A few people have asked me this recently.  I believe there are some non-biblical religious groups that teach there is something wrong with cremation, but I have never come across any teaching in the Bible that says this.  However,  I do believe that the universal but unwritten ethic of showing respect for a lifeless human body is a God-given ethic.  We should recognize the sacredness of mankind being made in God’s likeness and show due respect. 

Some may be concerned whether the biblical truth of resurrection is in any way affected by a choice to be cremated and the answer is no.  If you think about it, bodies that are buried still decompose anyway and there have been many occasions of burial site desecrations and involuntary cremations (i.e. martyrs for Christ burned for their faith), all of which mean nothing for the soul that has already departed the body. 

We learn that there is a separation of the soul from the physical body at the time of death and that to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:8.)  Our body is left behind as a reminder that life is fragile and finite, but our soul moves on immediately to heaven or to hell.  There is no purgatory taught in Scripture, because that would mean that human effort has something to do with our salvation.  Our eternal life is utterly dependent on the work of redemption done entirely by Jesus Christ on our behalf.  The Bible does teach a resurrection of the body at the end of time when Christ will return.  However, those who belong to Him through faith in him will be resurrected with a brand new body (1 Corinthians 15:50-54).