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God in Graphology: Considerations in Gematria, Theology of the Alphabet, and

Philosophy of the Word

Article · February 2014

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Domenic Marbaniang
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 GOD IN GRAPHOLOGY
Considerations In Gematria, Theology Of The Alphabet (Hebrew, 
Chinese), And Philosophy Of The Word 
Domenic Marbaniang © 2014

LET us call the method of trying to decode the writing system in order to seek proofs for
faith as "Graphological Theology".

Sacred Gematria

The works of ​Ivan Panin ​that discover numeric patterns in the Bible are examples of
Textual Gematria. Check the following excerpt from his letter to the New York Sun:

The first 17 verses of the New Testament contain the genealogy of the Christ. It
consists of two main parts: Verses 1-11 cover the period from Abraham, the father
of the chosen people, to the Captivity, when they ceased as an independent
people. Verses 12-17 cover the period from the Captivity to the promised
Deliverer, the Christ.

Let us examine the first part of this genealogy. Its vocabulary has 49 words, or 7 x
7. This number is itself seven (Feature 1) sevens (Feature 2), and the sum of its
factors is 2 sevens (Feature 3). Of these 49 words 28, or 4 sevens, begin with a
vowel; and 21, or 3 sevens, begin with a consonant (Feature 4).

Again: these 49 words of the vocabulary have 266 letters, or 7 x 2 x 19; this
number is itself 38 sevens (Feature 5), and the sum of its factors is 28, or 4
sevens (Feature 6), while the sum of its figures is 14, or 2 sevens (Feature 7). Of
these 266 letters, moreover, 140, or 20 sevens, are vowels, and 126, or 18
sevens, are consonants (Feature 8).

That is to say: Just as the number of words in the vocabulary is a multiple of

seven, so is the number of its letters a multiple of seven; just as the sum of the
factors of the number of the words is a multiple of seven, so is the sum of the
factors of the number of their letters a multiple of seven. And just as the number of
words is divided between vowel words and consonant words by sevens, so is their
number of letters divided between vowels and consonants by sevens. ​...Read
More
There has certainly been criticism that Panin was creating the patterns arbitrarily and, if
we look for, we can find numerical patterns anywhere (See ​Ivan Panin and the Gospel
of Mark​). However, this doesn't diminish the fact that Gematria has been used as an
apologetical tool in graphological theology.

Theology of the Alphabet

Ha Dabar

Jewish mystics have maintained that God created the universe from the 22 consonants
of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, called the ​otiyod yesod,​ the foundational letters
[Hebrew4Christians]​. A theology of the alphabet would contend for the sacredness of
the alphabet's origin in God. An even more intense form of this would lead to the
mysticism of the alphabet. Check the following comment on Genesis 1:

After​ Bere’shiyt bara ’Elohiym​ there is a fourth untranslatable word. That fourth
word is actually two Hebrew letters: the Aleph and the Tav. The aleph-tav (‫)את‬
does serve a grammatical purpose in that it points to the direct object of the
sentence. These two letters do not actually form a word, but rather they express
an understanding. The aleph (‫ )א‬is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the
tav (‫ )ת‬is the last letter of the alphabet. The placement of these two very
significant letters at strategic locations within many sentences of the Hebrew
Scriptures express a total completeness. It is equivalent to saying "from alpha to
omega, from a to z, from first to last, from beginning to end." So, from the Hebraic
point of view, they see that "In the beginning ’Elohiym created the aleph-tav. In
other words, they believe that the very first thing ’Elohiym created was the Hebrew
alphabet, which is known through ancient writings also as the aleph-tav. They
recognize that He created the letters by which all life and all physical things spring
forth from. They are divinely ordained building blocks of life. [Brad Scott,
"​Mysteries and Truths Hidden Within the AlephBeth​"]

However, the Bible doesn't seem to support the prioritizing of any one particular
language as such. The Bible was also written in Aramaic and Greek; and Jesus, in the
New Testament, actually declares Himself to be the Αlpha (A) and the Omega (Ω), the
beginning and the end (​Rev.1:8​,​11​; ​21:6​; ​22:13​). Alpha is the first and Omega the last
letter of the Greek Alphabet.

Genesis in the Chinese Characters

But, this may not be limited to just Hebrew or Arabic. Studies in the Chinese characters
have been used as proofs for the reliability of the Bible by Chinese scholars. Check the
following two excerpts from C.H. Kang's ​The Discovery of Genesis (1979):
Again, the validity of such interpretations has been debated. One counter-argument has
been that such interpretations are very literalist and do not do justice to the intent of the
character composition. It has been argued that though the characters were ultimately
derived from pictograms, when they became used for writing, they ceased to be
pictographic, and that most of the Chinese characters have both phonetic (establishing
sound) and signific (hinting at a semantic category). For instance, "the character 媽,
used to mean 'mother', is composed of the elements 女 'woman' and 馬 'horse'. While
the component meaning 'woman' hints that the character has something to do with
women, the component meaning 'horse' in fact establishes pronunciation - both the
'mother' and 'horse' morphemes are pronounced /ma/, albeit with different tones." [Wiki:
Chinese Characters and the Bible​]. But, the fact that the contextual apologists were
looking at the ultimate derivative beyond the surface usage, is certainly not discounted.

