Numbers often have significance in scripture, and while speculations regarding them can be taken to extreme, especially regarding hidden codes, the explicit numbers regarding a passage or doctrine may have significance. For example, there are 12 tribes in the Old Testament, 12 apostles in the New Testament, and 12 gates in heaven. The number 12 is used consistently in this manner representing governmental perfection. This section will investigate the possible significance of numbers regarding spiritual gifts. The analysis is meant only to provide ideas for others to consider and is admittedly speculative.
If we accept the number 16 as the number of permanent gifts, there are four numbers to examine: Sixteen and the three factors of sixteen, which are two, four, and eight. The primary source for this section is E. W. Bullinger’s Number in Scripture, which is over a century old but still considered by many to be the unsurpassed leader in its field. All scripture reference is from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
2 X 8 = 16, or 2² X 2² = 16, or 2³ X 2 = 16, or 2 to the fourth power =16.
Difference
Two implies that there is a difference.
The MBTI framework shows us exactly four dimensions of difference. Each of the sixteen types differs from one other type along each of the four dimensions. E/I; S/N; T/F; and J/P.
Witness
Two is also a number of witness. There are two witnesses in Revelation 11. It is by two or three witnesses that a thing is established, or verified. (Deu 19:15)(Mat 18:16) All of the gifts together make up the church, or Christ’s Body, which now becomes the witness of Christ on earth.
Acts 1:8 “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NRSV)
4 is the square root of 16. 4 x 4 = 16.
Completeness of the material creation
This concept is more difficult to relate to spiritual gifts, but here is a suggestion,
• Creation is a reflection of the Trinity
• The body of Christ is a reflection of the Trinity
Is creation therefore a reflection of the body of Christ? Concepts in quantum physics are especially intriguing in this regard, mainly awareness of particles at a distance and the concept of non-locality (relative locality). Although Christ is preexistent, His Body is created, and is the ultimate and eternal part of the creation.
8 X 2 = 16
Super-abundance
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.”
John 10:10b “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...”
Regeneration
The first cube
Our body, and corporately the Church, is now the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 3:16-17, 6:19), which replaces the original tabernacle and Temple in both form and function.
If eight is the first cubic number, then sixteen is the first power of four (2 raised to the fourth power is 16). If a cube speaks of “transcendent perfection” in three dimensions, then does the power of four speak of transcendent perfection in four dimensions? The fourth dimension as we know it is time, and the body of Christ is accordingly both preexistent (Ephesians 1:4) and eternal (Ephesians 2:7, I Thessalonians 4:17). Although the tabernacle and temple have already passed away, the Body of Christ will transcend time.
Sixteen, the number of permanent gifts, appears significant only in being the fourth power of two. It does not appear as a significant number in any reference I could find. It is, though, not the complete number of the body of Christ; it is the number of the body without a head. The head is Christ, which adds one to our total, giving us seventeen.
Even when all 16 gifts are together, the Church can be divided, as 16 can be divided by the factors of 2, 4, or 8. When Christ is added, however, the total becomes the prime number 17, which indicates that all of the gifts plus Christ creates an indivisible whole.
The triangular number of 17 is 153. This number is obtained by adding up all integers less than and up to 17.
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17 = 153
153 is the number of fish caught by the disciples after Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat (John 21: 1-11).
The total number of the elect and the Body of Christ are essentially the same thing. The method of reaching 153 from 17 is also interesting. If you start with one gift the triangular total is one. The second gift adds two to the total, giving us the triangular number of 3. The pattern is that each additional gift is counted as more than the previous one. One method of representing the mathematics is that the triangular number equals the number of gifts plus the number of gift combinations. For example, if we have two gifts, teaching and encouragement, the triangular number is three. That is two gifts plus one combination.
Two gifts
Teaching
Encouragement
One combination
Teaching + Encouragement
Total
Three
The math works for any combination of gifts, i.e. the triangular number of 5 is 15,
1+2+3+4+5 = 15
Pick any five gifts as an example,
Mercy
Faith
Leadership
Wisdom
Giving
These five gifts can form ten possible combinations,
Mercy + Faith
Mercy + Leadership
Mercy + Wisdom
Mercy + Giving
Faith + Leadership
Faith + Wisdom
Faith + Giving
Leadership + Wisdom
Leadership + Giving
Wisdom + Giving
The five gifts plus the ten combinations = 15
Possible implications of this mathematical arrangement are (1) that a combination of two gifts is as valuable as a third gift, and (2) that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
It is also interesting to note the parallel of 153 to another triangular number, 666, which is the triangular number of 36.
