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JESUS = THE GREATEST MATHEMATICIAN EVER

By Paul G. Humber, Jan 29, 2017

Jesus is the Greatest Mathematician ever, and the goal of this article is to prove it. Before entering into the esoteric, let us start by saying that algebra and geometry are two major divisions of mathematics. Algebra deals with sets of numbers, including the variable “x”. Some may object that “x” is not a number, but it is. The “x” is a definite by unspecified number. For example, there are two variables in this algebraic equation, x 2 + y 2 = 1. What is it saying? It refers to the set of all ordered pairs such that the distance to (0,0) is the constant, 1. Does this relate to Jesus?

The Lord Jesus (Creator Christ) is the originator of calculus, infinitesimals, infinity, and every geometric shape (see below), but He also expects His fellow human beings to know how to measure, count, add, subtract, divide, multiply, and reason. For units of measure, He used the cubit (Mt 6:27), the measure (Mt 13:33), and the mile (Mt 5:41). He also used counting numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11,12, 18, 50, 70, 80, 100, 500, 4000, 5000, 10,000 and 20,000 (cf. Mt 10:29, Mt 12:40, Mt 13:33, Mt 16:9-10, Mt 19:28, Mt 20:6, Mk 14:30, Lk 7:41, Lk 10:1, Lk 13:4, Lk 14:31, Lk 16:7, and Jn 4:35) and fractions. For example, He received a fraction from Zacchaeus (½, cf. Lk 19:8) and referred to another in the tithe. He multiplied, as did Zacchaeus (cf. Mt 18:22, 70 X 7, Mt 13:8, and Lk 19:8) and also subtracted (100 - 1 = 99 in Mt 18:12 and 10 - 1 = 9 in Lk 17:17). His disciple, Luke, used the term “innumerable” (suggestive of infinity), and the Lord also distinguished order as in greater than/less than (few < many, cf. Lk 12:47-48).

Isaiah 40:22 says that He “sits upon the circle of the earth.” It may well be that the word used could also be rendered “sphere.” Prov 8:27 says, “He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep.” Circles and spheres are very important in geometry. In Acts 1:8, Jesus spoke of the “remotest part [singular]” of the earth. If you live on a sphere, the remotest “part” is the other end of the diameter from where you stand going through the earth’s center and intersecting the opposite side of the globe.

The Lord Jesus relates to infinity, for we read in John 3:34, “He whom God hath sent [referring to Christ] speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” In other words, Jesus has received the Spirit without measure (infinitely). There is also, in that verse, a reference to the “Greatest 3”—God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught that the “Greatest 3” is the same as the “Greatest 1,” for He said to baptize “in the name [singular] of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19b).

Before continuing with more complicated matters, I need to address a criticism of the Bible for supposedly offering “poor” mathematics. 1 Kings 7:23,26a says, “Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference … It was a handbreadth thick….” Since the ratio of circumference to diameter is π (pi, approximately 3.14), the claim is made that the Bible has made a mistake—showing God’s revelation to be poor in math, but there are two main reasons why this is a foolish criticism.

First, even 3.14 is an approximation for π. How many significant figures are required? Since both diameter and circumference are given to the nearest integer, it is quite appropriate to give the ratio to the nearest integer. The integer, 3, is correct, and neither 2 nor 4 would be right.

Second, and perhaps more significant, the critic likely has not given attention to the thickness of the “sea.” If the “brim to brim” is the outside measure and the circumference is the inner measure, then the inside diameter would be about 9.5 cubits, and the ratio of 30 to 9.5 is 3.158—much closer to π. When we say that the distance between Philadelphia (where the author lives) and NYC is 100 miles, we know it is not as precise as 96.5 miles. The exact figure π cannot be precisely expressed as a decimal fraction, because the number is irrational. Even if you where to offer it to a million decimal places, it would still be inexact. What would be the point of the Bible giving the figure, 3.14159265358979323846264338, when even that is not exact? The Lord wanted to communicate and knows that whereas many humans do like to be thought of as being illiterate do not mind so much (and may almost boast) about being innumerate.

