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In the passage John 9:1-12 is there in some translation a reference to reincarnation?

The disciples asked if his parents sinned, but is there a translation referring to other lives of him or his parents?

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Had there been a doctrine of reincarnation in the Gospels, it would have been said clearly, for it is such a central matter. It would be to teach tennis without teaching about rackets and balls. On the contrary, it is most clearly said that there is only one historical life for humans, in which we should work and struggle for our eternal salvation, with no more chance (cf. Hebrews 9:27).

However, could it have been that disciples who asked Him about the matter, had in mind the later Greek doctrine of reincarnation (which came to the Greek philosophy first through Pythagoras and Plato, but was absent before, for in Homer man lives once only and then goes to Hades for all eternity)? I do not exclude this possibility, for the ideas of the Hellenic philosophy were widely spread, and even among Jews there disseminated ideas about rebirth of past prophets (for instance, some think that Jesus could be Jeremiah or one of the past prophets who returned cf. Matthew 16:14, yet, strangely, some think that He may be John the Baptist, who got resurrected (Herod thought so /Mark 6:16/, which is utterly stupid, for who then was Jesus while John was alive? Was John's soul divided into two bodies? - just a rhetorical question to show the stupidity of this supposition).

So, even if the disciples entertained such an idea, their question was wrong, and Jesus did not confirm it.

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  • Thank you very much for your detailed answer. I appreciate that. Nov 14, 2017 at 17:14
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No. I can't really give you any more info because to my knowledge there isn't any. There are no manuscripts where this passage refers to previous lives.

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  • Thank you very much for your response. I appreciate this. Nov 14, 2017 at 17:14

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