Some Christian leaders teach that after death everyone is given a temporary body which will be theirs until the resurrection. At the resurrection all the saved will be given a glorified body which they will have for eternity. Other Christian leaders teach that at death the spirit of the person enters Heaven or Hell where it remains without a body until the resurrection. Which is correct? Are the deceased given intermediate bodies? A handful of passages in the Bible are crucial to this discussion. A later article will answer the question directly, but first the relative values of the spirit and the body need to be discussed.

Many people instinctively imagine being without a body is worse than having a body. Many seem to believe that if a person is a disembodied spirit then he is without a true form. For some, being a bodiless spirit in Heaven is akin to being a lonely ghost who haunts the halls of Heaven and longs for the day when it can finally be whole again.

Being a spirit without a body is not a worse state than having a body. The spiritual does not have mass and matter as understood in the physical universe, but the spiritual universe is quite real. The spiritual universe is in on way inferior to the physical. The Bible declares, “God is Spirit.” (John 4:24) He is entirely spiritual and without any physical substance (except in the person of Jesus, but that is a different issue for a different time). None can say God has no real substance. None can say God’s lack of a physical body is an inferior condition. God is the author of all matter. His spiritual existence is more significant and more real than the physical matter which comprises the material universe.

Additionally, angels are spiritual beings who do not possess physical substance. (Hebrews 1:14) At times they are given tangible forms, but their usual state of existence is non-physical. This does not mean angels are less real or less substantial than people. Humans are declared to be, “a little lower than the angels.” (Psalm 8:5) In Ephesians 6 the Bible indicates that the spiritual enemies of the Christian are more forceful than the physical enemies people are tempted to fixate on. Nothing in the Bible suggests that being a spirit is to have a lesser form of existence. Those beings who are greater than humans are purely spiritual beings.

Humans were created as physical and spiritual beings, but the Bible does not teach that being a spirit without a body is to be in a worse state. Human experience is limited to the present physical world. This limitation prevents a proper understanding the nature of the spiritual. Though no living person can understand what it is like to exist as a spirit alone, existing as a spirit without a body is not necessarily a worse state of being.