Six Hundred and Sixty-Six

Six Hundred and Sixty-Six. This number, which appears in the NT only in Rev 13:18, refers to the eschatological apostate power that opposes God's people, sometimes referred to as the Antichrist.

Throughout Christian history, interpreters have used gematria to decipher the hidden meaning of 666 by adding the numerical values of the letters. As a result, numerous proposals have been made ranging from the view that the number applies to some Roman emperors and various personalities in history to the view that it refers to the alleged papal title Vicarius Filii Dei ("Vicar of the Son of God"), which first appears in the fraudulent Donation of Constantine, which purported to be a decree of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, and was used to establish the political authority of the Roman pontiff.

Although the text does not indicate that the meaning of 666 is based on the added numerical value of the letters, its symbolic meaning is explained as "the number of a man." The number in Greek is transliterated as hexakosioi hexēkonta hex (600 + 60 + 6). The triple reference to a form of six points to the evil and Satanic system referred in Revelation with the symbolic name, "Babylon" (Rev 17:5; 18:2). In ancient Babylon, the basic counting units were the numbers 6 and 60, which were significant to the Babylonian religion. This explains why King Nebuchadnezzar's gold statue was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide (Dan 3:1). Therefore, 666 points to the number of Babylon, the system that opposes the realization of God's plan for the world and endeavors to take the place of God in this world. It is in this sense that the meaning of the cryptic number 666 in Revelation must be understood.