Argument from Numerology
Another Unorganized Argument
A brief housekeeping note: I am, contrary to all outward evidence, working on some really cool stuff. It’s tough to carve out time to write amid Ph.D. applications, prepping seminars/OCIA, and the general demands of campus ministry when school is in session. Nevertheless, good things are on the way. Two upcoming pieces I’m very excited about are “A Love Letter to Evangelicalism,” and “Both ‘Both/And’ and ‘Either/Or.’”
Don’t take this one too seriously.
There are 73 books in the Bible used by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox communions. This has clear numerological resonances. Numerology, the use of numbers to represent spiritual truths in Scripture, is real. The Catholic Encyclopedia’s entry ‘The Use of Numbers in the Church” notes its presence in ancient Christianity:
…although the Fathers repeatedly condemned the magical use of numbers which had descended from [pagans,] still they almost unanimously regarded the numbers of Holy Writ as full of mystical meaning, and they considered the interpretation of these mystical meanings as an important branch of exegesis.
The Fathers comment on it extensively, Jesus Himself draws the disciples’ attention to numerology built into His miracles, and the rabbinic tradition is downright obsessed with numbers. So it seems we cannot dismiss it out of hand.
7 is the number of creaturely perfection, appearing first in the 7 days of creation, culminating in God’s sacred rest. In Hebrew, “7” is the same as the word for “rest,” so it’s unclear whether 7 was named after the Sabbath or vice versa; in either case the association goes all the way down. Later in the Old Testament, the Jubilee is scheduled to take place every 7x7 years, while in the New Testament, the disciples gather 7 baskets of leftovers after Jesus feeds the 4,000. We are commanded to forgive our brother 7x70 times. So 7 represents God’s gracious work bringing His creation to its proper state, its shalom.1
3 is the number of divinity, a bit more elusive in the Biblical narrative. 3 angels appear to Abraham, and 3 items go into the Ark of the Covenant (all of which are figures of Christ). Augustine divides the 10 Commandments into 3 about God and 7 about man. Above all, 3 is of course the number of the Trinity, the highest truth of the Faith.
Put these together, and 73 represents God bringing perfected creation into contact with divinity. The technical term for this is theosis, a major element of patristic thought championed by Aquinas and many recent Catholic theologians. That 73 comes out very well, I think few would contest.
We get 73 by adding together the 46 books of the Old Testament with the 27 books of the New. The chief association with 4 is the Gospels, but that would be somewhat anachronistic. The more plausible association is 40, which marks periods of moral trial. The waters flood the earth for 40 days and nights while Noah waits aboard the ark.2 The Israelites wander the desert for 40 years as penance and preparation to enter the Promised Land, and Jesus does spiritual combat in the wilderness for 40 days at the start of His ministry. 6 represents falling short of God’s intentions. It is all the toil of creation without the Sabbath, the rest set aside to remember God and walk with Him in the cool of the day. Thus, the story of the Old Testament is the story of God’s people constantly failing to live up to the moral life He calls them to. It seems they will need divine assistance.
46 is rescued by 27.
2 represents creation, especially its pinnacle, man. Throughout the whole creation narrative, God creates things in pairs. The light and the dark, the sky and the sea, the sea and the land, male and female animals, and above all man himself, ruler of the visible world, created as men and women. 27 is therefore God redeeming man, restoring our wounded nature to perfection, the need for which was revealed by our failed trials.
How many books in the Protestant Bible? 66. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is one 6 shy of the number of the Beast, but the association is difficult to miss. Even if the connection to the Antichrist is completely denied, 66 is still an uncomfortable number for Sacred Scripture, since it represents not one, but two failures to make it to 7, God’s perfect intention for creation. Not only that, but the fact that it’s exactly 7 books short of the Catholic and Orthodox 73? Odd indeed. Moreover, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from William Tapley,3 my favorite schismatic conspiracy theorist—and there is exactly one thing—it’s this: one reason 666 is the number of the Beast in Revelation is that it is yielded by the fraction 2/3. Using the associations we’ve already established, 2/3 numerologically works out to “man over God”—a sin known as pride. If the Catholic allegation that the Reformers subtracted inspired books from the Bible is right, it would certainly be an instance of humans attempting to play judge over God, even ascribing them the best possible felt motivations.
The obvious trouble with this type of argument is that it can seem a wax nose—so flexible that it will assume any shape, fit any pre-selected conclusion. This worry should be taken seriously, and provides a welcome reminder to apportion our confidence to the evidence. I recognize that the numerological argument is unlikely to convince anyone to become Catholic (in part because strictly speaking the argument works equally in favor of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox communions). Yet I think the argument is good for this: it introduces another small dose of cognitive dissonance into the Protestant picture, like noticing a minor plothole in a movie you’ve seen a thousand times before. And we’re not out on a limb with the associations of 73 or 66—those are some of the most symbol-laden numbers in the Bible. Isn’t it rather peculiar that the Hebrew tradition, which attends so closely to these details, should produce a set of scriptures whose number reminds us of nothing so much as the Devil? Is it simply a divine oversight? An accident to be ignored? Or could it be a hint that although the Protestant Bible has a great deal of God’s truth, it lacks the full perfection of the Faith, leaving its readers undernourished in their pursuit of Christ?
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The apparent counter-example is Lamech, who boasts that while Cain suffered a 7-fold vengeance, his own crimes will require a 77-fold retribution. Augustine has a fascinating take on this, but the short is that Jesus cancels out Lamech’s curse when he tells Peter to forgive a brother 7 times 70 times. Jesus cancels the “perfect” evil of Lamech with a mercy beyond all expectations.
For those willing to do a bit of math, as the people at Answers In Genesis have, you’ll notice that the flood stops in the 3rd month on the 27th day. The earth is dry exactly one year later, emphasizing these numbers to us. Keep them in mind for what follows.
Linking the video here so you’re forced to read this footnote emphasizing that I only watch Tapley for entertainment value. He is out of communion with the Catholic Church and should not be taken seriously. But after laughing at this video for the fourth or fifth time with friends, I came to think that his point about the fraction 2/3 was actually pretty reasonable. As the saying goes, “If God and speak through Balaam’s ass…” Anyways, here’s the video if you’re looking for a laugh.