Subject: What is 666? |
Bible Note: Greetings Dschaertel! There are some major difficulties with identifying Nero as the one who is referred to in Rev. 13:18. Below is a repost of some comments I had previously posted about this verse. ********************************* There are three very significant problems with identifying the mark as standing for Nero. 1) The verse does not explain how this number is obtained or even what it means. Therefore, one must assume that the writer intended his readers to assign numerical values to the letters and add them up. This is a major assumption. 2) Secondly, the variant reading of '616' as oppossed to '666' is very weak. '666' doesn't work with Nero at all, yet it is the far better attested reading. 3) Finally, even the '616' reading only works with a little 'help'. Here is what Leon Morris says in his Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Revelation: "In modern times the most favoured solution is 'Nero Caesar' (if the final letter be omited to give the equivalent of the Latin spelling of the name the total is 616, the variant reading). But to get this result we must use the Greek form of the Latin name, transliterated into Hebrew characters, and with a variant spelling at that (the vowel letter y has to be omitted from qysr)." (pg. 169). ********************************** I hope this helps! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |