In addition to its social and economic consequences, the COVID-19 pandemic also raised a religious question that has been raised every time there has been a major change in society: did the wearing of the mask, the anti-COVID vaccine or the green certificate have anything to do with the mark of the beast or the number 666 in the last book of the Bible, Revelation?
The same question was asked when barcodes, RFID tags, bank cards, health cards or e-passports were introduced. But throughout history it is not only technology that has been identified with the mark of the beast. People and periods of time have been identified with the mark of the beast, or the mark of the beast has been seen as a symbol of human imperfection. An overview of these approaches is useful in understanding contemporary attempts at clarification. The purpose of this article is to provide such an overview and to suggest some directions for a biblical-theological interpretation of the concept.
The mark of the beast appears in the Bible only in the book of Revelation, for the first time in chapter 13, verses 16-18: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.”
This passage has aroused the interest of theologians in every period of history over the last two millennia. Their interpretations can be classified according to the explicit historical applicability of the concept. Thus, the main variants of interpretation place the prophetic fulfilment in the distant past (preterism), in the near future (futurism) or throughout history (historicism). A fourth variant emphasises its spiritual, not historical, fulfilment (idealism).[1]
In order to identify the apocalyptic beast, and therefore its sign, traditional interpretations, both preterist and some historicist, resort to gematria,[2] the practice of assigning numerical values to different words.
This practice is based on the fact that in ancient languages such as Hebrew, Greek or Latin, the letters of the alphabet were also used as numbers.[3] In an attempt to limit the application of apocalyptic prophecies to the first Christian century in particular, the standard preterist interpretation identifies the Roman emperor Nero (37-68) as the Antichrist, because the transliteration of the name Nero Caesar into Hebrew or Aramaic is Nrwn Qsr, whose value is 666.[4] However, this approach is relatively recent and was not mentioned by early Christian interpreters such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus or Victorinus. They tended to favour a historicist approach in their study of the Antichrist’s beast and its mark. Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 200) gives several possible names whose gematria in Greek is 666: Evanthas (ΕΥΑΝΘΑΣ), Lateinos (ΛΑΤΕΙΟΣ), and Teitan (ΤΕΙΤΑΝ). However, Irenaeus avoids making a definite statement, noting that “had it been necessary to announce his [the Antichrist’s] name clearly at the present time, it would have been stated by the one who saw the revelation.”[5] Hippolytus of Rome, in his treatise De Christo et Antichristo (c. 200), maintains the same reservation as Irenaeus regarding the identification of the sign of the beast, although he seems to favour the generic term Latinus.[6] Irenaeus is also followed by Victorinus of Pettau (d. 300), who in his commentary on the Book of Revelation chooses the Teitan variant, which he translates into Latin as DICLUX.[7]
During the Middle Ages, the apocalyptic language of the mark of the beast was often used for political purposes in the struggle for papal succession, in which Emperor Frederick II (1194-1250) was involved. When Pope Innocent IV dethroned the emperor by accusing him, through Cardinal Rainer of Viterbo (d. 1250), of being the Antichrist, Frederick’s supporters responded by pointing out that Innocencius papa had the numerical value of 666.[8] Later, during the Reformation, most Protestant interpreters claimed that the Roman pontiff was the Antichrist.[9] The reformers did not use gematria, but considered the number 666 to represent years. For example, in 1557, Heinrich Bullinger claimed that the date of the writing of the book of Revelation during the reign of Domitian (81-96) was the starting point for the 666 years leading up to the time of the Frankish king Pepin III (crowned Pope in 754), who offered territories to the Pope using the false document of the “Donation of Constantine” as a precedent. This interpretation was supported by other interpreters throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.[10]
Nevertheless, gematria has not been abandoned by biblical scholars. Approaching the subject from a historicist perspective, Andreas Helwig (c. 1572-1643) proposed the title Vicarius Filii Dei, whose numerical value in Latin is 666,[11] and its introduction into the commentary on Revelation by the Adventist theologian Uriah Smith (1832-1903)[12] made this interpretation popular among Seventh-day Adventists.[13]
