We are lately again hearing a lot about reincarnation, the idea of the transmigration of souls from one body to another. The theory of reincarnation is being touted as the true and scientific belief concerning life after death. Many books on reincarnation are readily avail­able in any contemporary bookstore, especially books containing stories about those who under hypnosis recalled for­mer lives. The evidence seems very con­vincing. Sadly enough, acceptance of reincarnation ideology is emerging also in Reformed circles. In the Nether­lands, for example, on November 14, 1987, at a theme-day of the Reformed Churches (GKN) on astrology, the con­clusion was, "Christians do not exclude reincarnation." ¹

We should not confuse all this with the doctrine of the incarnation, the scriptural teaching concerning the conception and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a strange development, however, which should not escape us: while the truth of the incarnation is be­ing more and more denied in our soci­ety, the heresy of the reincarnation finds increasing promotion and accep­tance. The power of delusion and de­ception is evident also in this matter. Letting go of the revelation of God means inevitably giving in to the imag­ination of man.

During this time of December when we remember the birth of our Lord and rejoice in the mystery of the incar­nation of Christ, it is good to look at some of these issues which are so close­ly related and are of central importance for our life as children of God.

What is the Incarnation?⤒🔗

The word incarnation means "com­ing into the flesh." This is how the Bi­ble speaks about the birth of our Lord,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.John 1:14

It is difficult for us to comprehend how this incarnation took place. The Bible calls it a mystery, "Great indeed is this mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh..." (1 Tim­othy 3:16). The word "mystery" does not mean here something that is dark or obscure and therefore incredible. It denotes a key occurrence which we do know about but cannot fully understand. In this mystery of the incarna­tion we are dealing with a central tenet of the Christian faith!

The word "incarnation" implies that Christ existed before He came into the flesh. He is from eternity the true Son of God. What happened in the in­carnation is that He remained true and eternal God but relinquished His divine glory and took upon Himself the real human nature (body and soul) with all its weaknesses, except sin. So the apos­tle Paul writes about the Lord that "al­though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Him­self, taking the form of a servant, be­ing born in the likeness of men" (Phi­lippians 2:6 and 7).

The Bible emphasizes that Christ received a true human nature which was subject to all human conditions. Otherwise He could not truly be our Mediator. "Therefore He had to be made like His brethren in every re­spect ... who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15).

The consequence of the incarna­tion is that we have received in Christ a unique Person, who is really human and fully divine, and so can be and is our one and only Redeemer! This is the true joy of Christmas, the great gift of God, confessed in the ancient creed, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, our Lord, He was con­ceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary."

Incarnation and Resurrection←⤒🔗

Whoever speaks about incarna­tion must also come to speak about death. For does not the curse of death lie upon all who are conceived and born? The apostle Paul explains to the Romans that death came into the world through sin and passed to all men be­cause all men sinned (Romans 5:12).

This means that the incarnation of Christ, His coming into the flesh, in­cludes from the start that He, too, must suffer death. In His case it is truly necessary, for He is the Lamb of God laden with our sins who has come to bear in our place the full wrath of God. The righteous judgment of. God, both temporal death and eternal death — the agony of hell — will come over Him in full measure.

Therefore, when we celebrate Christmas, we may never isolate it from Golgotha and the crucifixion. Christ would have to undergo the shame of the cross and the desolation of hell. The sweetness of Christmas must never obscure the bitterness of the cross. Over the crib of Bethlehem looms the shadow of Calvary.

The triumph for Christ came on the day of His resurrection! Then He arose from the dead with a glorified body which is subject no more to frail­ty and death! In that body He ascended into heaven and is now seated at God's right hand. Our Christmas celebration must go beyond Bethlehem and Gol­gotha and ultimately direct itself to the heavenly Jerusalem, to Christ who is coming to judge the living and the dead. This is the essence of the Christ­mas celebration in our time. Here it already becomes clear: the victory over death is not one of reincarnation but one of resurrection by the power of Christ.

All this flows out of the truth of the incarnation. Whoever denies the incarnation and its real meaning, cuts the heart out of the Christian faith and cannot really celebrate Christmas.

