What does the Bible say about reincarnation?
The Bible never mentions the concept or even uses the word “reincarnation”. The Bible says we have only one life “it is appointed for a person to die one time, and after that comes the Judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27 REV)
The Bible does gives us many clear verses about the state of the dead:
- They are in the grave and remain there until resurrected (Ps 89:48).
- There is no consciousness in the grave (Eccl. 9:10).
- The only escape is by one of the three resurrections:
- The Rapture (1 Thess. 4:16),
- Resurrection of the Just (Rev. 20:4-6)
- Resurrection of the Unjust (Rev. 20:12-15).
The belief in reincarnation has its roots in non-Christian philosophies and doctrines such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, which teach that the soul is immortal and lives on in another form after death. The Bible makes it clear that the soul is not immortal and dies when the person dies (Ezek. 18:20).
According to the Bible, every man, woman, and child who ever lived will be resurrected at some point in the future. “There is about to be a resurrection of both the righteous and unrighteous” (Acts 24:15 REV). This future resurrection is promised in the Old Testament: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt”(Daniel 12:2 REV). It’s also promised in the New Testament: “The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out; those who have done good, to the Resurrection of Life, and those who made a practice of doing worthless things, to the Resurrection of Condemnation” (John 5:28b-29 REV). Nowhere in Scripture is it mentioned that these souls live on through reincarnation into another body prior to the resurrection.
For more information concerning the dead, see the links below.
https://www.revisedenglishversion.com/commentary/Acts/24 (Verse 15)
https://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Appendix/4/The_Dead_are_Dead
http://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Acts/chapter24/15
http://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Ephesians/chapter3/9
https://www.truthortradition.com/articles/why-be-born-again
