Today’s religious syncretism not only accepts reincarnation as one of its basic doctrines but also tries to prove that it can be found in the Bible and in the history of the Church. We will therefore analyze the basic texts in the Bible which are claimed to imply reincarnation, examine the position of some important Church fathers who were suspected of having accepted it, emphasize the basic antagonism of this doctrine with Christian teaching, and then find a proper explanation for the past life recall experiences mentioned earlier, an explanation that should be compatible with Christian thought.

Biblical texts that seem to imply reincarnation

The most "convincing" texts of this kind are the following:

1) Matthew 11,14 and 17,12-13, concerning the identity of John the Baptist;
2) John 9,2, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?";
3) John 3,3, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again";
4) James 3,6, "the wheel of nature";
5) Galatians 6,7, "A man reaps what he sows".
6) Matthew 26,52, ”all who draw the sword will die by the sword”.
7) Revelation 13,10, ”If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.”
 

1. The first text concerns the identity of John the Baptist, supposed to be the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. In Matthew 11,14 Jesus says: "And if you are willing to accept it, he (John the Baptist) is the Elijah who was to come." In the same Gospel, while answering the apostles about the coming of Elijah, Jesus told them: "But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." The commentary adds: "Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist." (Matthew 17,12-13; see also Mark 9,12-13)

At first sight, it may seem that these verses imply the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah as John the Baptist. The prophecy of the return of Elijah was stated in the last verses of the Old Testament, in the book of the prophet Malachi (3,1; 4,5-6): "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes." Right before this prophecy was fulfilled, through the birth of John the Baptist, an angel announced to his father Zechariah: "And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-- to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1,17). What could be the meaning of the words "in the spirit and power of Elijah"? According to other Biblical passages that refer to Elijah and John the Baptist, they do not teach reincarnation.

At the time when John the Baptist began his public preaching, the priests in Jerusalem asked him about his identity. They asked: "Are you Elijah?" (John 1,21) In such circumstances a true "guru" wouldn’t have hesitated to state his position in the succession of spiritual masters (the guru parampara) of the tradition he is representing. However, John the Baptist answered simply: "I am not." His negation suggests another meaning to the words quoted from Matthew 11,14 and 17,12-13. John the Baptist was rather a kind of Elijah, a prophet who had to repeat the mission of Elijah in a similar context. The same as Elijah did, John the Baptist had to suffer persecution from the royal house of Israel and acted in the context of the spiritual degeneration of the Jewish nation, with the mission of bringing the people back to the right worship of God. John the Baptist had the same spiritual mission as the prophet Elijah, but not the same soul or self. For this reason the expression "in the spirit and power of Elijah" should not be interpreted as reincarnation of a person, but as a necessary repetition of a well-known episode in the history of Israel. Another Biblical text that contradicts the reincarnation theory in this case is the story of Elijah’s departure from this world. Elijah didn’t die in the proper sense of the word, but "went up to heaven in a whirlwind" (2 Kings 2,11). According to the classic theory of reincarnation, a person has to die physically first in order that his self may be reincarnated in another body. In the case of Elijah this didn’t happen. So it must be considered an exception to both the natural process of death, and to the rule of reincarnation. Finally, the experience of the three apostles at the Mount of Transfiguration has to be remembered (Matthew 17,1-8, Mark 9,2-8; Luke 9,28-36), when Elijah was identified by the apostles without being confused with John the Baptist.
 

2. The next disputed text is the introduction to the healing of the man born blind in John 9,2. Considering the apostles' question: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?", it is obvious that the first option (the man was born blind because of his sin) implies that he could sin only in a previous life. According to the classic theory of reincarnation, he might have been a cruel dictator who got the just reward for his bad deeds.

However, the apostles' question about the possibility of having sinned before birth should not necessarily be judged as indicating an existing belief in reincarnation at that time in Israel. It rather confirms that some religious factions believed that the fetus can sin in his mother womb. If Jesus had considered reincarnation to be true, surely He would have used this opportunity - as was His custom - to explain to them the law of karma and reincarnation, as an immediate application to that man’s situation. Jesus never missed such occasions to instruct his disciples on spiritual matters, and reincarnation would have been a crucial doctrine for them to understand.

Nevertheless, by the answer Jesus gave to them, He rejected both options suggested by the apostles. Both the idea of sinning before birth and the punishment for the parents' sins were wrong. Jesus said: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life" (John 9,3). "The work of God" is described in the next verses, when Jesus healed the blind man as a proof of His divinity (v. 39).
 

