RESURRECTION AND REINCARNATION

The Christian understanding of resurrection is very different from the idea of reincarnation as found in religions such as Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The Hindu Vedas teach that the dead will inherit an afterlife, wearing “another body”. Svarga (heaven) is the reward for a virtuous life, and a dark world, naraka loka, serves to punish evildoers. But the Upanishads that followed the Vedas declare that the performance of virtuous acts like sacrifices is insufficient to retain a place in heaven and leads only to continued births in this world.

Hence a belief in karma (the consequence of all one’s actions in this life and in previous ones) and samsara (the endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth) emerged. A person’s present life is believed to be the fruit of acts performed in previous lives. Karma is thus the law of automatic justice. All present pleasures, pains and sufferings are the direct results of past actions. The soul transmigrates from one life form to another human or nonhuman being, depending on one’s karma.

Karma and reincarnation have been employed to explain social inequalities and human suffering and to justify the traditional caste system. These concepts tend to breed indifference towards suffering.

While the Hindu ideal would be to live virtuously in the present so as to obtain a better rebirth, the ultimate goal is moksha, liberation from the cycle of samsara and achieving union of atman (the soul) with the ultimate reality, Brahman.

Reincarnation in Buddhism is not the re-embodiment of a soul, spirit or person but is the transference of karmic bundles of action from one life to another. The primary goal of a Buddhist is nirvana (cessation). This goal is reached by following the path that the Buddha taught. Those who have not attained nirvana are still subject to the cycle of samsara.

Belief in the resurrection is foundational to the Christian faith, but is wholly dissimilar to reincarnation. According to Judeo-Christian teaching, humans have only one life, not an infinite series of lives.

Our status and situation in the present are not the result of past karma. However, there is a judgement at the end of our lives (Heb 9:27). The prophet Daniel says, “multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan 12:2). This “awakening” is echoed in the book of Revelation, where all the dead are resurrected and judged, receiving either eternal life or condemnation (Rev 20:4-6,11-15).

For Christians, the doctrine of resurrection is built upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who profoundly affects their present life as well as the life to come (John 11:25-26). First, in this life, believers are saved from spiritual death and experience victory over sin. The Spirit of the risen Christ works in their lives to make them alive to God (Rom 6:8- 11; 8:11). Secondly, in the life to come, the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes it possible for believers to be saved from physical death and experience victory over death (1 Cor 15:55- 57). Christ is the firstfruits of all who will rise from the dead. Just as Jesus rose bodily from the dead, so believers will be raised from the dead and receive a new body at the time of Christ’s second coming.

Those in Christ who are alive at his coming will be translated to glory (1 Cor 15:20-23, 51-52; 1 Thess 4:13-18). Paul describes our resurrection body in terms of a heavenly, spiritual, imperishable, glorious and powerful mode of existence (Matt 22:30; 1 Cor 15:35-

44; Phil 3:20- 21) – as seen in the resurrected Jesus. Resurrected believers are morally and spiritually perfected (Eph 1:4; Col 1:22; Jude 24) and experience fullness in understanding (1 Cor 13:12; 1 John 3:2).

A South Asian thinker, P. Chenchiah, argues that belief in the resurrection of the body counters the Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of maya (the belief that the world we experience is an illusion), and is evidence of God’s love for material creation. Thus life after death is not an absorption into God but an embodied life.

Further, the resurrection involves a transformed community of believers who enjoy the presence of God forever (Rev 21:1-5) whereas the wicked and unrighteous are also resurrected in the end, but are condemned to everlasting punishment (Rev 20:12-15). Indeed, the risen Christ can be justifiably regarded as the firstfruits of the life of the kingdom of God, in which the power of death and oppression are overcome.

Finally, we may look at the resurrection of Christ as a clue to the future consummation of the entire created order and the seed of a redemptive movement that has already begun. R. Panikkar and Stanley Samartha have elaborated on this idea in their writings.

In summary, the Christian doctrine of resurrection is absolutely unlike the Hindu and Buddhist ideas of reincarnation. Instead of an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth, Christians expect a future life in a new heaven and new earth. While there is divine judgement after life on earth, there is present hope for all people. Christ offers forgiveness of sins through his atoning death on the cross. His resurrection promises a victorious earthly life and a glorious resurrected afterlife for the believer.

Enoch Charles