Chapter 33

Of the State of Man After Death,
and of the Resurrection of the Dead

  1. The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption,1 but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them:2 the souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies;3 and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torment and utter darkness reserved to the judgment of the great day;4 besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
  2. At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive shall not sleep but be changed;5 and all the dead shall be raised up with the self same bodies, and none other;6 although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever.7
  3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to His own glorious body.8

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Footnotes:

1. Ge 3:19; Ac 13:36.
2. Ecc 12:7.
3. Lk 23:43; 2Co 5:1,6,8; Php 1:23, Heb 12:23.
4. Jude 6-7; 1Pe 3:19; Lk 16:23-24.
5. 1Co 15:51-52; 1Th 4:17.
6. Job 19:26-27.
7. 1Co 15:42-43.
8. Ac 24:15; Jn 5:28-29; Php 3:21.