Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 616."
Fourth century fragment from the Oxyrhynchus papyri.
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Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 616."
Fourth century fragment from the Oxyrhynchus papyri.
It's been known since early last century that some early versions of the John's Gospel have the famous Number of the Beast represented as 616 rather than the more conventional 666.
This alternative formulation for the Number of the Beast as 616 is very ancient and is attested to by St Irenaeus of Lyon who, writing (in Greek) in the middle of the second century AD, attributed it to scribal error:
? Alpha 1
? Iota 10
? Rho 100
? Beta 2
? Kappa 20
? / ? Sigma 200
? Gamma 3
? Lamda 30
? Tau 300
? Delta 4
? Mu 40
? Upsilon 400
? Epsilon 5
? Nu 50
? Phi 500
? Stigma
6
? Xi 60
? Chi 600
? Zeta 7
? Omicron 70
? Psi 700
? Eta 8
? Pi 80
? Omega 800
? Theta 9
G Koppa 90
? Sampi 900 The Greeks used a number system which assigned separate letters for 1,2,3... etc. 10, 20, 30... etc. and 100, 200, 300... etc. While vastly simpler and more elegant than Roman Numerals, for numbers above a thousand, the system became very cumbersome to work with. It would take the Hindus and the invention of zero before a true place-notation number system could allow numbers to easily grow without limits.
Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies, and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which [expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the recapitulations of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which occurred at the beginning, during the intermediate periods, and which shall take place at the end),The standard form therefore according to Irenaeus was ??? (Chi Xi Stigma) or 600 + 60 + 6 = 666 and any other version is in error. The purpose of this number was to enable the faithful to recognise the Antichrist when he finally emerged and it was given in a numeric rather than literal form because even the very name of the Antichrist was an abomination and as such not worthy of mention in the holy book. Irenaeus explains that the number is derived from a common Greek practice of calculating numbers from names known as Isopsephy (or Gematria in Hebrew*). The usual way was to convert the letters of the person's name into numbers and then simply add them together. By this method, for example, the Greek rendering of Jesus, ??????, adds up to 888**.
?I do not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that instead of six decads they will have it that there is but one. Others then received this reading without examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility, making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the erroneous and spurious number.