HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS BE BURIED?

When a Christian dies, do they have to be buried in a specific way? Does the Bible require that our “dust” be dealt with in one biblically approved way? I have performed many funerals, memorial services, and graveside services and have seen many different burial practices and customs. Some advocate that Christians should only be buried yet they fail to give Scriptures to support their assertions. What does the Bible teach about Christian burial?

THE TOMB OF CHARLES SPURGEON

The Bible teaches our bodies return to dust when we die (Gen. 3:19; Job 34:15; Ps. 90:3; 104:29; Eccl. 3:20; 12:7). The Bible doesn't "prescribe" a "biblical way" for Christians to be buried. The Bible does "describe" different kinds of burials, but biblical description is not to be taken automatically as biblical prescription. What is described in the Bible is to be evaluated by what is prescribed in the Bible. Some examples of “biblical" burials are given below:

1. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob (Jacob was probably mummified in Egypt, see below) had their remains buried in a cave (Gen. 23:19; 49:29-32; 50:2-3, 13).

2. Moses underwent a secret burial ordered by God, carried out by angels, and Satan tried to use Moses' remains for nefarious purposes. No details are given as to how exactly Moses was buried by God/angels (Deuteronomy 34:5–6; Jude 9).

3. Joseph was embalmed i.e., mummified in Egypt, then placed in a coffin. Later his coffin was transported to Canaan and buried in Shechem (Gen. 50:25-26; Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32).

4. Rachel had a roadside burial with a pillar erected for a memorial (Genesis 35:19–20).

5. Saul, the first king of Israel, and his son's bodies were taken by valiant men and burned with fire i.e., cremated (1 Sam. 31:11-13).

6. Absalom's body was buried in a deep pit and a large heap of stones were placed over it (2 Sam. 18:17).

7. When Abner died, people were told to tear their clothes, put on sackcloth, and lament his death while Abner's remains were transported on a bier to his burial site. The widow’s only son in Luke 7 was also transported to the burial site on a bier carried by men and followed by a large crowd of people (Luke 7:11–15).

8. A common lower-class burial practice was to dig a hole and put the person's body into the ground, no vault, no coffin, no embalming, no specific depth of grave required (2 Kings 23:6; Jeremiah 26:23).

9. Asa (2 Chron. 16:13-14), Jesus (Matthew 27:57–60; Mark 15:42–46; Luke 23:50–53; John 19:38–42) and Lazarus (John 11:38–44) underwent a middle- or upper-class Jewish burial practice (Isa. 53:9). The person's body was washed, laid in a solid rock cave on a shelf or bench carved-out of the rock after being covered in spices and wrapped in cloths. The cave or tomb was sealed with a stone. The body was allowed to decay and be eaten by worms (Job 21:26) for a year and dry out. The tomb was unsealed, wrappings and spices removed, and the bones broken up and put into an elongated ossuary box with a lid that held the person's bones. The ossuary box was then placed on a shelf or stacked with the bones of other family members.

an exceptionally beautiful Ossuary box used to hold the dried bones of someone who had died

10. Tabitha's body was washed after dying and her body was laid in an upper room, but she was resurrected by Peter before any kind of burial took place.

11. Some have been buried at sea, their bodies left for the fish and crabs to eat. Think about your body being eaten by fish, who are eaten by other fish and eventually some of those fish are caught and eaten by men (Rev. 20:13). It is partially true, “you are what you eat.”

The Bible describes people being buried in a variety of different ways according to time, culture, or circumstance, but there is no biblical prescription for how one's "dust" must return to the earth.

A. T. ROBERTSON’S GRAVE MARKER AT CAVEHILL CEMETARY

I find it interesting that those who say ground burial is “the Christian way of burial" don't also say that bodies must first be washed, covered in spices, wrapped in cloths, mummified, or transported on a bier that is carried by men and followed by a large crowd of people who have torn their clothes, put on sack cloth, and who are lamenting on their way to the burial site. They don't insist that you must be laid in a solid rock tomb on a shelf, the tomb sealed with a stone, your remains allowed to decay and dry out for a year, then the cloths and spices removed, and your bones broken up, and put in an ossuary box. Many pick and choose what parts of burial practices described in the Bible that they want to practice, and then say, “It is the Christian way!” No, it is not.

Today, local and state governments are lobbied by the funeral industry to create laws that guarantee the funeral industry makes money. Just like dietary regulations which make food corporations money or the vaccine mandates which make money for big Pharma, so it is in the funeral industry. Lobby groups give money to politicians who pass laws that make the funeral industry money.

You can't just bury grandpa's remains in the back yard or burn his remains on a funeral pyre in the south forty. You are often required by law to purchase a burial plot in a cemetery or a niche in a mausoleum. You must pay to have the body transported, pay to have the body embalmed, pay to have the body dressed up, pay for a coffin with silk pillows and a Beauty Rest mattress. Why? A person’s dust doesn’t care how soft their place of rest is. You pay for transport to the burial site, pay to have the grave dug, pay for a concrete vault, pay to have the grave covered up, pay for a gravestone or marker. And on and on it goes. Keep in mind that a multitued of burial regulations are put in place to make the funeral industry money.

Bunhill fields non-conformist CEMETERY, London, UK

But most of what is described in the Bible is not practiced today in our culture, even by Christians. The bottom line? Many burial practices are described in the Bible, but none are prescribed. We must answer the question, “What does the Bible actually prescribe?” in relation to Christian burial? The answer is that when you die physically, your body returns to dust, and it doesn't matter what happens to your dust because God is able to reassemble your dust at the resurrection (Dan. 12:2; Jn. 5:28-29). What is done with a person's sin cursed dust is, for the most part, irrelevant.

The Bible also prescribes that we prepare for our physical death while we are still living. We prepare to die physically by making sure our souls are ready to face judgment after we die (Heb. 9:27). The Bible tells you to repent of your sin and place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and resurrected from the dead, so that “you will live, even if you die” (Job 19:26; Jn. 11:25-26). Regardless of what happens to a person’s dust after their death, their body will be resurrected either at the rapture (1 Cor. 15:50-57; 1 Thess. 4:13-18), at the second coming of Jesus to earth (Rev. 20:4), or at the great white throne judgment (Rev. 20:5, 12-13).

As Daniel put it in Dan. 12:2, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” Prepare to die today by repenting of your sin and placing your faith in Jesus Christ, so you won’t face the second death later (Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).