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18+19+20
+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28+29+30+31+32+33+34+35+36 = 666
Both 153 and 666 represent the physical manifestation of spiritual entities on earth. Jesus Christ’s physical presence on earth is through his Body, the Church, here symbolized in the catch of 153 fish. Satan’s incarnation on earth will be through the Antichrist, whose number is 666. The odds that two such numbers of comparable size would both be triangular numbers is less than 2 in 1000. This suggests more than coincidence. There may also, then, be a parallel between the numbers 17 and 36. It is not clear, however, what the number 36 would represent.
References
[1] E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1997), 92.
[2] Bullinger, 123.
[3] Bullinger, 196.
[4] Bullinger, 200.
[5] Bullinger, 201.
[6] Bullinger, 258.
[7] Bullinger, 273.
[8] Bullinger, 273.
If we accept the number 16 as the number of permanent gifts, there are four numbers to examine: Sixteen and the three factors of sixteen, which are two, four, and eight. The primary source for this section is E. W. Bullinger’s Number in Scripture, which is over a century old but still considered by many to be the unsurpassed leader in its field. All scripture reference is from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
Two
2 X 8 = 16, or 2² X 2² = 16, or 2³ X 2 = 16, or 2 to the fourth power =16.
Difference
Two implies that there is a difference.
• “It is the first number by which we can divide another, and therefore in all its uses we may trace this fundamental idea of division or difference.”[1]Rom 12:8 “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” (NRSV)
The MBTI framework shows us exactly four dimensions of difference. Each of the sixteen types differs from one other type along each of the four dimensions. E/I; S/N; T/F; and J/P.
Witness
Two is also a number of witness. There are two witnesses in Revelation 11. It is by two or three witnesses that a thing is established, or verified. (Deu 19:15)(Mat 18:16) All of the gifts together make up the church, or Christ’s Body, which now becomes the witness of Christ on earth.
Acts 1:8 “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NRSV)
Four
4 is the square root of 16. 4 x 4 = 16.
Completeness of the material creation
• "Now the number four is made up of three and one (3+1= 4), and it denotes, therefore, and marks that which follows the revelation of God in the Trinity, namely, His creative works. He is known by the things that are seen...the number four always has reference to all that is created."[2]
This concept is more difficult to relate to spiritual gifts, but here is a suggestion,
• Creation is a reflection of the Trinity
• The body of Christ is a reflection of the Trinity
Is creation therefore a reflection of the body of Christ? Concepts in quantum physics are especially intriguing in this regard, mainly awareness of particles at a distance and the concept of non-locality (relative locality). Although Christ is preexistent, His Body is created, and is the ultimate and eternal part of the creation.
Eight
8 X 2 = 16
Super-abundance
• “As a number it is the super-abundant number.”[3]
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things.”
John 10:10b “I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”
Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us...”
Regeneration
• “It is 7 plus 1. Hence it is the number specially associated with Resurrection and Regeneration, and the beginning of a new era or order.”[4]Titus 3:5-6 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
The first cube
• “Eight is the first cubic number...we see something of transcendent perfection indicated, something, the length and breadth and height of which are equal. This significance of the cube is seen in the fact that the “Holy of Holies,” both in the tabernacle and in the Temple, were cubes.”[5]
Our body, and corporately the Church, is now the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Cor 3:16-17, 6:19), which replaces the original tabernacle and Temple in both form and function.
Sixteen
If eight is the first cubic number, then sixteen is the first power of four (2 raised to the fourth power is 16). If a cube speaks of “transcendent perfection” in three dimensions, then does the power of four speak of transcendent perfection in four dimensions? The fourth dimension as we know it is time, and the body of Christ is accordingly both preexistent (Ephesians 1:4) and eternal (Ephesians 2:7, I Thessalonians 4:17). Although the tabernacle and temple have already passed away, the Body of Christ will transcend time.
