"Rest in Peace"

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Tom Hart

Puritan Board Senior
When someone dies, why do we say "Rest in peace"? What is meant by it? Is it bibical?

It has always seemed to me to suggest that a person's soul is "sleeping" in death. In fact, as a child that's what I thought happened to people when they died.

If "rest" refers to heavenly rest, then why would we need to include the bit about peace?
 
With regard to the concept, and not so much the, perhaps, superstitious expression:

Isa. 57.1, 2

The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.​

He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.​

WLC:

Question 86: What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death?

The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness,1 and received into the highest heavens,2 where they behold the face of God in light and glory,3 waiting for the full redemption of their bodies,4 which even in death continue united to Christ,5 and rest in their graves as in their beds,6 till at the last day they be again united to their souls.7 Whereas the souls of the wicked are at their death cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.8
 
I think it is part of our (USA) culture for some years now, to say R.I.P. as an expression of respect and sympathy. No more than that. It is shorthand for sincere condolences in my particular mind.
 
It dates back to before the gnostic influences -- i.e. people understood the body to be resting awaiting Jesus' return. You see sleep used in reference to those dead in Christ.
 
I think it is part of our (USA) culture for some years now, to say R.I.P. as an expression of respect and sympathy. No more than that. It is shorthand for sincere condolences in my particular mind.

Exactly. It's merely a polite way of acknowledging someone's death and expressing condolences to the family.
 
The question is not whether it is polite or customary. The answer is obvious enough. But what is the expression's origin and meaning? If it is inaccurate, or expresses some false and harmful theology of death, then should we use it?

So far, I have not been convinced that it's theologically accurate. The Scripture passages given earlier, as well as the section from the Larger Catechism, seem to me to be expressing a different idea to that behind "R.I.P."

If R.I.P is requiescat in pace, "(May he) rest in peace", a prayer for a soul in purgatory, then the expression is plainly problematic for the Protestant.

Even if it risks giving the wrong impression about death, such as the idea of soul sleep, wouldn't it be better to avoid the expression altogether?

If I misunderstand something, I would like to be shown where.
 
Whatever theological content the saying had - if it ever had any - has long since been bleached out of it by popular usage. As has been said, it's merely an expression of acknowledgement and comfort.
 
I'm not sure I'm seeing the problem. The bible describes heaven as a place of rest, and of course it is a place of peace.

And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest."
Hebrews 4:5
 
I'm not sure I'm seeing the problem. The bible describes heaven as a place of rest, and of course it is a place of peace.

And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest."
Hebrews 4:5

I don't deny that heaven is rest. Of course. But if heaven is what "Rest in peace" refers to, the "in peace" part seems odd, don't you think? Why would you wish or pray (which us suggested vy the grammar) for someone to rest in peace if he is already in heaven? R.I.P seems to refer to something else that is not heaven, or it demonstrates a wrong view of death.
 
It demonstrates a proper understanding that the body of the believer sleeps until it is raised incorruptible. Jesus was the first fruit of them that sleep.
 
The question is not whether it is polite or customary. The answer is obvious enough
Is it obviously customary, though? I honestly have never said it (though I am, of course, familiar with its use in - mostly - RC settings). Nor, to the best of my knowledge, have I ever heard it among my (Protestant) family nor in any of the churches I have attended. It is really just something I see in secular media and, again, have heard from RC types.
 
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At its best, RIP likely recognizes that a dead body continues to bear God's image and it is defenseless -- it should be treated with dignity as part of a person. l tell my kids not to run around like wildmen at graves. I'm appalled that a local gravesite might be moved to build a Walmart.

In its more superstitious uses, people have ideas about lost souls not being able to transition from body to heaven -- the gist of scary campfire stories. In the face of such tales, we should acknowledge there's much we don't know about death, but point to what we do know from scripture and the hope found in Christ.
 
Is it obviously customary, though? I honestly have never said it (though I am, of course, familiar with its use in - mostly - RC settings). Nor, to the best of my knowledge, have I ever heard it among my (Protestant) family nor in any of the churches I have attended. It is really just something I see in secular media and, again, have heard from RC types.

I did a search on the Puritan Board before starting this thread. It's been used over and over.

I myself do not use it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and, more than saying "R.I.P." when someone actually dies, I tend to associate it with cheap plastic gravestone props at Hallowe'en.
 
The phrase rest in peace seems biblical enough. The Scriptures speak of believers entering their "rest" after death. And Simeon said he could depart "in peace." So I can see how a believer might use the phrase in an appropriate way, as an expression of the hope with have in Christ. We enter our rest, in a state of peace with God.

