Reincarnation in the bible

[tem2]

Matthew:17 (KJV)

…And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

It sounds to me like Jesus is telling his disciples that the spirit of Elias reincarnated in the flesh of John the Baptist.

 

[Sherlock]

I don’t see that interpretation at all. I see Jesus telling his disciples that Elias was a prophet just as John the Baptist was. He doesn’t say anything about being reicarnated in the flesh—how did you arrive at that, especially as elsewhere in the Bible it says that man is to die ONCE?

 

[Todd_Easton]

tem2:

Matthew:17 (KJV)

…And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

It sounds to me like Jesus is telling his disciples that the spirit of Elias reincarnated in the flesh of John the Baptist.

Elias (Elijah) didn’t die but was assumed into heaven alive so how could he be reincarnated?

John the Baptist was not Elijah reincarnated but John the Baptist went “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:16-17) in the same way Elisha asked for and received a double share of the spirit of Elijah when he saw Elijah assumed into heaven in a fiery chariot. (2 Kings 2:9-15)

 

[Thomas_More_1]

And even if we granted the extreme interpretation that John the Baptist was Elijah “reincarnated,” we would still have to deal with the fact that everything else that Scripture and Tradition tell us about life and death insists that we live once, we die, and we are judged. Period.