Previously, we said that algebra is about sets of numbers. Now we affirm that geometry, a second major heading under mathematics, deals with sets of points. For example, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the set of points on a circle with center at the origin and having radius 1 unit and the set of ordered pairs (algebra) satisfying the equation, x 2 + y 2 = 1. This can be extended three dimensionally. For example, x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = 1, is an equation with three variables. The geometric shape would be a sphere, and if we were to add the symbol, “<”, to the equation, the set of all point would either be on the surface of the sphere or inside the sphere. We would have a solid globe (think earth) with diameter 2 (i.e. radius 1).

Are we going a little far afield here? How does this relate to Jesus? The outer surface of the earth approximates a sphere/globe, and the Bible says that Jesus, “in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth.” Jesus made the globe of the earth. Hebrews 1:8 speaks explicitly about Jesus (calls Him the “Son”) and quotes Psalm 102 and applies it to Him (cf. Heb 1:10).

Is not Psalm 102 about Yahweh God? Yes, and Jesus is Yahweh God in human flesh. When a math teacher uses a compass to draw a circle on the chalk or white-board, one can be impressed. Which is more challenging, to draw a circle on a white-board or to make a spherical earth and hang it upon nothing?

Nothing? Job 26:7 says, “He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.” He did the same for the sun, moon, comets and stars! But the words quoted only said that Jesus “laid the foundation of the earth”—said nothing about the “sun, moon, comets and stars. The verse continues, “And the heavens are the works of Your hands.” In summary, the verse says that the entire universe was made by Jesus, and there are other verses in the Bible that affirm the same. Jesus is indeed the Greatest Mathematician ever.

Many people would say that Sir Isaac Newton was the greatest mathematician, but what did Newton say? He affirmed, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being....This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont to be called Lord God ‘pantokrator,’ or Universal Ruler” (Newton's Principia: The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. New York: Daniel Adee, 501).

What about tiny little atoms and even the sub-particles, like protons, electrons, and neutrons? What about quarks and leptons? The Bible, referring to Jesus, affirms that “in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). In other words, all atoms “hold together” in Jesus!

Colossians was written by an apostle, but what did Jesus Himself say? In Mt 10:30, Jesus said that “the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” How many mathematicians know the number of hairs on everyone’s head all over the earth? Hairs are small, and if Jesus had used “quarks and leptons”, how many people 2,000 years ago would have understood?

The author taught mathematics for 3 decades and is particularly attracted to the number, 3. The Lord Himself may also have had a special place for that number. The Trinity may have been one reason, but also in John 2:19-20, we read, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It took 46 years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in 3 days?’” Even those who spoke out against Jesus remembered that number. One witness testified against Jesus saying, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in 3 days’” (Mt 26:61). Later, when Jesus was on the cross, a mocker ordered, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days, save Yourself” (Mt 27:40).

Is this getting off track? No, the main track is to encourage readers to fall in love with man’s only hope for heaven. He is also the Greatest Mathematician ever. Many deny the resurrection of Jesus, but here, even Jesus’ enemies indirectly testified for Him! These trials against Jesus really happened, and His enemies testified that He predicted His resurrection 3 days later—and that before He even died! False leaders do not predict their own resurrection 3 days after dying! Not even Houdini did that! [There are also many other prophecies from the Old Testament (written hundreds of years before Jesus came) that the Messiah would conquer death.]

Maybe this next mathematical insight will touch the reader personally. In mathematics, there is a principal of substitution, and Christians affirm that Jesus is our “Substitute.” The quartic equation, x 4 – 9x 2 + 8 = 0, has four solutions, {-3, -1, 1, 3}. Using the principal of substitution and by letting J = x 2, you can rewrite the equation as a quadratic, J^2 – 9J + 8 = 0, something less challenging to solve. The Greatest Mathematician Ever came to earth as a Problem Solver and Substituted Himself in the place of the believer.

