E.W. Bullinger — Bibliologie
b1 — Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance
Inspiration — Purpose of the Work
Bullinger states the apologetic aim of the book directly in the Preface:
“May the result of this contribution to a great subject be to stimulate the labours of Bible students; to strengthen believers in their most holy faith; and to convince doubters of the Divine perfection and inspiration of the Book of Books, to the praise and glory of God.”
(Source: E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture, 4th ed., London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1921, Preface)
Interpretation: Bullinger explicitly frames this work as apologetics — the statistical-mathematical proof serves the confirmation of divine inspiration of Scripture.
Divine Authorship — The “Same Hand” Argument
In Chapter I (Design Shown in the Works of God), Bullinger develops an analogy between the design in God’s works (nature, the universe) and the design in God’s Word:
“When we see the same design in each; the same laws at work; the same mysterious principles being carried out in each, the conviction is overwhelming that we have the same great Designer, the same Author; and we see the same Hand, the same seal stamped on all His works, and the same signature or autograph, as it were, upon every page of His Word. And that, not an autograph which may be torn off or obliterated, but indelible, like the water-mark in the paper; so impressed upon and interwoven with it that no power on earth can blot it out.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. I)
The transition to the Word of God:
“The one great question now is, May we not expect to find the same phenomena in that greatest of all God’s works, viz., His Word? If not the greatest in some senses, yet it is the greatest in its importance to us. For if we find in it the same corresponding perfection in design, then we see throughout the whole of it the same mysterious autograph. And its truths, and promises, and precepts come to us with increased solemnity and power; for the words of the book say with the stars of heaven — ‘The hand that made us is divine.‘”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. I, end)
Verbal and Literal Inspiration — Mathematical Proof
In Chapter II (Design Shown in the Word of God), Bullinger argues that the numerical design of Scripture constitutes proof of verbal, and even literal, inspiration:
“This certainly looks like design; and, if so—if not only the ‘days’ in which revealed events shall take place are numbered, but the words also themselves are numbered— then we shall have a great and wondrous proof of the Divine, verbal, and even literal inspiration of the Word of God.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II)
The law of word occurrences:
“All such general and important words—i.e., such words on which the Holy Spirit would have us place special emphasis, or would wish us to lay special stress—occur a certain number of times. These are either— (1) A square number, or (2) A cube, or (3) A multiple of seven, or (4) A multiple of eleven.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II)
On the unity of Scripture through the Holy Spirit:
“But ‘all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit,’ whose infinite wisdom is seen inspiring the whole of Divine revelation and securing a uniformity in results which would be absolutely impossible in a work written separately by different writers.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II)
Statistical Proof — Impossibility of Human Authorship
The conclusion of Chapter II contains Bullinger’s strongest argument for divine inspiration, based on the demonstrable impossibility of human coordination:
“This is our conclusion, then, as to the works and Word of God. Neither Moses nor any other person could have secured the above results. Moses used a certain word by Divine inspiration, not knowing, in all probability, how many times he had used it. It is inconceivable that, even had he known, he could have told Joshua how many times he was to use it; and that Joshua could have arranged with another; and that this could have gone on for fifteen centuries and ensured that the last writer should use the word only a certain definite number of times so as to secure a particular result! Impossible! No! Each writer must have been ignorant as to this final result; but each wrote ‘as he was moved by the Holy Ghost’; and hence, each contributed such a part as should end in perfecting the original design.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, conclusion)
Interpretation: This is Bullinger’s central proof for divine inspiration — the statistical impossibility of human coordination across 15 centuries and 36 writers necessarily implies divine direction.
