Does the Bible Say We Will Have Glorified Bodies in Heaven?
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When we’re in a near-perfect state of emotional, spiritual, and physical health, life seems good, doesn’t it? We can run and jump and play with ease, exuding energy and stamina that makes us feel as if we’re in our prime. We’re unburdened by emotional and psychological discord, and we walk in a state of genuine alignment and connection with our Heavenly Father.
But when this isn’t the case, life feels much harder. Perhaps our joints and muscles ache, our mental and emotional state flounder, and our spiritual life feels off. Regardless of age, many of us have experienced days when our bodies — physically and emotionally — feel worn out and off-kilter. Sometimes, we feel like this will always be how we feel, and we dread the future.
Yet the Bible promises us this won’t always be the case. Revelation 21:4 describes a future in a new heaven and a new earth where God will wipe every tear from our eyes, with no more death or mourning or crying or pain, “For the old order of things has passed away.”
In 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul tells us that at the resurrection, when the last trumpet sounds, “We will be changed.” What does this actually mean? Will we get new bodies? Does the Bible say we will have glorified bodies in heaven? The answer is yes, though it’s not actually new bodies we’ll be getting but transformed ones.
What Does the Bible Say about Our New Bodies in Heaven?
We know that those who believe in Jesus Christ as savior “shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:6). As Jesus continues in John 6:40, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
When we who believe get to heaven, we will be assured of a glorious, joyful existence, a reward gifted to us in God’s great mercy for our faith and obedience. There, Jesus said, we will live in his “Father’s house,” which has many rooms (John 14:2). Heaven is not an idea or a figment of imagination but a reality, a place we can count on.
It’s also our new home. In Philippians 3:20-21, Paul reminds us that our true citizenship is there, in heaven, where the Lord Jesus “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
Paul also notes that Jesus will do this “by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control” (v. 21). He’ll take our current bodies, then, and transform them into a body “like his.”
In 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 Paul elaborates, sharing, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’”
Paul also notes in verse 49 that just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, “So shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.” It’s a change we will experience, taking what we are now and perfecting it so we will be like Jesus — glorious.
What Will Our Glorified Bodies Look Like?
The Bible doesn’t offer much detail about what our bodies will look like or even what kind of body this will be. But like the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, we can trust that it will be wonderful — perfectly determined by God, powerful, and imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:38-44). Our earthly bodies are decaying from the moment we are born, experiencing sickness, frailty, and disease.
Consider the way Jesus, in all his power, did healing miracles as a foretaste of heaven. He brought sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, voice to the mute, and strength to the infirm. Jesus told one man who had a shriveled right hand to stretch out his hand. Then, by Jesus’s miraculous power, the man’s hand “was completely restored” (Luke 6:10). This is one example of so many. So then, we can trust that Jesus, through his power, will do the same to all of us in heaven, restoring our bodies to perfection and wholeness, just like him.
God gave the apostle John a glimpse of heaven in the Book of Revelation. John witnessed many things that he shared with us, things that give us a clue about what is to come. For instance, he saw among seven gold lampstands “someone like a son of man” (Revelation 1:13). This someone was dressed in a long robe with a golden sash, with hair was white as wool or snow.
John tells us, “His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:14-16).
Perhaps this is a glimpse of what our heavenly bodies will be — like Jesus, yet transformed, with the ability to hold stars and shine with brilliance, yet with clothing and hair and feet nonetheless.
What Does the Bible Mean by ‘Transform’ Like His ‘Glorious’ Body?
The New Testament was written in Greek, so we must understand that all English versions of the Bible are translations from the original language. In Philippians 3:21, when Paul writes that Jesus “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body,” the original Greek for “transform” is metaschēmatizō, which translates to transfigure, disguise, transfer, or transform.
Consider the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17. Jesus took Peter, James, and John to a mountaintop, where he was “transfigured” — or “transformed” — before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.
The original Greek for “glorious” is doxa, meaning glory, splendor, and brilliance. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance says the word comes from the base meaning of the awesome light that radiates from God’s presence.
Reading the full verse, that we’ll “be like” his glorious body, the original Greek for “be like” is symmorphos, meaning conformed or similar in form. Symmorphos is the same word used in Romans 8:29, which also speaks to how we will “be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
The bottom line here is that, when we get to heaven, we’ll look and actually be similar to Jesus — glorified, splendorous, and brilliant — reflecting the awesome light of God. What a gift and a blessing.
What Was Wrong with Our Old Bodies?
Our old bodies bear the scars of sin. They are subject to sin as well as death; they are weak and prone to pain. They falter with age and succumb to illness and decay, from deteriorated bones to thickened arteries to our overall immune system decline. We’re also prone to spiritual attack, emotional ailments, mood swings, and other body-mind issues. These bodies aren’t fit for the glory of heaven.
Paul compares it to a seed versus a full-grown plant. The seed is sown in one state and then transforms into its final perfection, whatever state God intends. So will we be, as well.
As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
Consider what Jesus taught about putting new wine in new wineskins (Matthew 9:17, Mark 2:22, and Luke 5:37-39). While the crux of the teaching points to the futility of trying to fit the transformative gospel into old, outdated ways of thinking, it also parallels the notion that our old bodies are meant for earth, while for heaven we’ll have newly transformed bodies suited in every way for our new home.
We don’t have to know exactly what our bodies will look like or what heaven will be like. Some things are yet a mystery. But we do know that we who believe are guaranteed a home forever in heaven. And when we get there, we’ll have glorious bodies to go along with our new glorious home. What a sight that will be!
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