Caps post yesterday titled 444 contained a number of identities that prompted me to write this note.The study of gematria is not unlike an effort to translate the text, the main difference being that we are translating into numbers rather than another language like English. This means that we need to pay close reverential attention to each and every detail of Gods' Word, just as we would if we were translating from Greek or Hebrew into English. If we fail to do this, the translation would be weak at best, and probably even false, which is certainly not a worthy treatment of God's Word.
There are many aspects that need to be covered to establish gematria on the everlasting Rock of God's Truth. One of the most important is the effect of grammatical cases in Greek grammar. Each Greek noun is written differently depending on which case it is in. For example, here are four of the common forms that the word God takes, with their associated numeric values:
284 Theos nominative
484 Theou genitive
134 Theon accusative
824 Thewi dativeBut each one of these forms can also be written with the definite article, which also changes with the case, so we have four more values:
354 Ho Theos, nominative
1254 tou Theou, genitve
554 ton Theon, accusative
1934 twi Thewi, dativeNow lets look at this list. If we ignore the grammatical cases, we have eight utterly distinct numbers that all relate to "God." Now here is the clincher ...
It is extremely important to keep an eye on details such as these lest the study of the numerical structure of Scripture fall into the same meaningless muddled morass that would engulf us if we were to ignore grammar and syntax when attempting to translate the text into English. The simple fact is that a change in spelling reflects a change in meaning, which is further reflected in a change of the numerical value. Just as it would be folly to confuse the meaning of Theos with that of Theou, so we must never confuse the numerical weight of Theos with that of Theou. As it is written, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."
This is explained in some detail in my article found here:http://www.BibleWheel.com/GR/GR_BGGL.asp
The identities that sparked my interest yesterday are these:
1) It was noted that Atonement summed to 444. This is only true of the accusative case without the article. There are seven other values that must be considered if anything but the nominative form is presented. This adds a great deal of complexity to the study, which is one reason it is good to stick primarily to the nominative, and to carefully note any variations from it.
2) The phrase "The Lord Christ" (twi kuriwi Cristwi, Col 3.24) was said to be 4440. This was found using the genitive case with the article and without the iota subscript, which has been revealed to be of extreme importance in Greek Gematria. Here's my article on that most astounding discovery:
http://www.BibleWheel.com/GR/GR_Iota.asp
3) Behold He cometh with clouds (Revelation 1:7) was said to be 4440, but the actual value is 4441 (a prime). Some people allow adding or subtracting a unit, calling it a "colel" from the Jewish tradition. But I personally think this muddies the waters, since if we can add or subtract one, then why not two, or three? This does not seem worthy of God's Word in my undestanding, especially in light of His command that we neither add nor subtract from the Word. Anything less than absolute perfect exactitude seems less than worthy of God's eternal Word. But that's just my opinion. But others are fine with colel. But in any case, it is imperative that the TRUE value be noted when these results are presented.
In Christ,
Richard Amiel McGough
Discover the sevenfold symmetric perfection of the Holy Bible at http://www.BibleWheel.com
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Thanks, Richard. The sum of the eight gematrias of Theos is the sum of Lord Jesus four times!1223 = Lord Jesus
1688 = Lord Jesus
5822 = Lord Jesus + Lord Jesus + Lord Jesus + Lord Jesus8 Gematrias of God = 4 Gematrias of Lord + 4 Gematrias of Jesus
John