I am sure you’ve heard of the concept of an old soul. This essentially means that young person shows maturity and wisdom beyond their years. They have a natural understanding of various moral and cultural concepts without learning about them before. It’s this inner knowing difficult to explain. The age of the body doesn’t matter, because you can be very wise as a child or not so wise even in your old age. I am sure you have meet some children that were much more mature compared to the others and equally, some adults that seemed very early in their soul and consciousness development. There is a reason for it, and the answer is reincarnation.
The concept of reincarnation comes from spiritual or mystical beliefs, suggesting the person accumulated knowledge and experience from past lives. Old souls are typically seen as insightful, reflective, and more interested in deep, meaningful experiences rather than fleeting trends or gossip. It is widely accepted in Hinduism and Buddhism and part of their core believes. Hinduism believes the soul, or ‘atman’, goes through a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth called ‘samsara’ until it achieves ‘moksha’. Buddhism believes in a cycle of rebirth, though it does not focus on the transmigration of a permanent soul (atman), but rather the continuation of consciousness. Both Hinduism and Buddhism link reincarnation to karma, where one’s actions determine the conditions of future rebirths. In Hinduism the ultimate goal becomes mokṣa — liberation from this cycle by realizing the true Self (atman) as one with the universal reality (brahman), however in Buddhism, rebirth happens not because a “soul” that moves from one body to another, but because of causal continuity — like a flame lighting another flame.
Reincarnation is also not a new concept in Judaism or early Christianity. In very early Christianity, people believed in soul transmigration, the belief that when a person dies, their soul is reborn into a new body. This process of dying and being born again is thought to repeat many times, forming a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. However today, this concept is viewed as a heretical view and rejected by the church. In Judaism this concept is still accepted as a Jewish belief by most Jewish philosophers and experts in rabbinical sources. Reincarnation in Judaism is called “gilgul ha’neshamot”, known as the recycling or transmigration of souls. Interestingly, the purpose of reincarnation or “gilgul” is not viewed as a punishment or retribution or even fatalistic. It is, rather, an expression of Divine compassion. The word “gilgul” means to revolve or spin. The “spin” of the souls, is a gift of love from the Almighty. It is based upon the core Jewish precept of cosmic rectification or “tikkun”. Every soul is sent to this world to partner with a physical body in order to carry out a unique mission. The trials and tribulations one endures throughout life are the tests and opportunities for one to fulfill their mission and spiritual purpose and also to rectify past mistakes and learn lessons. The distinctive tikkun they are meant to accomplish in the world is a tikkun to that soul itself.
Therefore the concept of reincarnation in Judaism differs to how it’s presented in Hinduism or Buddhism. In Judaism reincarnation is not because of karma or that the soul cannot move from one body to another or even because of casual continuity, but because of the purpose that the soul have to fulfil. Therefore the life is not as a punishment but as a way of becoming and learning, as a way of expanding consciousness and becoming complete self. This concept certainly helps with understanding difficult to accept aspects of suffering or premature death. It is not viewed as a punishment, but rather as an important lesson of the soul’s development.
This concept can be compared to a flame of one candle lighting another candle. While the essence of the second flame comes from the first one, the second flame is an independent entity. Still, the new flame contains imperfections inherited from the initial flame, and it is these imperfections that are to be corrected. Many of us fall short of our mission and are given a second (and, sometimes, a third) chance for our souls to achieve our tikkun, which is soul’s perfection. This gilgul neshamot, is the spin of the soul back down to this world after returning above.
This idea, at times, also adds profound meaning to some tragedies we witness around us. There are certain souls which, at times, were very close to achieving perfection and need only a very short time in this world. This concept can explain why some babies or children have sadly died very young or are miscarried. This puts a very different perspective on many life’s occurrences, including tragic events. This can give some soft of relief and understanding why some tragic events like death of an infant, for example, is not a punishment from God, but rather that they were the reincarnation of a great righteous individual who only needed to live a short time to perfect some aspect of their persona. This is also a lesson for the parent, who, as difficult as it is, would have to learn to let go and the lesson of loosing the closest. The lesson here would be not what happens to you, but how you react to it. Can you move on, can you let go and can you find positives in this painful experience? This is one of the most difficult lessons a soul would have to endure, however knowing that the soul of the child doesn’t die and is complete, can be very comforting thought.
Similarly having neurologically different children, like those with Down syndrome, it’s not a punishment from God or result of their past sins, but rather those children possess the world’s highest, most spiritual souls who were brought back without the need to be tested, but to perfect others through their lives and to give the world a chance for redemption through chesed, acts of love, kindness and compassion. Those individuals are said to have the highest, holiest, most perfected souls who no longer need their own testing. Their lives are a test for others to perform chesed, loving kindness to them. Just being returned to this world provides whatever small tikkun they still need for their own souls.
