
In the New Testament is recorded the burial of John the Baptist,
Ananias, Sapphira, and Stephen. However the greatest example for
burial of the body is our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 27:58-60).
It would have been cheaper to cremate His body, but Joseph of
Arimathea spent a lot of money to prepare it and then placed it
in his own new tomb (John 19:38-41). God has only one word about
cremation in the whole Bible, and it is a strong word of
disapproval. "Thus saith the Lord; for three transgressions of
Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof:
because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime."
(Amos 2:1). God has told us that an untimely birth is better
than that a man have no burial (Ecclesiastes 6:3).
The Bible is very clear that the resurrection begins with the
body that was laid in the grave. When the women came to the tomb
on the first day of the week, the angel said, "He is not here:
for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord
lay" (Matthew 28:6) After His resurrection many bodies of the
saints "came out of the graves" (Matthew 27:53). The risen Jesus
said, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle
me and see..." (Luke 24:39). When the Lord returns, it is
written that "the dead in Christ shall rise first" (I
Thessalonians 4:16). Christian, follow the Lord's example and
bury your dead in honor and respect, rejoicing in hope of the
coming resurrection day.
Used with permission of Paul L. Freeman, 3040 S.
Sixth St. Terre Haute, IN 47802
