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“let he who has wisdom count the number of his name.”

666 Nero

“666” is the numeric value of Nero’s name in Hebrew

I would RESPECTFULLY differ in opinion.

666 and CÆSAR NERO

Some will suggest that the book of Revelation was written only for those living at the time, and that 666 most probably applies to Cæsar Nero, who ruled Rome from 54 to 68 A.D., rather than someone from latter centuries. This point of view, which suggests Revelation had an immediate application to the first century, rather than being prophetic, is known as preterism, and is commonly held by the Catholic Church. So, just how is Nero linked to 666?

The preterist takes a relatively uncommon form of Nero’s name, Nero Cæsar or Cæsar Nero, and adds an “n”, resulting in Neron Cæsar. Next the Latin is transliterated into Aramaic, resulting in nrwn qsr, which when using the numeric equivalent of the letters, then adds up to 666 as follows:

Nun = 50
Resh = 200
Waw = 6
Nun = 50

Qoph = 100
Samech = 60
Resh = 200
An example of this spelling has apparently been recently discovered in one of the Dead Sea scrolls. If you use the same process, but without the added “n” the result is 616. Interestingly, some early manuscripts have 616 rather than 666, but even scholars such as Irenæus [A.D. 120-202] attribute the 616 to only a copyist error (Against Heresies: Book V Chapter XXX.), “this number [666] being found in all the most approved and ancient copies” [of the Apocalypse] and asserts that “men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony” [to it - 666].

There is a problem though with the above calculation. According to the rules of Jewish numerology, known as gematria, when the letter Nun appears a second time in a word, it is known as a “Final”, and takes the value of 700.* So to be precise, NRWN QSR actually adds up to 1316 and not 666.

So the preterist calculation which attributes 666 to Nero, however, is nothing more than a rather desperate attempt to find some likely candidate for the Antichrist other than the Papacy.

http://aloha.net/~mikesch/666.htm

Firstly, it was the common, not the uncommon form of Nero’s name.

Secondly evidence that the early Christians saw “666” as Nero Caesar, is found in the fact that other early manuscripts often changed the number to 616, which is the numerical value of the Nero’s name in Hebrew according to its Latin spelling

Thirdly, this is the Hebraic numbering, not Aramaic.

Fourthly, The early Church universally understood these numbers to refer to Nero. Even the futurist Irenaeus mentions that Nero is the Gematrian solution to the puzzle of the 666. In some manuscripts of The Apocalypse, the number had been copied as 616. Irenaeus points out that even this number would work as the solution to Nero’s abbreviated name. This is further evidence that the early Church understood the 666 as a reference to Nero, the personification of the sea-beast.

This point of view, which suggests Revelation had an immediate application to the first century, rather than being prophetic, is known as preterism, and is commonly held by the Catholic Church.

Strawmen all over the place. First of all, Catholics can't be full Preterists, only partial Preterists. (Full Preterism is heretical; it denies the Second Coming.) Partial Preterists do not deny that Revelation has prophetic content all over the place, but we assert that its primary fulfillment (up to chapter 20) happened in the first century. So does v chapter 1 verse 1 of Revelation itself.

Most of the better partial preterist scholarship today is being done by Calvinists. It's dishonest to pretend it's some kind of Catholic distinctive or Catholic headfake. You'd be calling most of the PCA "Catholic," and they don't cotton to that.