gematria
Definition
Gematria is the hermeneutical method by which fixed numerical values are assigned to Hebrew or Greek letters, and the sum of the letter-values of a word or name is held to carry theological significance. The term derives from the Greek geōmetria and entered Christian biblical interpretation through the Jewish tradition.
In this wiki, gematria is the technical term for the exegetical method used by both Bullinger and Jones to demonstrate the divine design of Scripture through numerical analysis. The method assumes that the numerical values of Hebrew and Greek words were deliberately embedded by the Holy Spirit as an interpretive key system.
Author Usage Variants
E.W. Bullinger
Bullinger discusses gematria in Number in Scripture (1921) as one layer of his broader proof for verbal inspiration through word-frequency laws. He gives the gematria of the Hebrew h’eretz (“the earth”) as an example:
“The gematria of the Hebrew expression h’eretz, ‘the earth,’ is 296, which is 4 × 74.”
(E.W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture, ch. II, number 4)
In his system, the number 4 corresponds to “the earth” or creation, so that the gematria of this word reflects its own meaning. Bullinger’s gematria serves his central apologetic thesis: the statistical impossibility of human coordination across 36 writers and 15 centuries proves divine verbal inspiration.
Stephen Jones
Jones employs gematria in The Biblical Meaning of Numbers as an explicit exegetical method alongside his “nth-occurrence” technique. He grounds its use in the nature of the Hebrew language itself:
“The Hebrew language uses its letters as numbers, and the letters are also words and concepts that can be used both literally and symbolically.”
(Stephen Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. 1)
Jones applies gematria to proper names: the number 318 is the gematria of the 318 servants of Abram:
“The number 318 is significant, for it is the number of the armed servants in the house of Abram who freed Lot (Gen. 14:14). It is the grace that frees us and releases captives.”
(Jones, The Biblical Meaning of Numbers, ch. II, number 5)
Jones explicitly cites Bullinger as his predecessor in biblical numerology, consciously placing himself within an established apologetic tradition of demonstrating divine verbal inspiration through mathematical design.