Therefore the soul’s mission is to go through those tests and tribulations to be perfected into a perfect state that rejects all the blockages that we encounter here on earth like: greed, pride, ignorance, fear, desire, anger. Even Jesus said:
“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Jesus is telling us that He also had to overcome, and this wasn’t His first life. He was perfected soul in His perfected state as Jesus and He overcame. Jesus was telling us that we also have to overcome and will have to go through tests and tribulations.
This concept of overcoming and ascending has been described and explained well in the Gospel of the Beloved Companion and teachings of Mary Magdalene. This text has been used as a base of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene from the second century that was found in Egypt in 1859. This gospel has been associated with the gnostic teachings, however, as I explained in my post on the Gospel of Mary, gnostic teachings had this understanding that God the creator was this evil deity called Demiurge and our physical existence was a prison that we had to escape. However, the teachings of Mary from the Gospel of the Beloved Companion clearly explain that we are here to become and to overcome, and the material world is not a prison but a tool to help us shape our souls and our character. Yes, we shouldn’t think about this world as our place, however also not as a prison. This is just a tool and different lives bring us test that we encounter to perfect us, therefore trails and tribulations are not to be avoided but lived through, experienced and learnt from. This is how we ascend, through experience and knowledge that we accumulate through different lives.
The concept of reincarnation is not widely accepted in modern Christianity. The church teaches us that we are born only once and we have only one chance to be saved. First of all, you have to ask yourself this question – why would church reject this idea, knowing it was widely accepted in the early Christianity even during the times of Jesus? The answer is power and money.
The idea of reincarnation wouldn’t fit into the model the church of the Roman Empire, where people had to be attached to the church in order to achieve salvation. This would be achieved through sacraments, rituals, confessions and tithing. The concept of tithing was hijacked by the Catholic church in a different way that God originally wanted for people to tithe and this actually started with the Apostle Paul. God asked Israelites to help one another, to give to God but that money would have been used within the community to help widows, people in need, people who were sick. The concept of tithing where money was kept exclusively by the church only came from the Apostle Paul, who asked people to leave some money aside and that would have been collected once a week for the preaching and teaching he was doing. With this, church could keep the money and use it only within the church to help priests and to help build the churches. Therefore the concept of reincarnation wouldn’t be very beneficial to the church, who wanted to use the idea of fear mongering messages of loosing salvation, adding sacraments and traditions to keep people attached to the church and to the institution.
This concept of reincarnation was formally rejected by the Church at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD. This early church doctrine was banned by the Emperor Justinian at the council of Constantinople and from then on, any belief of the pre-existence of the soul was established as heresy. Therefore five centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the church decided to reject a belief that was widely accepted before, and even has verses associated to it in the Bible. That is another example how man made Christianity manipulated people into their narrative in order to create obedient and fearful citizens. It is widely known now how much church manipulated, changed and edited early Christianity texts in order to fit their narrative and hide the truth, therefore this shouldn’t shock anyone. The systematic elimination of the doctrine of reincarnation and labeling it as heresy was a deliberate attempt to keep people doubting God, to be tightly connected to the church and to also use this saying: “you only live once”, that would encourage people to the decisions very often damaging their soul journey. With the thought “you only live once” you are more likely to make a huge move in life, to make a mistake and to fall. I also had that thinking in the moments of: should I stay in line or act in a “bad way”? And then I would think, oh we only live once, why not – and that would be the push for me, which would resulted in unreversible mistakes. This can sometimes have a good push, especially when you are stuck and you need to change something in your life but you feel unable to. That can give you this positive encouragement of finally making that move. But there are also bad moves when you think there will be no consequences because “you only live once”. You will then have to come back in another life and rectify that mistake. Therefore don’t follow the trends like YOLO or follow it with caution.
Where in the Bible we see verses associated with reincarnation?
Of course, the word “reincarnation” is not used, as this word was invented in 1829, therefore much later. However what was used was “being born again” or as a concept of repaying for the sins from the past life. First of all, we see this in the book of Exodus:
“And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34: 6-7
First we could interpret this as one needs to repay for the transgressions of fathers and forefathers, however we also know from the Bible, that God doesn’t punish us for the sins that we have not committed:
“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.” Deuteronomy 24:16
“The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel 18:20
Therefore how we can interpret this? This means that the Lord visits the iniquity of the past lives of that person, by going back to the third and fourth live. This verse has a double meaning because some sins are generational that leave a stain on the bloodline and therefore those sins can remain “to the third and fourth generation.” However, this can also explain that once we are born again, we have to rectify or repair an aspect of our soul and our character and thus we will be put in the same situation again. We can make the same mistake again, which will mean we will have to come back or God might give another chance to rectify ourselves in this live under different circumstance. God is merciful, however God will not allow the soul to go unpunished and get away with the mistake without retribution. The balance needs to be restored.
