What does the Bible say about living past lives, spirit life before birth and reincarnation?
Belief in past spirit lives and reincarnation is not consistent with Christianity. Faith and trust in the word of God leads us away from such teaching and toward Jesus Christ as our Savior. Reincarnation and similar teaching about life after death are pagan beliefs concerning life and death and judgment.
The Bible is clear about the course of every human being’s life:
Heb. 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Every human being is created by God in what womb as a physical body with an accompanying spirit. This is the beginning of every human being’s existence. At the death of the body, the spirit falls is subject to God's judgment. If a person has not believed in Christ while alive, then their spirit will enter everlasting punishment. There is no “second earthly life” or reincarnation for a human being. All unbelievers will experience the Second Death, as scripture calls it:
Rev. 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
Rev. 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Rev. 20:15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Reincarnation and former “lives” are deceptions delivered by the enemy and his demons to confuse mankind concerning the truth of life and death. If the enemy can deceive us into assuming we live again without faith in Jesus Christ, then he can blind the minds of unbelievers to the need for Christ and the Gospel.
See also the related articles and teachings to understand this matter more fully.
