Math and the Bible

The Bible was the inspiration for set theory and other accomplishments in math. Many of the great mathematicians, such as Bernard Riemann and Kurt Gödel, were avid readers of the Bible.

Potential remains for additional mathematical discoveries based on insights gleaned from the Bible.

Infinity

The concept of infinity was hotly disputed, and often rejected, by Greek mathematicians and philosophers. Aristotle and Pythagoras, for example, both rejected the existence of actual infinity.

Infinite Time, or Eternity

The full concept of infinite time, or eternity, is unique to the New Testament, which references it often:

• Matthew 25:46 (eternal punishment in addition to eternal life)
• Titus 1:2
• 1 Peter 5:10
• 2 Corinthians 5:1
• Hebrews 5:9 (eternal salvation)
• 1 John 1:2 (eternal life)
• 1 John 5:11
• 1 John 3:15 (eternal life)
• Jude 1:21 (eternal life)
• Hebrews 9:14 (eternal Spirit)
• Hebrews 6:2 (eternal judgment)
• 1 John 2:25 (eternal life)
• 1 Timothy 6:12 (eternal life)
• John 17:2 (eternal life)
• John 6:68 (eternal life)

To a much lesser extent, and with a narrower meaning, there are a few references to eternity in the Old Testament.

Ancient Greek philosophers did not accept, and indeed often rejected, the notion of a full eternity. Plato was one of the first even to consider the possibility of eternity, but he thought that time was limited to the existence of the material universe (the heavens).

Infinite Nature of God

The word "infinite" is mentioned three times in the text of the King James Version (Job 22:5; Ps 147:5; Nah 3:9), and once in an explanatory footnote (Nah 2:9), all in the Old Testament.

Modern understanding of the full nature of infinity is based on the work of devout Christian Georg Cantor, who studied infinity as a way to understand God better. Several teachings of Jesus (and one recorded as from John the Baptist, one recorded as from John of Patmos, and one even recorded as from the angel Gabriel) explain that infinity is the real nature of God:

• Matthew 3:9 ("and do not presume to tell yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father", because, I tell you, God can raise children of Abraham from these stones." [John the Baptist])
  • Luke 3:8 ("and do not think of telling yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father" because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones.")
    
    

• Matthew 19:26 ("Jesus gazed at them. 'For men' he told them 'this is impossible; for God everything is possible'")
  • Mark 10:27 ("Jesus gazed at them. 'For men', he said 'it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.'")
  • Luke 1:37 ("For nothing will be impossible with God." [Gabriel])
    
    

• Matthew 20:1-16 (Parable of the Vineyard Workers)
  
  

• Luke 15:11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son)
  
  

• John
  • John 8:58 ("Jesus replied: 'I tell you most solemnly, before Abraham ever was, I Am.'") The Biblical name given to God by Himself and told to Moses ("I Am") extends into the New Testament and portrays God's first essence to be His existence. Thus the naming indicates that if He exists at all in this unique way, He also exists in a way that is essential to existence itself (that is, essential to other things that actually exist, but that don't exist as a result of their first essence and must depend on something else, ultimately, whose first nature is to exist, for existence) as drawn from virtually unlimited possible existences.
  • John 13:31-17:26 (Discourse after Last Supper)
    
    

• Romans 8:35-39
  • ("Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
  • "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.")
    
    

• Colossians 1:13-20
  • ("who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love;
  • in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins:
    
    
  • [W]ho is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;
  • for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him;
  • and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.
  • And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
  • For it was the good pleasure [of the Father] that in him should all the fulness dwell;
  • and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, [I say], whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens.")
    
    

• Revelation 19:6 ("And I seemed to hear the voices of a huge crowd, like the sound of the ocean or the great roar of thunder, answering, 'Alleluia! The reign of the Lord our God Almighty has begun;...'") The Biblical title given to God of "Almighty" extends into the New Testament.

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Infinite Nature of Jesus

In addition, the concept of infinity is set forth in Hebrews in explaining that Jesus is infinitely superior to angels:

• Hebrews 1:4 ("having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs")

Coherence of Math

Several references exist in the Bible for the concept that mathematics is coherent, inerrant, and unchanging logic, as made possible by God:

• Hebrews 13:8 ("Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.")

Old Testament References to Infinity

There are far fewer references to infinity in the Old Testament than in the New. Here are Old Testament references:

• Genesis 18:14 ("Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.")

• Exodus
  • 3:14: (And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'")
  • 15:18: ("The Lord shall reign forever and ever.")

• Job
  • 11:7-9: ("Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth, And broader than the sea.")

• Isaiah 40:28: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired His understanding is inscrutable.

• Jeremiah 23:24: "Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.

• Psalm 113:4-6: The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth?

• Psalm 145:3: Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.

• Psalm 147:5: Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

• 1 Kings 8:27: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!

• 2 Chronicles 2:6: "But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?

• 2 Chronicles 6:18: "But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built.

See also

• Biblical integration
• Biblical scientific foreknowledge