Catholic reaction to the identification of the Roman pontiff with the Antichrist, especially since the Reformation, was not long in coming. The Spanish Catholic scholar Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) published a commentary on the book of Revelation in 1590, projecting many of its prophecies into the future.[14] In Ribera’s vision, the Antichrist, whose name is coded as 666, would conquer the world and abolish Christianity within three-and-a-half years in the future. Ribera’s futurist view entered Protestantism through Samuel R. Maitland (1792-1866) and was later incorporated into the dispensationalist system.[15] In the version popularised by the Left Behind series of books written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the Antichrist, who will come after the rapture of the faithful into heaven, will rule the world for seven years.[16] According to LaHaye and Jenkins, the mark of the Antichrist will be an implanted chip that will allow financial transactions, indicate the bearer’s region of origin and the initials of the fictional Antichrist, Nicolae Jetty Carpathia.[17]
In contrast to earlier views, the idealist perspective rejects the identification of the mark of the beast with a literal element. Rather, 666 represents a triad symbolising imperfection, just as the number seven is the symbol of perfection in Revelation.[18] The number 666 symbolises the false religion embodied by the Antichrist’s beast.[19] This beast, coming out of the sea, has seven heads and appears to be good. But appearances are deceptive, for the number of the beast emphasises its imperfection.[20]
Where the preterist, futurist or idealist perspectives do not allow for the true applicability of the prophecies of Revelation throughout history, the historicist perspective seeks to correct this. More often than not, however, even this perspective has fallen prey to the temptation to trace every textual detail back to history, or to interpret prophecy in terms of current events rather than Scripture itself.[21]
According to the Protestant principle of Sacra Scriptura sui ipsius interpres (“Holy Scripture is its own interpreter”),[22] the mark of the beast can be understood in the biblical context by taking into account the Old Testament background.[23]
In Revelation 13:16-18, we find that the mark of the beast is presented as a “sign commandment”, counterfeiting the mark of God written on the foreheads of those who are faithful to Him (Revelation 14:1). The beast’s sign commandment is addressed to all social classes, concerns the economic sphere, denotes the beast’s authority, has an associated number (666), and aims to impose false worship (Revelation 13:15). Since most of the symbols in Revelation are found in the Old Testament,[24] identification of the mark of the beast should begin there.
The Old Testament presents several categories of sign commandments. These include general commandments (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) but also specific commandments such as circumcision (Exodus 17:11), the Passover (Exodus 13:9, 16) or the Sabbath (Exodus 31:13, 17). An examination of these passages reveals some characteristics of these sign commandments. First, they commemorate an experience with God. Second, they identify the unique relationship between God and humans. Third, the commandments are about a specific practice that makes inner worship visible.
Which of these commandments is the background to the false sign commandment in Revelation 13? It can only be a commandment that addresses all social categories, relates to the economic sphere, identifies an authority, and has a number associated with it. From the above list, only the Sabbath commandment can be the mark of God in Revelation, which is counterfeited by the mark of the beast. The fourth commandment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:8-11) is addressed to all human beings, deals with the realm of economic activity, identifies God as an authority, has a number attached to it (the Sabbath is the seventh day), and represents the visible form of worship to God.
However tempting the associations with contemporary events that have the appearance of a sign commandment (bar codes, chips, green certificates, etc.), the mark of the beast can only be interpreted from a biblical perspective.
Only in this way can the reader be protected from the excesses and disappointments that inevitably result from a sincere desire to identify the contemporary applicability of apocalyptic prophecies. Since the beast seeks to impose false worship, his mark, symbolically represented by the number 666, refers to a false day of worship imposed by religious authorities using civil power. Practising authentic worship today is the way everyone can be prepared to distinguish the false from the true when it is imposed.
Adrian Petre believes that the sign of the beast, in the biblical context in which it appears, can only be understood as a counterfeit of the authentic sign, the Sabbath, the tangible form of worship to God.
