A woman wrote to tell me that reincarnation is completely compatible with Christianity.
I shared Hebrews 9:27-28 with her:
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
She claimed that passage was misunderstood and if I read it in the original Greek, I'd realize it was talking about “spiritual death” not physical death. And she said that according to Matthew 11:14, John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated.
False teachings have similar characteristics, so unwrapping this woman's comments can help us unwrap other false teachings.
I assume this woman felt that if the passage was speaking about “spiritual death” we could believe that people experience multiple physical deaths before their final spiritual death and judgment.
Of course, that contradicts the gospel in multiple ways, and there's nothing in the original Greek that would support her view. Perhaps the person who taught her this false belief assumed she wouldn't check out the Greek.
But I did. I read 46 different English translations of Hebrew 9:27, and none of them used the term “spiritual death” or anything similar. (Check that HERE).
In addition I looked at the actual Greek words. The word “once” which appears twice in the passage is the Greek word hapax and it means “once and for all.” And the Greek word used for our death is apothnéskó and it is used throughout the New Testament describing physical death.
Biblical principles are supported by the immediate context and the overall context of Scripture.
The immediate context: Nothing in the immediate context of Hebrews 9:26-27 suggests reincarnation is biblical. And nothing in the overall context of Scripture supports reincarnation. For example:
Reincarnation requires different lives, different personalities, and different beings all assigned to the same soul.
✔ But God clearly tells us that He creates each unique individual in their mother’s womb.
“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13
See also Job 31:15, Isaiah 44:2, Isaiah 49:5, and Jeremiah 1:5 and What Scripture Says about Abortion.
✔ The doctrine of reincarnation is work-based, not faith-based. It’s about earning God’s favor by living multiple lives until we reach a state of perfection, something no human has ever achieved.
Ephesians 2:8: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Romans 3:23: For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
3. Taking a specific situation in Scripture to create a universal doctrine.
False teachings are always based on taking one or two passages out of context and using them to refute the clear message contained in other passages of Scripture. This woman not only changed the meaning of Hebrews 9:27-28, she also claimed that Matthew 11:14 was an example of reincarnation.
Matthew 11:14: And if you are willing to accept what I say, he is Elijah, the one the prophets said would come.
Immediate Context: In Matthew 11, Jesus describes the important mission of John the Baptist. If
we were unfamiliar with the gospel as explained in Scripture and we
read this single verse, we might be confused. But we have cross references that can help us put it in context.
For example, In Luke, an angel of the Lord visits John the Baptist’s father Zechariah to tell him about John's mission on earth and he says:
“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17
We already know that reincarnation contradicts major passages in God's Word, but this cross reference provide further clarity.
Typically, false teachings defy biblical logic.
For example:
✔ Why would Elijah be reincarnated? He fulfilled God’s purposes. He didn’t need to live again in order to be perfected.
✔ Why would God have to use an ancient prophet to announce Christ's mission? God is perfectly capable of inspiring people to have the same spiritual fervor as Elijah.
✔ If God wanted to use Elijah on earth again, it would not actually be a reincarnation. Nor would it require his coming as a baby or having a different identity.
✔ In Matthew 17:1-13, Elijah
did appear on earth during the time of Jesus, but he wasn’t
reincarnated. He appeared to confirm the importance of Christ’s mission
and he appeared after John's death, but he didn't identify himself as John.
✔ Legitimate Bible scholars who study the original languages have taught (for thousands of years) that there is no reincarnation. If any of them were to insist that John was reincarnated as Elijah, he would have to admit it was a one-time event, never referred to in any other passage about any other person, an exception from the overall teachings of Scripture, and certainly not something on which you could build a theory of reincarnation.
✔ Elijah and Enoch are the only people in Scripture who didn’t die physically. We don't fully understand the reasons, but we would be foolish to build a doctrine on this phenomenon. Even if John was actually Elijah (which no legitimate Bible scholar believes), it would be a situation so unique that it could not be duplicated. It would not be the basis for any universal doctrine.
So the next time someone presents a false teaching to you, note which of these tactics is used to present their beliefs. And stand firm on biblical principles!
See also: Have You Ever Met a Perfect Person and Was John the Baptist really Elijah Reincarnated?
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