“For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you;
Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
Yet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will correct you in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’” Jeremiah 30:11
The punishment from God looks that God puts us in the same situation again or we will find ourselves in a situation when things will be done to us that we did to someone else. This is all to teach us, to restore us and to refine us. This situation should cause us to reflect on past mistakes, on past actions and we leave the situation wiser. This is the wisdom of life that can only be lived through, not learnt in books.
One of the main examples of reincarnation we can find in the book of Job. This is one of the most dramatic books in the Bible and often people question God’s actions towards Job. Job was a righteous men and loving God, yet God punished him after the conversation with Satan, who said Job only loved God because God blessed Job. But once God would remove the blessings, Job would curse God. God agreed to test Job and took everything from Job, including his family, home and health, yet Job continued praising God. This was to not only show people an example, as God of course knew that Job would be able to endure all this suffering. Job was rewarded after even more so than he was before. This example was on many different angles. It was to show us that God can give but also can take away, therefore we should be grateful for what we have. This was also to show us that we should praise God regardless of the situation, because we can only see what is in front of our eyes, but God knows what is coming and that the blessing will be bigger. And another angle was the fact that we do not know the past life of Job and yes, in this life he was righteous but perhaps his soul had to rectify something from his past life to bring it to full balance. Therefore what happened to him was not due to his sins from this life, but from the life he didn’t have recollection of.
“Behold, God works all these things,
Twice, in fact, three times with a man,
To bring back his soul from the Pit,
That he may be enlightened with the light of life.” Job 33: 29-30
What we see with our human eyes are the unfortunate events of a righteous man, some might think this is unfair and why God would punish someone who doesn’t deserve it. But this is to rectify something from the past lives, as God said “twice or three times”, therefore this can be from the second or third life to “enlighten with the light of life”. Very often in the most difficult times we find our strength, we find the purpose of the soul and we have this “wake up call” from God. We go through hell on earth, but once we come out of the situation, we look back and we are in fact grateful for what has happened. This is not a coincidence. This is God refining our soul We might not understand the process in the middle of this unfortunate events, however we always look back with appreciation. This was a turning point of our life, a change of direction and a wake up call that allows us to change and move in the right direction. That is why when people judge God for what they see with their human eyes is unfair, because we don’t know that soul’s journey was, what they did in previous lives, what they need to experience to be rectified and brought to life. We should trust God and always know that God has only good plans for us, regardless of the situation. Even when it looks bad, it is for something and is not accidental.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
Another example is presented in the book of Psalms as this circle of life:
“You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104: 29-30
Here reincarnation is presented as natural cycle of life, one is born and filled with good but then when one dies and returns to dust, God sends forth His spirit and they are created again, in a new body and born again. God “renews the face of the earth” with new bodies but old souls, that with each life, can achieve it’s fullness and perfection.
Another verse where we find reincarnation is in the book of Isaiah:
“Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!” Isaiah 52:1-2
This passage signifies that each garment represents different life. The Daughter of Zion puts on “beautiful garments” meaning she had many lives. “Shake yourself from the dust” meaning coming to life again and again. Just like in the Psalm 104, where body returns to dust, in the book of Isaiah, the body is metaphorically “shaken out from the dust”, meaning it comes back, however under different garment.
How come some wicked souls are reincarnated again? The soul can be reincarnated three or four times, however once the soul continues in wickedness and there is no improvement, then that soul is destroyed and has no chance of rectification.
“Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;” Amos 2:6
The soul have to be punished, however if that continues even after “four transgression”, which in this context it means not four sins, but forth time on earth and if that transgression still continues, then for God that soul has no chance of becoming. However, we find that the righteous person can reincarnate many times. Reincarnation is not viewed as punishment as it is understood in Hinduism or Buddhism. Also, according to Gnostic Christianity, souls were trapped on earth and Jesus came to free the souls through secret teachings and free people from this evil creator Demiurge. More on this later, however this is not how reincarnation was viewed in the Old Testament. Reincarnation was a chance of becoming, of going through the lessons of the soul and those lessons had to be lived through and experienced through, not learnt in books. This was the process of “being refined as silver is refined” and God used each life to not only punish but to bless, to give a good life, to bring joy and to teach the soul love, compassion, forgiveness, patience, self control, wisdom, faith, healing. These are the aspects that can be accomplished only through experience and through life, not red in the book and meditated on.
What about the concept of reincarnation in early Christianity?
One of the most known early Christianity thinkers that taught about reincarnation and understood souls journey was Origen of Alexandria, perhaps the most brilliant Christian thinker coming from the 2nd century. Origen interpreted Christian texts through the lens of reincarnation, or as he called the restoration of all things. He saw Jesus’ teachings as not a one time event but as part of an ongoing process of spiritual evolution through multiple lives. Another Christian thinker was Clement of Alexandria, who wrote about different lives and souls journey as a ladder to spiritual ascension.