On the Old and New Testaments together:
“In the same way we may take both Old and New Testaments together, and see how marvellously thirty-six writers so use their words that when all are taken together we find the same law at work! This would be absolutely impossible if ‘one and the self-same Spirit’ had not inspired the whole so as to produce such a harmonious result.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “The Old and New Testaments Combined”)
Canon — Books of the Old Testament
Bullinger addresses the authority of the canonical ordering of the OT, asserting that the Hebrew manuscripts are the only authority:
“But all these reckonings are of no value, none of them being based on any authority, and all of them being against the authority of the Hebrew MSS, which is all that we have to guide us in the matter. In other words, the number and order of the books of the Bible come to us on precisely the same authority as its facts and doctrines.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “The Books of the Bible”)
On the counting method of the OT:
“In the Hebrew MSS Ezra and Nehemiah are always reckoned as one book, with the one name, Ezra. Each of the double books is reckoned as one book (e.g. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles), and all the minor prophets are also reckoned as one book. This makes 24 books in all. This is 8 x 3, both factors stamping the number with the seal of Divine perfection.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “The Books of the Bible”)
Authorship of Hebrews — Statistical Evidence for Canonicity
On the canonical status and Pauline authorship of Hebrews:
“This law, affecting the occurrence of important words, may be used in evidence as to authorship. For example, if we take certain words in Paul’s Epistles alone, we do not find the law operating unless we include the Epistle to the Hebrews. If we add the occurrences in Hebrews to those in the other Pauline Epistles, the harmony is at once restored.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “Evidence as to Authorship”)
“When we consider the same phenomena with regard to the other numbers according to their own peculiar significance, the evidence is overwhelming as to the so-called Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Without it the Epistles of St. Paul are only thirteen in number, with it they are 14 (2x7). This principle governs the occurrences and use of words.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “Evidence as to Authorship”)
Authority of Scripture — Rejection of Higher Criticism
Bullinger takes a resolute position on the authority of Scripture over science and higher criticism:
“‘The Law of the LORD is perfect.’
We take the high ground of making everything else submit to it. Instead of making the Bible agree with science, science must agree with the Bible. If it does not, it is only because it is ‘science falsely so-called,’ and not real science.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, conclusion)
“It is not for such theories that we are going to give up facts. It is not for conjectures that we are going to abandon truth. Man must offer us something better than his own thoughts if he wants us to give up the thoughts of God. In the Bible we have got something certain and something perfect. Every fact and truth which is discovered only helps to prove its truth and to exhibit its perfection. No monument that has ever been dug up—no manuscript that has ever been discovered, has ever been other than an evidence of Bible truth!”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, conclusion)
“God has given man this ‘bread of life,’ and he is analysing it instead of eating it! God has given man His Word, and he is criticising it instead of believing it! This is the ‘wisdom’ of man ‘up to date.’ This is the highest flight of his wisdom—‘higher criticism’! Truly ‘the world by wisdom knew not God’ (1Cor. 1:21).”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, conclusion)
[TENSION: Bullinger states that human unfaithfulness in preserving God’s Word does not undermine the perfection of that Word — this implies a distinction between the perfection of the originals and the faithfulness of transmission, which he does not systematically develop.]
Hermeneutics — Scripture Interprets Scripture / The “Key” Metaphor
“Every word of God’s Book is in its right place. It may sometimes seem to us to be deranged. The lock may be in one place, and the key may sometimes be hidden away elsewhere in some apparently inadvertent word or sentence.
A volume might be written in illustration of this fact; and it would be a profitable Bible-study to search out these little seemingly unimportant keys.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II)
On the phrase “as it is written”:
“The tense is perfect, and refers not to the act of writing, or to the fact that it was once written, but to the truth that it standeth written.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “Phrases of the Bible”)
Interpretation: Bullinger treats the perfect tense of “it is written” as grammatical evidence of the enduring, normative authority of Scripture.
Higher Criticism — Refutation of the Documentary Hypothesis (Genesis)
Bullinger refutes the documentary hypothesis (Jahwist/Elohist) through numerical analysis of the Hebrew structure of Genesis (tol’doth sections):
“It is instructive to notice these divine divisions, and see how different they are from either man’s chapters, or man’s theories as to the Jehovistic and Elohistic sections, according to which some editor is supposed to have pieced together a number of separate documents by two different authors […] Thus, this simple fact to which we are led by the consideration of design in the employment of numbers, entirely explodes the elaborate theories of the so-called ‘higher critics’ concerning the Book of Genesis.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. II, section “Phrases of the Bible — Tol’doth”)
Inerrancy — Defence of Apparent Chronological Contradictions
Bullinger addresses the apparent tension between Acts 13:20 and 1Kgs. 6:1, and rejects text-critical emendations:
“And yet by some, the inspiration of Acts 13:20 is impugned, and various shifts are resorted to, to make it what man thinks to be correct. The RV adopts an ancient punctuation which does not after all remove the difficulty; while in the Speaker’s Commentary the words in 1 Kings 6:1 are printed within brackets, as though they were of doubtful authority.”
(Source: Bullinger, Number in Scripture, Chap. I, section “Chronology”)
Interpretation: Bullinger defends the inerrancy of both texts by arguing the apparent contradiction is resolved through the distinction between cardinal and ordinal number usage — the text itself requires no correction.