Philosophy of the Word

The All-Encompassing Syllable

Verse 1-2 of the Taittiriya Upanisad's fourth chapter describes the Sacred Syllable ​Om
as "preeminent in the Vedas, that pervades all words, and that emerged from the
immortal Vedas as their quintessence..." [Trans. Swami Gambhirananda, Advaita
Ashrama]. The Mandukya Upanisad exposes ​Om​ as the the Beginning, Middle, and
End of all sound; it encompasses all the sounds beginning with the opening of the
mouth with the sound (Aa), then closing to middle with U, and closing down with Ma.
OM=Aa+U+Ma. The Upanisads encourage the recital of ​Om​ before every incantation of
prayer (Taittiriya 1.8.1). Check the poetic motif of ​Om​ in this beautiful prayer of the
Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 1.3.28:

oṁ asato mā sad gamaya (​Om​ Lead me from Truthlessness to Truth)

tamaso mā jyotir gamaya​ (Lead me from Darkness to Light)

mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya (Lead me from Death to Immortality)

oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ (​Om​ Peace, Peace, Peace!)

The Hindus have long looked at ​Om​ as the Beginning and the End of all reality. It has
become the religious symbol of Hinduism. Practical Hindu mysticism values incantation
and utterance of ​Om​ as encompassing all things including all quarters of space and
time.

Interestingly, the Indian concept of ​Om​ seems to be a bit parallel to that of the Greek
AΩ (See above). However, the philosophical frameworks of meaning in which the terms
are used compel difference. Still, the concept of Beginning-Middle-End looks inviting to
compare it with the phrase, "who is and who was and who is to come". Also, the idea of
the All-Encompassing cannot ignore the Person in whom all things, both in heaven and
on earth, will be gathered together (​Eph.1:10​). Yet, again the Biblical view is Trinitarian
and non-pantheistic, and the human soul is a creature of God.

He gives to all life, breath, and all things. (​Act 17:25​)

in Him we live and move and have our being, (​Act 17:28​)

The All-Governing Word

Heraclitus taught that the universe was governed by the ​Logos,​ which means "word" but
may also be interpreted as "law" or "reason". According to Heraclitus,

● The ​Logos​ was fire-like.

● The ​Logos​ was a divine force.

● The ​Logos​ produces the order and pattern discernible in the flux of nature.

● This divine force is similar to human reason. [​Logos​, Microsoft Encyclopedia

Encarta, See ​Hamartiology Notes​]

Church Father ​Justin Martyr (c.100-c.165), elaborately made use of the ​Logos​ theology
as an apologetic approach to Greek philosophy and religion. In Christian Theology,
Logos​ is the Person of Christ. This helped Justin to accept philosophers such as Plato
as speaking according according to the Word. According to Justin,

Even before the coming of Christ, the logos was manifested partially in such
Greek philosophers as Socrates and Heraclitus, and in such Hebrews as
Abraham, Ananias, Azarias, Misael, and Elijah (1st Apology). Plato’s truth was
dependent on Moses (chs.59-60).

The seed of God’s ​logos (logos spermatikos)​ was disseminated to all men in their
God-given capacity to respond to truth. “Whatever things were rightly said among
all men are the property of us Christians” (2Apol. 13:4)

There were Christians before Christ, such as Socrates and Heraclitus (1Apol.
46:3)

All Theophanies in OT were Christophanies “For the ineffable Father and Lord of
all neither comes to any place… but remains in His own place…” [Dial.127:2, See
Justin Martyr​]

Similar line of thinking exists in Sikh theology, in which the ​Sabad,​ i.e. the Word, is
considered to be the Guru (i.e. the Teacher).
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Conclusion

Is Graphological Theology biblically justifiable? With regard to Theology of the Text, the
Bible does speak about every scripture being inspired and that every jot and tittle having
significance in the Bible (​2Tim.3:15​; ​Matt.5:18​). However, there are dangers in over
emphasizing gematriac patterns and disregarding the messsage of the Spirit for the
composition of the word. God gives us the tree in order to eat of its fruit; not to count its
leaves and spend time analysing its patterns. However, this doesn't mean that the
patterns do not exist; for everything that is God-created is God-sealed.

The same also holds for studies in Chinese characters. It is certainly not very surprising
to find bridges and connections to the Bible in local folk stories, rituals, and even
graphology. Don Richardson has recorded amazing missionary findings in various
cultures all over the world in his very important book ​Eternity in their Hearts​. However,
one must be careful to not assume a bridge where a bridge doesn't exist, or else he
may have to walk over thin air. The Chinese findings cannot be discounted as
accidental; nor does an argument of phonetics rule away the question of finding the
sources of the original characters. God is not just the God of the Hebrews or of the
Mayans; He has been historically present among us all from the beginning. And, His
trails are visible among us. We only need to find them.

But, what about the inclusion of the extra-biblical themes in the study of Scriptures.
Again, one must be careful not to misapply anything to where it doesn't belong. We
must remember that the Bible only tells us this about the Scriptures:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work. (​2Ti 3:16-17​ NKJ)