The biblical concept of “the Mark of the Beast” has crossed the religious landscape and into popular culture, with many associating it with the number 666 as written in the book of Revelation. To the faithful, it represents the identifying mark that will reveal the final Antichrist in the end of days, with his followers also taking the mark upon themselves. In the film The Omen, the demonic character of Damien is born with a birthmark with the traditional image of the beast, letting the audience know exactly who he is. One notable apologist, however, is sharing some doubts whether 666 actually is the form the mark will take.

Wes Huff, notable for his recent podcast episode on The Joe Rogan Experience, shared his thoughts on X, with a thread as part of his “manuscript Monday” series that he regularly posts. “Everyone knows the number of the beast from the biblical book of Revelation, right? It’s 666. That’s just common knowledge!” he shared. Then he included the passage where the number comes from in Revelation 13:18, which states, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

Huff, however, pointed out that some of the earliest manuscripts of the Bible, particularly the Codex Ephraemi Syri Rescriptus, have the number written differently, showing that older texts have the number as 616. The discrepancy, however, is nothing to be concerned about according to Huff. “How important is this? Well to be honest, not very. Aside from the manuscript evidence we have early Christian writers like Irenaeus, who in his 2nd century work Against Heresies notes that he has copies of Revelation that have ‘666’ and others that have ‘616.’ But, he says, his earliest and most reliable copies have ‘666’ and that is the one to be taken and preferred as the original,” he wrote.

Huff walked through some of the applications of determining the number’s significance, noting that Hebrew “functioned alpha-numerically, with each letter equalling a number.” He showed how the name “Nero Caesar” numerically added up to 666 in Hebrew. There are Biblical scholars who believe the reference may apply to Nero, who famously blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD, leading to mass persecution. Huff showed that 616 could also apply to Nero, given that the final “n” in “neron” can be transliterated.

Rather than differences in the biblical manuscript bringing doubt, Huff said such differences only verify its authenticity. “The fact that we are able to pin-point, discuss, and interact with these variants in the manuscript tradition — right down to letters and individual words — shows the reliability and confidence we have in the text we render and translate from today.”