From these verses we learn that grieving for the dead is covenant business. Israel's funeral customs were to show that she was God's possession by sovereign election. The Lord had fixed a limit to her mourning, a limit which implied that one day, life would overcome death in the person and work of Jesus Christ. As part of a covenant style of life, believing funerals then—and now—constitute(d) a testimony to the watching world about the Source and Sustainer of life, the Lord God of heaven and earth. How people treat the bodies of the dead is, therefore, a religious and ethical question. Evaluating the growing popularity of cremation instead of burial among countries in the Western world should be approached within this framework.

Arguments For Cremation

Five kinds of arguments are used to defend the permissibility of cremation; these include economic, hygienic, ecological, aesthetic, and theological arguments.

The Economic argument says that cremation is preferable because it is less expensive than burial. Costs connected with purchasing a cemetery plot, a coffin and burial vault, a grave stone or marker, and costs of maintaining the grave do not apply to cremation. Response: while it is true that cremation is less expensive than burial, as long as the ashes are scattered or cared for privately, and not preserved in a building or vault, even so, this argument by itself is insufficient to justify choosing cremation. The economic argument will convince only those who for other reasons have already chosen cremation.

The Hygienic and Ecological Arguments claim that cremation is preferable as less threatening or dangerous to human health and to the environment. In this context, some argue that burial takes too much valuable space. Response: modern regulations and procedures connected with burial avoid any threats to public health. The ecological-spatial argument is certainly overused in the West; even in the Netherlands, which is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, not one municipality has to resort to cremation because of a shortage of burial lots.

The Aesthetic Arguments insist that cremation is preferable to the unaesthetic process of decay and decomposition associated with burial. Response: decay and decomposition are not pretty, but neither are associations connected with burning flesh. And remember, few of us have to look at a decomposed corpse in a coffin or at a burning corpse in an oven. So the argument really fails to justify either burial or cremation.

The Theological Argument suggests that cremation is permissible in view of the new, resurrected bodies we will receive. The Bible teaches us that the new body that is going to be raised will certainly display continuity with the natural body that has died, and will of course also be a glorified body. This will in no way be affected by what happens to the natural body before and even after burial. Therefore, also for this reason, cremation is not to be rejected in principle. Response: Let the reader be cautioned that while this is perfectly true, it is not a warrant for accepting cremation in principle, but only for not rejecting cremation on the basis of its effect on the natural body. Therefore this observation is not really an argument for cremation.

The Bible's Bent Toward Burial

Without doubt, biblical examples indicate that burial is the preferred method of caring for a corpse. Negatively, the Bible talks about cremating corpses usually in the context of God's judgement against wickedness (Sodom and Gomorrah; Achan and his family). We find many positive examples of burial throughout Scripture. Abraham went to a great deal of trouble to buy a cave for burying his beloved wife, Sarah (Gen.23:3-20). Later Isaac and Ishmael buried their father, Abraham, alongside Sarah in what was to become the family grave for the Old Testament patriarchs and matriarchs. We are told that the Lord Himself buried Moses (Deut.34:6). Israel's and Judah's kings were buried alongside their ancestors. In the New Testament we read of the burial of John the Baptist, of Lazarus and the lad from Nain, of Stephen and the Lord Jesus Christ. The burial of Jesus was proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets (Isa.53:9), was prepared by Mary's anointing (Matt.26:12;Mk.14:8), and was necessary for our redemption (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day, Q & A 41).

The relationship between burial and resurrection is emphasized by the apostle Paul as the pattern for the Christian life. To the congregation in Rome, the apostle wrote. "Therefore we are buried with Him (Christ Jesus) through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). And to the church at Colossae, the Spirit of Christ said: "In Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Col. 2:11,12). This same symbolism is applied in 1 Corinthians 15 to our own physical resurrection.

In summary, we may draw two conclusions from the biblical evidence. First, the Bible sets forth no explicit or necessary commandment to bury the dead. Second, the Bible does give consistent example to believers in both Old and New Testaments as a convincing testimony about the surpassing value of burying the dead.

