WSC #37 Benefits of Salvation at Death

Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? A. The souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection.

Introduction – the race of faith and the last great enemy (1 Cor. 15:26, Phil. 1:21)

“Christ took death, which in the hands of Satan was a pathway into hell, and turned it into a gateway into glory.” John Calvin

1: The souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holiness (Heb 12:23).

3 ways in which our sanctification is consummated at death. 1.) By the power of the Holy Spirit, who applies the redemption purchased by Christ in all its stages. 2.) By the removal of our diseased and mortal body and the lust of the flesh that warred against us. 3.) By the complete change of our environment.

2: And being made perfect in holiness, then, our souls do immediately pass into glory.

The “intermediate state” (2 Cor. 5:1-8)

At death “we pass into a glorious place, a glorious company and a glorious state.” John Brown of Haddington

3: Our bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves until the resurrection

The permanence of our union with Jesus (1 Thes. 4:13-14, Rom. 8:38-39)