3. In the Gospel According to John Jesus said to Nicodemus: "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3,3). Out of its context, this verse seems to suggest that reincarnation is the only possibility for attaining spiritual perfection and admission into the "kingdom of God". Nicodemus’ following question indicates that he understood by these words a kind of physical rebirth in this life, and not classic reincarnation: "How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" (v. 4). Jesus rejected the idea of physical rebirth and explained man’s need for spiritual rebirth, during this life, in order to be admitted into God’s kingdom in the afterlife.

Jesus further explained the meaning of His words by referring to a well-known episode in Israel’s history: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up" (John 3,14). That episode occurred while the Israelites were travelling in the wilderness toward the Promised Land under the command of Moses (see Numbers 21,4-9). They spoke against God and against Moses, and then God punished them by sending poisonous snakes against them. Grasping the gravity of the situation, they recognized their sin and asked for a saving solution. God’s solution was that Moses had to make a bronze copy of such a snake and put it up on a pole. Those who had been bitten by a snake had to look at this bronze snake, believing that this symbol represented their salvation, and were healed. Coming back to the link Jesus made between that episode and His teaching, He said: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3,14-15). In other words, as Moses lifted up the bronze snake 1400 years earlier, in the same way was He to be lifted up on the cross, in order to be the only solution, the only antidote to the deadly bite of sin. As the Jews had to believe that the bronze snake was their salvation from death, the same way had Nicodemus, his generation and the entire world to believe that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the perfect solution provided by God for the sins of the world. Therefore the kind of rebirth Jesus was teaching (as well as Paul – see Titus 3,5) is not the Eastern concept of reincarnation but a spiritual rebirth that any human can experience in this life.
 

4. A fourth text interpreted as indicative for reincarnation is found in the Epistle of James 3,6, where some translations (such as the American Standard Version) mention "the wheel of nature" which seems to resemble the cycle of endless reincarnation stated by the Eastern religions. However, in this context the reference is made to the control of speech in order not to sin. The ASV translation states: "And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell." The tongue out of control is compared with a fire that affects all aspects of existence, thought and deed, in a vicious cycle. This means that sinful speech is at the origin of many other sins, which are consequently generated, and conduct man to hell. The NIV translation is clearer at this point: "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell."
 

5. A classic example of suggesting karma and samsara in the Bible is often claimed to be represented by the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6,7). This "sowing and reaping" process would allegedly represent someone’s acts and their consequences as dictated by karma in further lives. However, the very next verse here indicates that the point here is judging the effects of our deeds from the perspective of eternal life, as stated in the Bible, without a further earthly existence being involved: "The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life" (6,8; see also the entire chapter). "Reaping destruction" means eternal separation from God in hell, while "eternal life" represents eternal communion with God in heaven. In their given context, these verses cannot suggest the reincarnation of the soul after death. According to Christianity, the supreme judge of our deeds is God, and not impersonal karma.
 

6. After Peter had cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant in his attempt to prevent Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked him by saying: "All who draw the sword will die by the sword" (Matthew 26,52). Could this be the justice of karma in action?

All four gospels give account of Jesus’ rebuke to Peter’s initiative. Although heroic, it went against God’s plan ("How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" – verse 54). Peter was in this case sinning and, according to the well-known Old Testament law of sin retribution, the sinner must be punished consistently ("Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man" - Genesis 9,6; see also Exodus 21,23-25; Leviticus 24,19-20; Deuteronomy 19,21). However, throughout the Old Testament this law was referring solely to one’s present physical life, by no means to future lives. Otherwise Jesus’ words would lead to an absurd implication. If He meant that killing someone in this life with a sword will require that the doer will be killed at his turn with a sword in a future life, then His crucifixion (which followed soon after) must have been a punishment for His sins done in previous lives and not a solution for other people’s sins as He claimed.
 

7. "If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed" (Revelation 13,10). This verse belongs to a prophecy that speaks about the end times, when Satan and his subjects will have temporary power on earth. Adherents of reincarnation must be aware that it is a quotation from the Old Testament: "And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: "'Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity'" (Jeremiah 15,2). This sentence was written by Jeremiah just before the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile (586 BC) and expresses God’s punishment of the sinful Jewish nation at that time, which had rejected Him. It is not the impersonal law of karma here but the will of the personal creator God. He chooses how to punish those who have rejected Him. (See also Jeremiah 43,11, which uses the same words for announcing the punishment of Egypt for its sins.) The author of Revelation used this quotation for assuring those involved in the events to come that God will do justice again, as He did in the ancient times. Therefore they should act in "patient endurance and faithfulness" as Revelation 13,10 adds. *

As it can be observed, in all situations where "Biblical proofs" for reincarnation are mentioned, the context is always ignored. Other passages used as indications of reincarnation mean, in fact, the existence of Christ prior to His human birth (John 8,58), the continuity of the souls' existence after death (John 5,28-29; Luke 16,22-23; 2 Corinthians 5,1), or the spiritual rebirth of believers in their present life (Titus 3,5; 1 Peter 1,23), without giving any plausible indication for reincarnation.

