Burial Service: For The Dead Or The Living?

Does God instruct the Church to organise a burial service when a member dies? Is the service organised for the dead or for the living? Is there an example in the Bible?

Most churches organise burial services when a member dies. I participated in these services when I served as a deacon, but I did not pay any serious attention to its processes until I became a pastor.

In January, 2024, when a female member of the Lord’s church I shepherd suddenly died, I began to soliloquise, “will I officiate a burial service? How will I do it since I have little knowledge about it? I was a bit apprehensive, something many experience.

I immediately phoned one of my friends, Apostle Emmanuel Ofori Akabaya, for guidance. First, I went to the deceased member’s family house to console them especially her mother, husband, siblings and children.

After sharing a word of comfort, I prayed for them. This I did every morning for three days. Later, the family and the church sat to plan for the burial service and the funeral.

One day, while thinking about the funeral, I asked myself: why should the Church organise a burial service? Is such an event organised for the benefit of the dead or the living?

Now some Christian churches that believe in purgatory pay greater attention to burial service, considering that prayers can be said for the dead to receive forgiveness of sins they committed while alive.

According to the Roman Catholic Church doctrine, purgatory “is a place or state of punishment wherein the souls of those who die in God’s grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven” (the Merriam-Webster).

But such a thing has no basis in Scripture. Death ends God’s grace for forgiveness of sins and salvation for a sinner. That is why the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote that:

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Moreover, since the dead cannot hear and see anything that is done at the service, it cannot be said that a burial service is held to benefit the dead. In fact, it hardly honours them.

In this sense, a burial service, no matter the form it takes, does not benefit the dead, but the living.

In other words, a burial service is organised to remind the living about the reality of death, hell and heaven, eternal rewards and eternal punishment, worthlessness of accumulation of wealth, the need for humility and the opportunity to repent and reconcile to God.

Thus, most pastors often efficaciously preach the gospel at burial services, reminding the living to believe in Jesus Christ, repent of their sins in order to receive eternal salvation. The preaching is climaxed with a humble invitation of those who have believed in the name of the Lord to be added to the church.

Also, at burial services, the officiating minister with the support of the assistant ministers, in most cases, pray to annul the vows made by both the deceased and the spouse at their wedding ceremony.

The Pastor takes the surviving spouse’s ring and put it into the casket after prayer to signal the dissolution of their union. This gives the surviving spouse the freedom to remarry if need be.

Clearly, issues raised so far point to the fact that even though a burial service is organised during the funeral of a Christian, it is essentially organised for the living.

It must be stressed that no where in the Bible is a burial service mentioned. This means no minister of God from Genesis to Revelation ever instructed that such a service be organised.

By James Quansah