Seventeen
Sixteen, the number of permanent gifts, appears significant only in being the fourth power of two. It does not appear as a significant number in any reference I could find. It is, though, not the complete number of the body of Christ; it is the number of the body without a head. The head is Christ, which adds one to our total, giving us seventeen.
• “Seventeen stands out very prominently as a significant number. It is not a multiple of any other number, and therefore has no factors. Hence it is called one of the prime (or indivisible) numbers. What is more, it is the seventh in the list of the prime numbers...seventeen being the seventh of the series, it partakes of and intensifies the significance of the number seven. Indeed, it is the combination or sum of two perfect numbers—seven and ten—seven being the number of spiritual perfection, and ten of ordinal perfection. Contrasted together the significance of these two numbers is clear; and when united in the number seventeen we have a union of their respective meanings, viz., spiritual perfection, plus ordinal perfection, or the perfection of spiritual order.”[6]
Even when all 16 gifts are together, the Church can be divided, as 16 can be divided by the factors of 2, 4, or 8. When Christ is added, however, the total becomes the prime number 17, which indicates that all of the gifts plus Christ creates an indivisible whole.
One Hundred and Fifty-Three
The triangular number of 17 is 153. This number is obtained by adding up all integers less than and up to 17.
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17 = 153
• "This is a number which has taxed the ingenuity of some of the greatest Bible students, and that from the earliest times. All have felt there must be something deeply significant and mysterious in this number, from the solemn way in which it is introduced in John 21:11,—'Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, one hundred and fifty three.'”[7]
153 is the number of fish caught by the disciples after Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat (John 21: 1-11).
• "Other miracles are parables in their lessons, and Augustine has pointed out the comparison and contrast between the two miraculous draughts of fishes, one at the beginning [Luke 5] and the other at the end of Christ’s ministry (after his resurrection). He and other commentators see in this number some connection with the saved, as being definite and particular down even to the last one, making up not a large round number, but a smaller and odd number, 153. They saw in this a proof of the fact that the number of the elect is fixed and pre-ordained."[8]
The total number of the elect and the Body of Christ are essentially the same thing. The method of reaching 153 from 17 is also interesting. If you start with one gift the triangular total is one. The second gift adds two to the total, giving us the triangular number of 3. The pattern is that each additional gift is counted as more than the previous one. One method of representing the mathematics is that the triangular number equals the number of gifts plus the number of gift combinations. For example, if we have two gifts, teaching and encouragement, the triangular number is three. That is two gifts plus one combination.
Two gifts
Teaching
Encouragement
One combination
Teaching + Encouragement
Total
Three
The math works for any combination of gifts, i.e. the triangular number of 5 is 15,
1+2+3+4+5 = 15
Pick any five gifts as an example,
Mercy
Faith
Leadership
Wisdom
Giving
These five gifts can form ten possible combinations,
Mercy + Faith
Mercy + Leadership
Mercy + Wisdom
Mercy + Giving
Faith + Leadership
Faith + Wisdom
Faith + Giving
Leadership + Wisdom
Leadership + Giving
Wisdom + Giving
The five gifts plus the ten combinations = 15
Possible implications of this mathematical arrangement are (1) that a combination of two gifts is as valuable as a third gift, and (2) that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
It is also interesting to note the parallel of 153 to another triangular number, 666, which is the triangular number of 36.
1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18+19+20
+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28+29+30+31+32+33+34+35+36 = 666
Both 153 and 666 represent the physical manifestation of spiritual entities on earth. Jesus Christ’s physical presence on earth is through his Body, the Church, here symbolized in the catch of 153 fish. Satan’s incarnation on earth will be through the Antichrist, whose number is 666. The odds that two such numbers of comparable size would both be triangular numbers is less than 2 in 1000. This suggests more than coincidence. There may also, then, be a parallel between the numbers 17 and 36. It is not clear, however, what the number 36 would represent.
References
[1] E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1997), 92.
[2] Bullinger, 123.
[3] Bullinger, 196.
[4] Bullinger, 200.
[5] Bullinger, 201.
[6] Bullinger, 258.
[7] Bullinger, 273.
[8] Bullinger, 273.
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