Lately in the circuitous meanderings of my mind I have been considering the importance of the number four. When we think of numbers with spiritual or biblical significance, we usually think of the number seven, of course, and then perhaps of the number three. But four? Yes. Four. It calls to mind the four faces of the cherubim of Ezekiel’s vision, the four living creatures that John saw in the Revelation, and certainly the four gospels. It is also a number representing the earth: the four points of the compass, the four winds, and that sort of thing.

Indeed, it is the significance of the number four in nature that the 2nd century church Father Irenaeus used as a rationale for the appropriateness for there being just four gospels… four and no more. This is not a trivial point. For we live in a day when these same four gospels are coming increasingly under attack. Witness the Gospel of Judas.
Continue reading →