Does Cremation Matter to Salvation?
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Does it matter to one’s salvation whether a Christian’s body is buried or cremated?
The short answer to this question is “no.” It does not matter. Now, let’s look at some scriptural evidence as to why it does not matter. First, in Genesis 2:7 we read, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” God made Adam’s body from dust. It was not until God breathed into him the breath of life that he became a living being. So, the Bible teaches that our bodies are super organized collections of living dust. In Genesis 3:19, when God cursed Adam after he sinned, God said, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” In Ecclesiastes 12:7, we read that when a person dies, “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it.” So, the Bible teaches that after our life is over, our bodies will once again become disorganized dust.
For a body inside of a casket, within five years, it will lose all its soft tissue and only bones will remain. After 80 years, the bones will crack and deteriorate, and after 100 years the bones will become dust. This process can be much quicker if a body is left out in the open or buried without a casket. Of course, under the right preservation conditions a human body can be preserved for thousands of years as well, but this is not the normal situation.
By contrast, cremation only takes a few minutes. The process of turning the body to dust is accelerated by exposing the dead body to a temperature of about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. This completely evaporates the fluids from the body and leaves only the dusty materials of which we are made. So, the only difference between burial and cremation is the length of time needed for our bodies to become dust again.
Someone might ask, “But what about the resurrection?” Unlike the book Frankenstein (and many science-fiction shows), God does not need a corpse to resurrect us from the dead. If he is able to create Adam out of the dust, he can certainly recreate us out of dust. The power of God is not limited to needing a physical body to raise it from the dead. Ezekiel 37:1-14 speaks about this. (Read). God is replying to a complaint of Israel that “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” God’s answer to this is that he has power beyond what we can imagine, power to take the deadest of the dead and make it alive again.
In the New Testament, Paul says that our bodies are like seeds. They are planted in the ground to decay until new life can spring from them. In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 he said, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” Then he says, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” God is going to change us from corruptible to incorruptible. Until that happens, our physical bodies are subject to corruption, decay, and dissolution. Whether it happens over time (through natural processes) or quickly in a short time (through cremation), it does not matter to God.
So, one’s salvation does not have anything to do with whether one is buried or cremated. Our salvation, as Christians, is assured because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).