But personally, I don't use the phrase because it's become trite. And for most people, I think it no longer conveys whatever gospel hope it may have once expressed. Already 400 years ago, Shakespeare was using it to speak of death in unbiblical ways, suggesting an eternal sleep and worldly peace:

In peace and honour rest you here, my sons;
Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no d***ed grudges; here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!
Titus Andronicus, Act I, Scene I
 
In retrospect I never used it until I began frequenting internet forums. Someone announces a death, usually of a celebrity, sometimes a relative. Posting 'R.I.P. John Doe' seems to be quite common and in the sense it is used theologically neutral. At least it is with me.
 
One thing I know is that RIP is used to express empathy to anyone, which is used for the obvious unbeliever many times, and is an affront to those who have any historical protestant discernment. We as protestants should understand the origin of the phrase, and In my most humble opinion we should be good protestants and avoid any idea of hope beyond the grave of some type of purgatory.
 
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At its best, RIP likely recognizes that a dead body continues to bear God's image and it is defenseless -- it should be treated with dignity as part of a person. l tell my kids not to run around like wildmen at graves. I'm appalled that a local gravesite might be moved to build a Walmart.

How far would you take this? If people didn't build over gravesites, whole countries would be nothing but giant cemeteries!
 
The phrase rest in peace seems biblical enough. The Scriptures speak of believers entering their "rest" after death. And Simeon said he could depart "in peace." So I can see how a believer might use the phrase in an appropriate way, as an expression of the hope with have in Christ. We enter our rest, in a state of peace with God.

But personally, I don't use the phrase because it's become trite. And for most people, I think it no longer conveys whatever gospel hope it may have once expressed. Already 400 years ago, Shakespeare was using it to speak of death in unbiblical ways, suggesting an eternal sleep and worldly peace:

In peace and honour rest you here, my sons;
Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,
Here grow no d***ed grudges; here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:
In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!
Titus Andronicus, Act I, Scene I

I think I'd make a distinction between "rest in peace" and Simeon's "depart in peace". Simeon is speaking of dying, not resting somewhere after death.

And you're quite right that the phrase has become rather tired. It seems to be quite a social media phenomenon every time some celebrity dies.

Ah, Titus Andronicus! I didn't know what I was in for when I picked up that play.
 
I think I'd make a distinction between "rest in peace" and Simeon's "depart in peace". Simeon is speaking of dying, not resting somewhere after death.

If you don't think the Simeon passage applies, try Isaiah 57:1-2. "For the righteous man is taken away from calamity; he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness."

I still suspect the phrase rest in peace originally had a good, biblical meaning that expressed hope in Christ—something similar to Calvin's comments on the Isaiah 57 passage:

When righteous men die, and their various labors are finished, and their course is ended, they are called to peace and repose. They “rest in their beds,” because they do not yet enjoy perfect blessedness and glory; but they wait; for the last day of the resurrection, when everything shall be perfectly restored; and that, I think, is what Isaiah meant. It will be said, “Do not righteous men enjoy this peace while they live?” for the fruit of faith is that in patience we may possess our souls. But although faith produces peace in our hearts, yet we are tossed about by various storms and tempests; and never in life are we so calm and peaceful as when the Lord takes us to himself. Peaceful and calm, therefore, is the death of the righteous (Ps. 116:15), for it is “precious in the sight of God;” but stormy is the death of the wicked. Hence also we may learn that souls are immortal; for if souls had no feeling (as some fanatics have dreamed), they could not enjoy “peace.” Thus they enjoy peace and repose, because they live in Christ. —Volume IV of Calvin's Commentary on Isaiah
 
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I myself have always had trouble with using this term, mostly when it comes to those who have died without Christ. Some passages from Isaiah have given me pause on this very issue.

Isaiah 48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.

Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

The same is found in Hebrews when the writer parallels the rest God gave Israel and yet unbelievers did not, and he draws from the this to point to our ultimate rest in Christ cf Hebrews 3:16-18; 4:1-11. So my question is how do we deal with this from the point of someone who has died in unbelief?
 
So my question is how do we deal with this from the point of someone who has died in unbelief?

Well, I don't really use the phrase at all because it's become trite and might mean all sorts of things to various people. But if someone else were to use it to describe a professed unbeliever, I would just ignore it. There's seldom much value in speculating about the eternal condemnation of one who is already dead, nor is it usually in good taste.
 
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