Some people hold that the Bible contained many passages teaching reincarnation in an alleged initial form, but they were erased and forbidden by the clergy at the fifth ecumenical council, held in Constantinople in the year 533 AD. The reason for this would have been the spiritual immaturity of the Christians, who could not grasp the doctrine at that time, or the desire of the clergy to manipulate the masses. However, there is no proof that such "purification" of the Biblical text has ever occurred. The existing manuscripts, many of them older than AD 533, do not show differences from the text we use today. There are enough reasons to accept that the New Testament was not written later than the first century AD. In order to get more information on the accuracy of the present text of the Bible use the following sites:

Dating the Oldest New Testament Manuscripts, by Peter van Minnen
Textual Criticism and Manuscript Interpretation
The Gospels As Historical Sources For Jesus, The Founder Of Christianity, by Prof. R. T. France

At the same time, if the clergy had, as alleged, decided to erase from the Bible the "compromising" passages about reincarnation, why did they keep the ones mentioned above (concerning the identity of John the Baptist, etc.)? On the other hand, it is obvious that there are many texts in the Bible that clearly contradict the idea of reincarnation, explicitly or implicitly. (See for instance 2 Samuel 12,23; 14,14, Job 7,9-10, Psalm 78,39, Matthew 25,31-46, Luke 23,39-43, Acts 17,31, 2 Corinthians 5,1;4;8, Revelation 20,11-15.) Here is one verse in the New Testament which contradicts reincarnation as clearly as possible:

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9,27-28).

The Christian teaching that we live only once is a fact beyond doubt, being as true as the fact that Jesus had to die only once for our sins. In other words, the unique historical act of Jesus’ crucifixion and the fact that we live only once are equally true and cannot be separated. This text cannot possibly be interpreted otherwise. The judgment that follows death is obviously not the judgment of the impersonal karma, but that of the personal almighty God, after which man either enters an eternal personal relation with Him in heaven, or an eternal separation from Him in hell.

Early Christianity spread in a world dominated by Greek philosophy. Many important figures of the early church had this spiritual background when they were converted. When addressing their world with the Christian message, they had to do it without any syncretistic compromise to Greek philosophy.

To what extent could they have been influenced by the doctrine of reincarnation? In order to answer this, we first have to understand what was actually taught about reincarnation at that time.

The dominant form of reincarnation known by ancient Greek philosophy during the first three Christian centuries belongs to Platonism. Unlike the Eastern spiritual masters, Plato taught that human souls existed since eternity in a perfect celestial world as intelligent and personal beings. They were not manifested out of a primordial impersonal essence (such as Brahman) or created by a personal god. Although the souls lived there in a pure state, somehow the divine love grew cold in them and, as a result, they fell in physical bodies to this earthly, imperfect world. Plato writes in Phaedrus about this:

But when she <the celestial soul is unable to follow, and fails to behold the truth, and through some ill-hap sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice, and her wings fall from her and she drops to the ground, then the law ordains that this soul shall at her first birth pass, not into any other animal, but only into man; and the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a philosopher, or artist, or some musical and loving nature.

In the same work, Plato states that "ten thousand years must elapse before the soul of each one can return to the place from whence she came". Only the soul of the philosopher or of the lover can get back to its original state in less time (three thousand years). The souls that fail to aspire to perfection and live in ignorance are judged after their earthly life and then punished in "the houses of correction, which are under the earth". One lifetime is not enough to return to the original celestial state of purity. For this reason "the soul of a man may pass into the life of a beast, or from the beast return again into the man". This is the Platonist idea of reincarnation. It does not represent a voyage of an impersonal essence (as atman) toward an impersonal merging with the Absolute (Brahman), but only a temporary punishment on the way back towards a purified personal existence (the state of pure being). Between Platonism and Eastern religions there is a big difference concerning man’s identity in general and reincarnation in particular. Plato’s meaning of salvation is definitely personal, as can be understand from Phaedo:

Those also who are remarkable for having led holy lives are released from this earthly prison, and go to their pure home which is above, and dwell in the purer earth; and those who have duly purified themselves with philosophy live henceforth altogether without the body, in mansions fairer far than these, which may not be described, and of which the time would fail me to tell.

How did these ideas affect the beliefs of the early church fathers? We will now proceed to examine the most important cases of early church fathers accused of holding reincarnationist convictions.