The Valentinian Understanding of Matthew 10:28 and the Rejection of Reincarnation

 **The Valentinian Understanding of Matthew 10:28 and the Rejection of Reincarnation**    

Matthew 10:28 states:  

*"Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."*  

Valentinian theology, as expressed in the writings of Heracleon and Theodotus, rejects the notion of reincarnation. Their interpretation of Matthew 10:28 emphasizes that the soul is not an immortal, transmigrating entity but is instead perishable, subject to destruction along with the body. This stands in direct opposition to the idea that the soul is continually reborn into different bodies.  

### **Heracleon’s Refutation of Immortality and Reincarnation**  

Heracleon, an early Valentinian commentator, explicitly uses Matthew 10:28 to refute the idea of an immortal soul. He states:  

*"By the words ‘it was at the point of death,’ the teaching of those who claim that the soul is immortal is refuted. In agreement with this is the statement that ‘the body and soul are destroyed in Gehenna.’ (Matthew 10:28) The soul is not immortal, but is possessed only of a disposition towards salvation, for it is the perishable which puts on imperishability and the mortal which puts on immortality when ‘its death is swallowed up in victory.’ (1 Corinthians 15:54)"* (*Fragment 40, on John 4:46-53*)  

Heracleon directly challenges the idea that the soul exists eternally in different forms. Instead of teaching that the soul reincarnates, he emphasizes that it is *perishable*—it does not continue in an endless cycle of rebirths. Rather, it must be transformed, putting on imperishability through divine intervention, specifically at the Resurrection. If the soul could move from one body to another, as in reincarnation, it would be inherently immortal and not subject to ultimate destruction, which Heracleon explicitly denies.  

### **Theodotus on the Soul’s Corporeality and Final Judgment**  

Theodotus further reinforces this view by arguing that the soul is corporeal and does not survive independently in an eternal cycle of reincarnation. He states:  

*"The demons are said to be incorporeal, not because they have no bodies (for they have even shape and are, therefore, capable of feeling punishment), but they are said to be incorporeal because, in comparison with the spiritual bodies which are saved, they are a shade. And the angels are bodies; at any rate they are seen. Why even the soul is a body, for the Apostle says, ‘It is sown a body of soul, it is raised a body of spirit.’ And how can the souls which are being punished be sensible of it, if they are not bodies? Certainly he says, ‘Fear him who, after death, is able to cast soul and body into Gehenna.’"* (*Theodotus 14*)  

By affirming that the soul is a *body*, Theodotus denies the dualistic idea that the soul exists apart from the physical realm in a cyclical rebirth process. In reincarnation beliefs, the soul is typically seen as an immaterial essence that migrates from one body to another. Theodotus refutes this by arguing that the soul, like the body, is corporeal and therefore subject to dissolution rather than transmigration. If the soul could move between bodies, it would need to be an independent, non-physical essence—an idea that Valentinianism rejects.  

### **Destruction in Gehenna as the Final End**  

Theodotus continues this theme by emphasizing that the psychic nature, which includes both the body and the soul, can be permanently destroyed:  

*"Therefore man is in man, ‘psychic’ in ‘earthly,’ not consisting as part to part but united as whole to whole by God's unspeakable power. Therefore he was created in Paradise in the fourth heaven. For there earthly flesh does not ascend but it was to the divine soul as material flesh. This is the meaning of ‘This is now bone of my bones,’ – he hints at the divine soul which is hidden in the flesh, firm and hard to suffer and very potent, – and ‘flesh of my flesh’ – the material soul which is the body of the divine soul. Concerning these two also, the Saviour says, ‘That is to be feared which can destroy this soul and this body, the psychic one, in Gehenna.’"* (*Theodotus 51*)  

Here, Theodotus clarifies that Jesus’ warning in Matthew 10:28 concerns the final destruction of the *psychic* nature—both body and soul—in Gehenna. This destruction is not a transition to another life but a definitive end. If reincarnation were true, destruction in Gehenna would be temporary, merely a transition before rebirth into another body. However, Theodotus, like Heracleon, insists that the psychic self is completely subject to annihilation unless it is transformed through salvation.  

### **The Valentinian Alternative to Reincarnation: The Resurrection**  

Rather than teaching reincarnation, Valentinianism emphasizes the Resurrection as the means by which those destined for salvation attain imperishability. Heracleon’s reference to *1 Corinthians 15:54*—*"the perishable puts on imperishability"*—demonstrates that eternal life is not a matter of repeated earthly existences but a singular transformation at the end of the age. This aligns with Paul’s teaching that the body of the soul is *sown* as perishable but *raised* as imperishable (*1 Corinthians 15:42-44*).  In 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, the "natural body" (σῶμα ψυχικόν) refers to the "body of the soul," indicating that the body and soul are equivalent expressions. The "natural body" is not merely a vessel for the soul but is itself the soul in its embodied form, showing they are synonymous. Paul’s use of "soul-body" terminology affirms that the body and soul, in this context, represent the same entity rather than two separate components.*.  

### **Conclusion: Valentinianism Rejects Reincarnation**  

The Valentinian interpretation of Matthew 10:28 provides a strong argument against reincarnation:  

1. **The Soul Is Not Immortal** – Heracleon explicitly denies the immortality of the soul, which contradicts the fundamental premise of reincarnation.  

2. **The Soul Is Corporeal and Perishable** – Theodotus argues that the soul, being a body, does not transmigrate but is subject to destruction along with the physical form.  

3. **Gehenna Represents Final Destruction, Not a Transition** – Matthew 10:28 is interpreted as a warning against the ultimate annihilation of the psychic self, not as a reference to the soul continuing in another body.  

4. **Salvation Comes Through Resurrection, Not Rebirth** – Instead of multiple lives, the Valentinian hope is for transformation through Resurrection, where the perishable is *clothed with imperishability*.  

Ultimately, Valentinian theology does not support the idea of reincarnation. The soul does not migrate from one existence to another but is either transformed into a spiritual body through salvation or faces destruction in Gehenna. This interpretation of Matthew 10:28 affirms a linear eschatology focused on Resurrection, rather than the cyclical framework of reincarnation.