What Does the Bible Say About Cremation?

Scripture does not directly command or forbid cremation. The dominant biblical pattern is burial — beginning with Abraham buying the cave of Machpelah for Sarah (Genesis 23), continuing through every patriarch, king, and prophet whose burial is recorded, and culminating in the burial of Christ himself. Cremation appears in the Old Testament rarely and usually as judgment (Achan in Joshua 7) or necessity (Saul's body burned after battlefield desecration). The New Testament contains no explicit teaching on the subject. Christian tradition has overwhelmingly preferred burial as a sign of reverence for the body and hope of resurrection, though the doctrine of resurrection does not depend on the body's condition — God raised the martyrs whose ashes were scattered, and he will raise every believer regardless of how the body was treated. Below are the verses that touch the question directly.