Submitted by Randy on 2009-06-02:
Question: Is there any teaching in Scripture about cremation?
Answer: There is not that I know of, but we need to be careful about the whole point of burial or cremation - namely, how do we view the human body? That is the whole point of burial in the Bible.
It was not just Jews who did that. Egyptians went to elaborate lengths to bury their Pharaohs in gigantic pyramids.
But the real issue is how do we view the human body in the light of the promise of God for resurrection? Is it something to be despised? Do we take the Greek attitude, namely, that the body is just some temporary drag upon one's real person, the soul, spirit, mind and so forth, and that the sooner he or she gets rid of it, the better?
No, the body is a vital, essential and eternal part of one's person. And when we are dead and separated from our bodies (of course, death means separation of the soul/spirit from the body), that is a temporary and non-ideal, non-ultimate situation. Resurrection is the ultimate goal. The resurrection of the body unites the physical part of a person with the spiritual part, that is, the immaterial part.
Cremation, of course, does happen to believers. For instance, I was in Hong Kong a number of years ago, and burial there is impossible. There are no more places on that island for hundreds of thousands of people to be buried anymore, and so cremation, even for Christians, is carried on as an essential. And I say, there are circumstances in life that lead Christians in due respect for their dead loved ones to allow for cremation.
But the issue in the sight of God is, what do you think about the body? Do you believe in resurrection? Jesus rose from the dead, and 1 Cor. 15:20 says that He is “the firstfruits of them that slept” then refers to “they that are Christ's at His coming” (v. 23).
In other words, our resurrection is the ultimate follow-through, the firstfruit, the harvest of what Jesus Christ our Lord experienced when He was buried and then rose from the dead the third day.
What is our mentality about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in terms of the body being essential to the human nature? The importance of the body was exemplified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
The circumstances in which we provide for decency and respect for our dead loved ones is based upon our understanding of what the Bible teaches about the significance of the human body in the light of the resurrection hope which we as Christians have because of Jesus our Lord.

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