@sojourner and @Meandflower
Here's an interesting snippet from the church father Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253) (himself a believer in reincarnation), writing about an early fellow Egyptian Christian preacher called Basilides (taught from 117 to 138 AD) who believed in rebirth and conducted his own exegesis of Romans 7:9, into which he read and imputed transmigration of souls:
Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 1015B
I can actually understand why Basilides (and perhaps Origen himself) interpreted the verse in question in this way, given that St. Paul literally does write: "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived".
Most Christian commentators interpret this as a mere rhetorical point but I can see how an early believer in rebirth, like Basilides at the dawn of the second century, could read it as Paul implying that he had been 'alive' in a past life that was "apart from the law": that is not Jewish and pre-Mosaic covenant (or possibly not even human as Basilides theorised!), then the 'commandment' came with the Sinai covenant and he was born as Saul the Pharisee.
In Origen’s extant writings (and let us note that he is one of Christianity's greatest systematic theologians), we find this:
Origen against Celsus 128
And again Origen's own work, De Principiis:
there were certain causes of prior existence, in consequence of which the souls, before their birth in the body, contracted a certain amount of guilt in their sensitive nature, or in their movements, on account of which they have been judged worthy by Divine Providence of being placed in this condition. ... And it is probable that these movements furnish grounds for merit even before they do anything in this world. (De Principiis III.iii.5)
the cause of each one's actions is a pre-existing one; and then every one, according to his deserts, is made by God either a vessel unto honour or dishonour. (De Principiis III.i.20)
we are of opinion that, seeing the soul, as we have frequently said, is immortal and eternal, it is possible that, in the many and endless periods of duration in the immeasurable and different worlds, it may descend from the highest good to the lowest evil, or be restored from the lowest evil to the highest good. (De Principiis III.i.21)
Whilst the second set of quotes from De Principiis could be understood purely as references to his doctrine of pre-existence of souls, what he says is fully conformable with a belief in transmigration of souls and, indeed, St. Jerome explicitly attributes this to Origen in his letter to Avitus, section 7 (also in Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), in which Jerome quotes the (now lost) Greek text of De Principiis:
Similarly, section 15 of the same letter of Jerome, again quoting Origen:
As for Valentinus (c. AD 100 – c. 160) again, who nearly became Bishop of Rome, the fourth-century church father Epiphanius informs us that he taught reincarnation:
Valentinus's disciple, Theodotus, likewise taught as follows in regards to the liberating power of Christian baptism, by alluding to knowledge of prior lives/births accruing from it:
Here's an interesting snippet from the church father Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253) (himself a believer in reincarnation), writing about an early fellow Egyptian Christian preacher called Basilides (taught from 117 to 138 AD) who believed in rebirth and conducted his own exegesis of Romans 7:9, into which he read and imputed transmigration of souls:
Origen, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans 1015B
Indeed, the Apostle (Paul) has said, "I was once alive apart from the law," [Rom 7:9] at some time or other. That is (Paul means), before I came into this body, I lived in the kind of body that is not subject to the law: the body of a domestic animal or a bird.
I can actually understand why Basilides (and perhaps Origen himself) interpreted the verse in question in this way, given that St. Paul literally does write: "I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived".
Most Christian commentators interpret this as a mere rhetorical point but I can see how an early believer in rebirth, like Basilides at the dawn of the second century, could read it as Paul implying that he had been 'alive' in a past life that was "apart from the law": that is not Jewish and pre-Mosaic covenant (or possibly not even human as Basilides theorised!), then the 'commandment' came with the Sinai covenant and he was born as Saul the Pharisee.
In Origen’s extant writings (and let us note that he is one of Christianity's greatest systematic theologians), we find this:
Origen against Celsus 128
Or is it not more in conformity with reason, that every soul, for certain mysterious reasons (I speak now according to the opinion of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Empedocles, whom Celsus frequently names), is introduced into a body, and introduced according to its deserts and former actions? It is probable, therefore, that this soul also, which conferred more benefit by its residence in the flesh than that of many men (to avoid prejudice, I do not say "all"), stood in need of a body not only superior to others, but invested with all excellent qualities.
(Against Celsus)
(Against Celsus)
And again Origen's own work, De Principiis:
there were certain causes of prior existence, in consequence of which the souls, before their birth in the body, contracted a certain amount of guilt in their sensitive nature, or in their movements, on account of which they have been judged worthy by Divine Providence of being placed in this condition. ... And it is probable that these movements furnish grounds for merit even before they do anything in this world. (De Principiis III.iii.5)
the cause of each one's actions is a pre-existing one; and then every one, according to his deserts, is made by God either a vessel unto honour or dishonour. (De Principiis III.i.20)
we are of opinion that, seeing the soul, as we have frequently said, is immortal and eternal, it is possible that, in the many and endless periods of duration in the immeasurable and different worlds, it may descend from the highest good to the lowest evil, or be restored from the lowest evil to the highest good. (De Principiis III.i.21)
Whilst the second set of quotes from De Principiis could be understood purely as references to his doctrine of pre-existence of souls, what he says is fully conformable with a belief in transmigration of souls and, indeed, St. Jerome explicitly attributes this to Origen in his letter to Avitus, section 7 (also in Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), in which Jerome quotes the (now lost) Greek text of De Principiis:
And again: "but perhaps this coarse and earthly body ought to be described as mist and darkness; for at the end of this world and when it becomes necessary to pass into another, the like darkness will lead to the like physical birth." In speaking thus he clearly pleads for the transmigration of souls as taught by Pythagoras and Plato.
Similarly, section 15 of the same letter of Jerome, again quoting Origen:
The following passage is a convincing proof that he holds the transmigration of souls and annihilation of bodies. "If it can be shown that an incorporeal and reasonable being has life in itself independently of the body and that it is worse off in the body than out of it; then beyond a doubt bodies are only of secondary importance and arise from time to time to meet the varying conditions of reasonable creatures. Those who require bodies are clothed with them, and contrariwise, when fallen souls have lifted themselves up to better things, their bodies are once more annihilated. They are thus ever vanishing and ever reappearing."
As for Valentinus (c. AD 100 – c. 160) again, who nearly became Bishop of Rome, the fourth-century church father Epiphanius informs us that he taught reincarnation:
Valentinus and Colarbasus, and all gnostics and Manichaeans, claim that there is a reincarnation of souls, and that there are transmigrations of the soul of (spiritually) ignorant persons – as they themselves call them.... They say that the soul returns and is reembodied in each of the animals until it recognizes (the truth), and is thus cleansed and set free, and departs to the heavens
(Epiphanius, Panarion)
Valentinus's disciple, Theodotus, likewise taught as follows in regards to the liberating power of Christian baptism, by alluding to knowledge of prior lives/births accruing from it:
Theodotus (2nd century, Excerpta ex Theodoto 78)
78 Until baptism, they say, Fate is real, but after it the astrologists are no longer right. But it is not only the washing of baptism that is liberating, but the knowledge of who we were, and what we have become, where we were or where we were placed, whither we hasten, from what we are redeemed, what birth is and what rebirth.
Last edited:
