The Rich Man & Lazarus: The Curious Case of the Buried Body

I now call a well-fed and fashionable dead rich man to the stand. 

That’s right, I wish to cross-examine the star witness for endless torment. This notorious character has been incessantly exhibited as proof-positive testimony for the traditional view of hell, so it’s time for him to take the stand. 

Using only the exact wording of his story in Luke 16:19-31, instead of the assumed meaning in so much of the preaching on the passage, we will let this son of Abraham answer some pertinent questions about whether his story is talking about a never-dying immortal soul or a very dead and buried body.

Q: Did you find yourself in hell immediately after death?

RM: Shortly thereafter.

Q: But was it immediately after your death?

RM: Well, not immediately, but soon.

Q: How soon?

RM: What does it matter? I died, and the next thing I know I’m in hell.

Q: Oh, it matters greatly. Was it a few minutes, or a few hours after your death?

RM: Well, it obviously takes more than a few hours.

Q: What takes more than a few hours?

RM: Preparation for burial, of course.

Q: Burial?

RM: That’s right.  

Q: You mean you were buried before you found yourself in hell?

RM: Yes.  

Q: I guess that is a minor detail that few have bothered to notice, but the record is clear that you died, and were buried, and in hell you lift up your eyes. Is that the order?

RM: Just as I died before I was buried, I was buried before I found myself in hell; the obvious order is plainly stated.

Q: So before you lifted up your eyes in hell, your body was prepared for burial. Would that mean your body was “wound in linen clothes with spices after the manner of the Jews” (John 19:40)?  

RM: I am a son of Abraham.

Q: So then your body was carried by your nearest relatives as other family and friends joined them for your funeral?

RM: What do you think a burial is? Of course I had a decent funeral. I had the best in life- why not in death? And a proper burial takes time.

Q: So you did not awake in hell as soon as life left your body, but only after your body was placed in the grave - many hours or even days later.  

RM: Yes, yes.

Q: And was it your body, or was it some immaterial spirit?

RM: Well, most everyone has assumed it was my soul or spirit.

Q: But you did have eyes to see with, and a tongue that felt torment and desired to be relieved, and none of this took place until after your corpse was laid in the grave?

RM: That’s my story.

Q: Jesus Christ, who told your story, urged his disciples after his resurrection, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39). Did you actually see Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom? 

RM: You know I did.

Q: You could see across the great gulf?

RM: Yes.

Q: And you believed your tongue could be cooled by water?

RM: Yes. But what’s that got to do with anything?

Q: Well, a tongue is certainly flesh, and I doubt that real material water could cool the tongue of an invisible, immaterial spirit. Fingers (Lazarus’) and bosoms (Abraham’s) are made of flesh and bone, as well. So I say it was indeed your buried body, and not your soul or spirit- you, yourself, dead and in the grave.

RM: I can’t deny it.          

Q: And how long were you there?

RM: I don’t know.

Q: What do you mean you don’t know?

RM: Well, the record simply doesn’t say.

Q: But you are the star witness for endless torment? Why?

RM: How should I know, other than possibly “the great gulf fixed.”

Q: Does “the great gulf” speak of time or space?

RM: You know the answer.

Q: Yes, but you said the great gulf fixed may be why you are the star witness for endless torment? Does that gulf speak of infinite time, or impossible escape?

RM: Abraham said no one could pass from one side to the other.

Q: Nothing about how long?

RM: No, nothing.

Q: And have you ever claimed that your story speaks of the ultimate, final judgment on the last day?

RM: Never. My story is limited to the intermediate state between death and judgment.

Q: So what happens at the end?

RM: According to the book of Revelation, hell will deliver me up at that final day to face God at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:13).  

Q: So you could not possibly be considered any authority on what happens to the wicked then?

RM: How could I? Just as my story is silent on the subject of how long, it is silent as to what then.

No further questions.

This dialogue should establish at least four facts about the rich man in hell:

He was buried before he lifted up his eyes in hell. 

His body was in hell.

The story does not say anything as to the duration of the torment.

The story does not say anything as to the final judgment of the wicked.

A buried body after death and awaiting judgment should not be presented as any evidence of endless torment following the end-time resurrection and final punishment of the wicked. Scripture repeatedly teaches that the end-time judgment will be by a fire that burns up the chaff, consumes the wicked, destroys them that know not God, and is the second death for those not written in the book of life, who will perish, and be no more.  

A literal interpretation of the rich man and Lazarus is impossible. A talking dead body is obviously figurative. The rich man’s immediate recognition of Abraham across the great gulf and his ability to hold a composed conversation while being burned is evidence of its metaphorical texture. Replacing a visible body with an invisible spirit contradicts what Christ said about a spirit not having flesh and bones as can be seen. 

Can fire torment a spirit? Can a spirit’s finger transport water? Can water cool a spirit’s tongue? But if it is acknowledged that the story figuratively speaks of a buried body, then the context and point of the story can be pursued and understood.  

Though many have unfortunately failed to notice, it does have a context, and it does have a point. It is not random nor remote, and it was not Christ’s intention to give an isolated description of the torments of hell as if it was an eschatological chapter in a book of systematic theology. 

Lifting the passage from its setting has produced exhortations long on traditional oratory, but short on scriptural exposition. I guess I’ve heard and read several dozen sermons from Luke 16, but not one that treated it as anything other than a description of hell. 

A brief consideration of the situation surrounding the narrative and some interesting but overlooked details of the account will go far in our comprehension of its intended meaning. And it will reveal that though Christ speaks figuratively, He never speaks falsely.