THE REAL MEANING OF REST IN PEACE (RIP)



When someone dies, we tend to say “MAY HIS/HER SOUL REST IN PEACE.” What does this mean? The acronym R.I.P., meaning "rest in peace", is a direct translation of the Latin words 'Requiescat in pace'. 'Requiescat in pace' was an offered prayer to God, in the hope that the soul of the deceased person would find peace in the next life. It simple terms, it is a prayer for the dead. Its origins are found in Hebrew in the Old Testament, in the Book of Isaiah chapter 57 verse 2: "Those who walk uprightly enter PEACE; they find REST as they lie in death."
Hence, it was a prayerful request that the souls of those who have died should find peace in the afterlife. It is VERY BIBLICAL to pray for the dead, aside; it is a cultural, holy and wholesome thought. Let us consider the few biblical passages:

- 1 Samuel 31: 8-13: “On the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. They put his armour in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan; and they came to Jabesh and burnt them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.”

NOTE- HERE IS A PRIME EXAMPLE WHERE PEOPLE FASTED FOR THE DEAD – NAMELY SAUL AND HIS SONS.

- In 2Timothy 1: 16-18, we read: “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me; MAY THE LORD GRANT HIM TO FIND MERCY FROM THE LORD ON THAT DAY; AND YOU WELL KNOW ALL THE SERVICE HE RENDERED AT EPHESUS.”

NOTE – HERE PAUL PRAYS FOR HIS DEAD FRIEND ONESIPHORUS. Note the past tense in all of Paul’s references to him, and how Paul prays for his family remaining behind.

Now, if only hell and heaven exist in the afterlife, what is the essence of praying for the dead for God to have mercy on them? For both hell and heaven are eternal and once a soul is consigned to any, it becomes its eternal lot; besides, "it is appointed unto men to die, and after this, comes judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Nevertheless, there MUST exist an intermediary (temporary) state where some souls whose sins do not lead to hell (as explained above) are consigned to, and thus, our prayers are needed for God to show them his mercy just as the Scripture explains to us.

This is part of the faith that we profess in the Creed (I believe in the communion of saints; a belief in which the saints in heaven are helping us with their prayers and we on earth equally pray for the souls in purgatory).
May this faith bring our hope to fulfillment, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Shalom!

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zilon12:
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