What is Reincarnation?←⤒🔗

Reincarnation literally means "going back into the flesh," even on a constant basis or in an ongoing pro­cess. Time and again one leaves a body to enter into another one.

Reincarnation is the false belief that the human soul is not bound to one body but as a separate entity trans­migrates after a shorter or longer period of time to another (physical) body, either human, animal, or vegetative. Here the term metempsychosis is often used: the passing of the soul to another body yet without recalling periods of time in a previous body.

We have here the (primitive) belief that the eternal and indelible soul only sojourns temporarily in bodies and con­tinues to climb until it ultimately be­comes united with some Supreme Being or "All-Soul." In this religion man finally becomes divine!

In the early Christian church a speculative scholar called Origen, who used an allegorical method to interpret Scripture, taught the preexistence of eternal souls who were punished by being confined to a body. But this teaching was strongly condemned by the church in 543 A.D. The related idea of rein­carnation therefore did not resurface in the Western world until later in the seventeenth century.

The teaching of reincarnation gained prominence in India through Hinduism and Buddhism. From there, especially in the late sixties and seven­ties, it was imported to the Western world by such prominents as Beatle George Harrison, who composed an ode to the Hindu god Krishna in his hit song, "My Sweet Lord." In the "New Age Movement" the ideas of reincarnation also play a prominent role.²

The Indian reincarnation belief has incorporated within itself an idea of retribution. The soul (or personality called "atman") undergoes a series of reincarnations depending on the deeds which one has done to free oneself from earthly desires (the law of "karman"). One must become more and more loose from base natural passions and so grow towards unity with God. Needless to say, all this leads to a very ascetic and sober lifestyle, typical of Indian gurus.

Behind the idea of reincarnation lies the age-old lie that man, through his own efforts, is able to free himself from adverse earthly conditions and even become godly. The devil's ancient lie, "You will be like God," has again taken effect. Here no divine Redeemer is needed, for man is his own savior. The incarnation of Christ becomes un­necessary because of people's constant reincarnations.

What about Scientific Proof?←⤒🔗

But what about the deluge of "sci­entific proof" which has come up in recent years? We all have experiences of "déjà vu," the vague notion that we have experienced something before. Now it seems possible through hypnosis and by putting people in some kind of a trance to produce amazing results. People tell about former times and for­eign places with such accuracy and familiarity that they must have had a former life!

We know of many famous stories in this respect. I have before me a book which purports to give evidence for re­incarnation.³ The author claims that previous life stories can and must be verified by flashes of conscious knowl­edge or through hypnosis. If one ac­cepts these "previous life stories" as true, the only explanation is reincar­nation.

Some of these stories are indeed remarkable, and even seem to be borne out by historical and geographical facts. But many have been clearly unmasked as fantasy or fiction. Or there is some other plausible explanation. I think, for example, of the famous case of Vir­ginia Tigh, published in 1956, about a woman who had allegedly lived a pre­vious life in Ireland. It later appeared that her "knowledge" of Ireland had come not from a former life but from contacts in her youth with an Irish woman.

We must always be careful with so-called scientific proof. Many scien­tists believe that the theory of evolu­tion has been proven beyond a doubt, but this does not in itself constitute truth. Many of the stories about pre­vious lives, just as the present rage of reports on "near death experiences" are unproven, subjective and incon­clusive.

The Final Word←⤒🔗

For a Christian, the final word is to the Bible. There we can read that "it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment..." (He­brew 9:27). We are physically born once and we die once. Necessary rebirth is always a spiritual matter.

The Bible does exclude reincarna­tion. We must look forward to the great day of the resurrection, when Christ will raise us from the dead and will cause us to live with Him forever in perfection. We do not deserve this, but through grace and by faith we receive the gift of eternal life because of His incarnation, death and resurrection.

The whole idea of reincarnation is based on the ancient lie of self-merit, erases the distinction between God and man, and denies the necessity of the re­deeming work of the Word who became flesh. Therefore it is a blasphemous and anti-Christian doctrine.

The theory of the reincarnation of man destroys the truth about the incar­nation of Christ. And it takes away the joy of Christmas. We wish to all our readers that they may be guided by the true preaching of the Word of God to seek life only in the Son of God. Life that never ends.