By Hank Hanegraaff

Reincarnation—literally “rebirth in another body”— has long been considered a universal law of life in the Eastern world. Tragically, today in the West, many people believe it to be backed by the Bible. The words of Jeremiah, John, and Jesus are typically cited as irrefutable evidence. A quick look at these Scripture passages within their context, however, reveals that they have nothing whatsoever to do with reincarnation.

First, in Jeremiah, God allegedly told His prophet that He knew him as the result of a prior incarnation: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). In reality, far from suggesting that His prophet had existed in a prior incarnation, Jeremiah underscored the reality that the One who exists from all eternity preordained Jeremiah as “a prophet to the nations.”

Furthermore, in John’s gospel, the disciples allegedly wonder whether a man born blind is paying off karmic debt for himself or for his parents (cf. John 9:1–2). The gospel of John dispels this notion by overtly stating that the man’s blindness had nothing to do with either his sin or that of his parents (John 9:3). If indeed the man were suffering karmic payback for past indiscretions, Jesus would have violated the law of karma by healing him.

Finally, Jesus Himself is cited as suggesting that Elijah was reincarnated as John the Baptist (cf. Matthew 11:14). This tired tale is explicitly dismissed by Scripture itself. When the priests and the Levites asked John if he was Elijah, he replied, “I am not” (John 1:21). In context, Elijah and John are not said to be two incarnations of the same person, but rather two separate people who function in a strikingly similar prophetic role. Or as Luke put it, John came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (1:17).

One thing is certain! Reincarnation is completely foreign to the teachings of Scripture.

 

“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.”

John 5:28–29 NKJV

 

For further study, see “Can reincarnation and resurrection be reconciled?”

 

 

***Note the preceding text is adapted from The Complete Bible Answer Book: Collector’s Edition: Revised and Expanded (2024). To receive for your partnering gift please click here. ***