The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the 20th century, contained passages suggesting that some Jewish sects believed in souls multiple lives. Also texts associated to Gnosticism from the Nag Hammadi library also contained passages suggesting that this was a common understanding among early Christian sects. Those early Christians who believed in reincarnation, saw this concept as perfectly aligned with the idea of Divine mercy and justice rather than punishment as it was interpreted later through the criticism of this belief. They understood this as God’s plan to give soul multiple chances to achieve salvation. What is also important to mention, early Christianity believers understood the concept of salvation as achieving rather than freely given. They saw “the works”, which were rejected by the false Apostle Paul, as an attempt to achieve soul’s perfection and achieving mitzvot. In Jewish theology, the soul (neshama) achieves its purpose and ultimate refinement through the performance of mitzvot (commandments or divine deeds) while in a physical body. This process is viewed as a partnership with God, where the physical world is elevated, and the soul is connected to the Divine will. The soul descends into a physical body to accomplish a specific mission that it could not achieve in a purely spiritual state. By performing mitzvot, the soul brings Godliness into the mundane world. Mitzvot are considered the “food” for the soul. Performing them with intention (kavanah) refines the soul and enables it to experience a higher, more intimate state of closeness to God after death. The goal is not to escape the physical world, but to sanctify it—to make a Dirah BeTachtonim (a dwelling place for God in the lower worlds). It’s this transformation through physical matter. If a soul does not fully utilize its spiritual energy to complete its mission—by failing to perform necessary mitzvot—it may return in another life to finish its work.
What about New Testament? Did Jesus teach about reincarnation?
I am a little bit weary to present information from the New Testament, because as I mentioned at the beginning, a lot of the texts from the New Testament were copied, changed, edited to fit the narrative of the Roman Church, therefore the information is not as accurate. I have mentioned about the New Testament changes in my different post. However, as I presented in the Old Testament and the early Christianity believes, reincarnation was not an abstract idea. One of the most known passages where Jesus said to Nicademous:
“Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3
This verse has double meaning, because Jesus then explains:
“Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3: 5-6
This is about spiritual transformation, however that transformation as I mentioned above, also happens throughout different lives, not just one. The lessons that souls encounters in live are then accumulated and continued in the next live. That is why we can explain some children possesing extraordinary talents very early on, some children possesing deep wisdom very early on and some lessons or people feel like we have met before or we have been here before. All this is not a coincidence but a continuation from the previous life.
Another time Jesus mentions or hints about reincarnation is in the parable about the old wineskin.
“No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9: 16-17
Here we can interpret garment or wineskin as body and wine as soul. The souls needs to complete lessons in one life till the end and then enters a new wineskin as a new wine, new life begins and the soul starts afresh.
A widely known and often pointed scripture from the New Testament suggesting reincarnation is the passage where Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is:
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Matthew 16: 13-14
Why disciples mentioned different people from the past (except John the Baptist of course)? Because the concept of reincarnation and the soul going from one life to another wasn’t alien to them. It was expected that some souls would return and help Israelites with their journey to achieve salvation.
“And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.” Matthew 17: 11-13
Again, disciples had this understanding that some people who had deep wisdom or were different to others, couldn’t just happen to become like this in their life, but their soul came back to teach them, to guide them or to complete a Divine mission, just like John the Baptist had. Once that mission was completed, John was killed and his soul returned to God.
The disciples saw Jesus as perfected soul that was not only a teacher and a guide but also a prototype. They saw each life as an opportunity to become more Christ like, to be closer to perfection and closer to God. That is why, Jesus was an awakener and asked disciples to follow his teachings, to eat his words as a daily bread, because only that way they could follow his footsteps. This was a gradual transformation not possible to be achieved only in one life.
The concept of reincarnation is being rediscovered and reexamined by people in modern Christianity. As I mentioned at the beginning, this concept is still present in Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism, although through different lens and understanding. It is important to understand this concept as how God intended it to be – a physical life as a tool of soul’s becoming, not punishment. The goal is not to escape the physical world, but to sanctify it—to make it a dwelling place for God. It’s this transformation through physical matter as an attempt to achieve soul’s perfection and souls divine mission. This understanding brings greater understanding of God’s work on a soul, of God’s punishment or taking away soul too soon. As we now understand, it is not as we see it with human eyes, but as God sees soul work and areas needed to be worked on throughout multiple lives. This is not about choosing to stick to traditional Christianity only, but about rediscovering lost knowledge and spiritual wisdom that enriches the mind and about reclaiming spiritual understanding that has the power to transform how we view our lives and our purpose.
By Dagmara Z.