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Martin Luther thought the ´beast 666´ would be a pope called Benedict
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Original Message
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St John the Divine (a Greek) referred to the second "Beast" in Revelation 13: 11 as a man whose name has the gematraic number value of "six hundred threescore and six" (666). The letters of the Greek alphabet have the gematraic values:
a (alpha ~ a) = 1
b (beta ~ b) = 2
g (gamma ~ g) = 3
d (delta ~ d) = 4
e (epsilon ~ e) = 5
V (stau ~ st/v) = 6*
z (zeta ~ z) = 7
h (eta ~ e) = 8
q (theta ~ th) = 9
i (iota ~ i/j) = 10
k (kappa ~ k) = 20
l (lambda ~ l) = 30
m (mu ~ m) = 40
n (nu ~ n) = 50
x (xi ~ ks) = 60
o (omicron ~ o) = 70
p (pi ~ p) = 80
J (dikappa ~ q) = 90*
r (rho ~ r) = 100
s (sigma ~ s) = 200
t (tau ~ t) = 300
u (upsilon ~ u) = 400
j (phi ~ f) = 500
c (chi ~ ch) = 600
y (psi ~ ps) = 700
w (omega ~ o) = 800
´ (digamma) = 900*
(* = obsolete letters. Ordinary Greek had only 24 letters.)
To indicate that the letters were intended to represent numerical amounts, a small dash was placed beside the character.
It should be emphasized that the practice of gematria in ancient Greece and elsewhere was not a secret code. It was common. If one examines Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, one may observe that in many cases the page-numbers were marked via gematria (so on page 14 one would find the letters ID¢). In
some copies of Revelation, also, the "number of the beast" is written simply as ´cxV´.
The early Christian writer Irenaeus suggested "Lateinos" and "Euanthas" as possible explanations. He admitted that both of these were only guesses. ("Lateinos" is a substandard spelling of "Latinus," the kingdom from which the Roman Empire gradually emerged. Irenaeus didn´t say what "Euanthas" was.) "Teitan" was another guess. As
you can see by calculating the values of the individual letters in the list above, "Lateinos" and "Euanthas" and "Teitan" add up, individually, to a value of 666.
So, 666 may be the numerical value of the characters in a certain Greek name. Many interpreters believe that the name will belong to a worldwide government, or to the leader of a worldwide government that will emerge in the last days. They usually forget to realise that the text of Revelation was Greek, so it is inadmissable to find English words whose letters add in value to 666. To the original readership of Revelation, though, the "mark of the Beast" was a description of certificates which the Roman government issued to to citizens who had made loyalty-oaths to the Roman Emperor.
These loyalty-oaths involved either a statement that Caesar was God, or the offering of incense to a statue of the Emperor. The description in Revelation 13:16 of "a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads" figuratively describes the act of willfully (that is, with one´s head) and physically (that is, with one´s right hand) affirming that Caesar is Divine. The lack of a certificate would disqualify a person from making business transactions (which interlocks with Rev. 13:17, which says, "... no one may buy or sell except those who have the mark: the name of the beast, or the number of his name").
So, to the original readers of Revelation, the Mark of the Beast was simply a way of describing loyalty-oaths to Caesar which involved the performance of an act of worship to
Caesar. Taking the Mark -- willfully making the loyalty-oath -- was to be avoided at all cost; those who made such an oath could expect to be "tormented with fire and
brimstone" as "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever" (Rev. 14:9-11).
It is possible that the loyalty-oaths which the early Christians were tempted to make may be a sort of prototype of a loyalty-oath which Christians in the last days will be tempted to make.
During the Reformation, Martin Luther noted that "Benediktos":
2+5+50+5+4+10+20+300+70+200 = 666
added up to 666 in Greek gematria. He thought it might refer to a Pope named Benedict or to Benedictine monks. We now face the remarkable situation that the new pope has taken the very name that Luther speculated would refer to the Beast 666. The question facing us now is this: do we, like knee-jerk, mindless debunkers, dismiss this as coincidence, or should we take a more sensible, considered attitude than one which requires acceptance of a highly implausible stroke of chance? Roman Catholics will, of course, dismiss the identification out of hand as ridiculous. But then that is to be expected. However, the fact that Luther predicted the very same name for a pope in the end-times that many believe is upon us now requires a more careful, dispassionate discussion. Let´s have it.
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