In the second sentence of the beginning of this article, the word esoteric was mentioned. We resume. The trilobite eye was made by Creator Christ. Evolutionist Riccardo Levi-Setti was professor of physics and director of the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago and research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History. His beautiful book, Trilobites, published by The University of Chicago Press, contains these words: “Among the remains of early life on earth, the fossil record we find buried in ancient sedimentary rocks bears evidence of an extraordinary group of marine creature, the trilobites. The position of these invertebrates in the [supposed] evolution of the animal kingdom is extraordinary because of their early ascent to a high level of functional complexity, described in fascinating detail by their persistent and ubiquitous fossil remains.”

Let us continue, as this bears unwitting witness to the magnificent ability of our “Greatest Mathematician.” This evolutionary author continued, “Trilobites could see their immediate environment with amazingly sophisticated optical devices in the form of large composite eyes, the first use of optics coupled with sensory perception in nature. As a unique feat in the history of life, their eye lenses were shaped to correct for optical aberrations, with design identical to that proposed (quite independently of any knowledge of trilobites) by Descartes and Huygens. … When we humans construct optical elements, we some­times cement together two lenses that have different refrac­tive indices, as a means of correcting particular lens defects. In fact, this optical doublet is a device so typically associated with human invention that its discovery in trilobites comes as something of a shock. The realization that trilobites developed and used such devices half a billion years ago (sic) makes the shock even greater. And a final discovery—that the refracting interface between the two lens elements in a trilobite's eye was designed in accordance with optical constructions worked out by Descartes and Huygens in the mid-seventeenth century— borders on sheer science fiction.”

The author of the book was having difficulty believing that trilobites could do this on their own, but naturalism demands “No God!” He continued, “By comparing the shape of the aspheric lens exit sur­faces constructed by Huygens and Descartes with the two lens structures identified by Clarkson … little doubt remains that trilobites utilized the properties of Cartesian Ovals more than 400 million years (sic) before the seventeenth-century masters discovered the principle ... The design of the trilobite's eye lens could well qualify for a patent disclosure.”

There never was nor will be a Greater Mathematician than the Lord Jesus Christ, who also died on the cross for the present author and many others and who came alive again 3 days later.

We could continue with the truth that mathematics is the basic language of creation, illustrating this with examples in nature of the Fibonacci sequences. There is much mathematics in music and symmetry, but let us conclude with the orderliness of triangles:

We have referred to 3 in relation to the Trinity and the “3" days (prophecy of the Resurrection), but triangles are also marvelous in relation to 3-ness. Triangles have 3 vertices and 3 sides. When three lines in a plane come together at a single point, we say that the lines are concurrent. It is typical that two lines in a plane will intersect, but that a third should go through the exact same point as the other two is very special:

1) Every triangle in the universe has 3 perpendicular bisectors (1st triangle). Those three perpendicular bisectors always come together at a single point. We give the name of that point-of-centricity circumcenter, as it is equidistant from the 3 vertices. You can circumscribe a circle about that point that touches all 3 vertices.

2) Every triangle in the universe also has 3 medians (segments from the vertices to midpoints of opposite sides). They, too, are always concurrent at a single point (2 nd triangle). That point is called the centroid. It is the only point that is a third the distance from each side to the opposite vertex. This is true for all 3 medians of any triangle.

3) Every triangle in the universe has three angle bisectors, which are always concurrent at a single point, called the incenter (3 rd triangle). Whereas the circumcenter is always equidistant to the 3 vertices, this incenter is always equidistant from the 3 sides. You can inscribe a circle tangent to the 3 sides using the incenter.

4) Every triangle in the universe has three altitudes, and they also are concurrent at a single point, which is called the orthocenter (4 th triangle). All of this points us to a remarkable orderliness in the universe. Triangles have a unity but also a threeness. Infinitely more special is God Triune—God the Father, God the Son (Messiah/Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.

What a mighty Christ we serve!
What a mighty Cre-A-Tor!
Let us bow before Him.
Heaven and earth adore Him.
What a mighty Christ we serve.

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