Burial as Christian Witness

Concerning the second conclusion, we must readily admit that the customs of the Bible are not necessarily the infallible standard for our customs. Therefore, the examples found in the Bible are not by themselves decisive for our conduct. But these examples are not in the Bible "by themselves"! They are presented within the context of Divine activity, the work of Jesus Christ in His humiliation and exaltation. These obedient acts of our Lord Jesus Christ included His burial, something we confess in the Apostle's Creed. Followers of Christ travel the route of death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to glory. First Corinthians 15 speaks about a transition from mortality to immorality, from perishability to imperishibility. In that process our burial is a very important stage. Our bodies are entrusted to the earth, whence they came, and as a consequence of God's judgement upon our sin, they return to the dust from which they were made.

This message of mortality, dissolution, and resurrection, a message that obtains expression in burial, is not "spoken" in cremation. "Sowing" the body in the earth, knowing it will return to dust, sends a different message than burning body to ashes, pulverizing bones to dust, and scattering them in the wind.

The choice becomes one of bearing witness, in our death, to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless of the fact that after awhile the net result is the same (dust and ashes aren't that much different in the end), burial is a clearer, more consistent expression than cremation of the pathway pioneered by our Saviour and followed, in life and death, by his disciples.

Burial is preferable unless . . .

If we maintain that the Bible gives no explicit commandment to bury, we must also say that the Bible contains no explicit prohibition against cremation. Certainly situations may occur in which cremation is unavoidable. Think of the epidemics where public health requires the disposal of diseased corpses in order to prevent the spread of infection. Or think of wartime, where a large number of casualties makes usual burial procedures impossible.

Moreover, in countries where the Christian faith has had little or no influence, burial is either impossible or extremely difficult. In Japan, for instance, beside space limitations, the influence of Buddhism and the exorbitant costs connected with burial make cremation more necessary. Even in countries where Christianity has lost its influential position, burial can become an exception that presents difficulties to believers, similar to those faced by Japanese Christians. The possibility of losing the privilege of burying our dead requires us to preserve that freedom as long as possible.

Cremation then is one of three ways in which man has disposed of the dead, the others being burial and exposure to birds of prey. Within the tradition of the Scriptures, cremation is known only as the exceptional method, occasioned by unusual circumstances, (e.g., 1 Sam.31:12, in which the men of Jabesh-Gilead burned the corpses of Saul and his sons to prevent desecration at the hands of the Philistines) or severe conditions, such as criminal execution, (Gen.38:24; Lev.20:14; 21:9; Josh.7:15, 25). The horror with which cremation was under normal conditions regarded is seen in Amos 2:1 where the burning of the bones of the King of Edom is treated as an outrage because his Moabite enemies were thought to be pursuing their vengeance to the underworld.

Cremation as a method of disposal of the dead is not attested in the New Testament, the only possible exception being in a variant textual reading (1 Cor.13:3 RSV). But even this is death by Martyrdom rather than cremation after death. The Christian Fathers preferred "the ancient and better custom of burying in the earth" to cremation, which was practiced in the Roman world. The great national exceptions to cremation in the old world were Egypt, China, and Israel. Jacob was embalmed by the order of Joseph (Gen.50:2). Joseph himself was later embalmed and "put in a coffin in Egypt" until his descendants could give him a sepulchre in the land of his fathers. The oath that he had caused them to swear was the fruit of his faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen.50:24-26). By faith he gave commandment concerning his bones (Heb.11:22). Our hope then is that this profile of cremation provides some direction relative to the disposal of the body at death, enabling us in this vital area to seek the best way to bring honour to the Lord in death as in life.

Suggested Reading

A Dictionary of Comparative Religion, S.G.F. Brandon, ed., New York, Scribner, 1970

Earth to earth: Considerations on the Practice of Cremation, S.M. Houghton, Banner of Truth, Issue No. 70, pp. 37-46

Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics, Carl F. Henry, ed., Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Felix, Minucius, OctaBvias, 34 [Third Century Document] Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1950 Edition, [Article on the Disposal of the dead].