(Just in case you missed it: After six years’ work, Luke Durant, a San Jose, CA researcher, discovered and verified last fall a new prime number that consists of 41,024,320 digits! There probably are theological connections….)
If you’re already fascinated with the intricacies of higher mathematics, you know that prime numbers are those divisible only by 1 and themselves. (Hence 2,3,5,7, 11, 13, etc.) To say that another way, all other integers are combinations of prime numbers. Prime numbers help make sense out of the idea of “the lowest common denominator” in fractions.
The significance of this discovery goes to the heart of what “prime number” seems to suggest: There are some things/quantities/elements upon which all other things/quantities/elements are based. Prime numbers are an exquisite example of this concept. Maybe sub-atomic particles?
Durant’s mathematical sleuthing got me to thinking about theological primes, ultimate truths upon which other theological beliefs can be based—theology that can be distilled to foundational ideas, accepted by faith as verifiable and ready to support other frameworks of spiritual identity.
In my latticework of theological architecture, there are some elemental truths that guide everyday thoughts and actions: There is only one God; sinful nature is baked into human biology; self-idolatry always falls apart; we’re doomed on our own; and Jesus’ teachings are practical.
But my cherished tenets may not match the necessary universality of prime numbers. (Some of you might disagree with the primacy of my primes!) One belief, though, seems to check all the “prime” boxes: There is a God, and it’s not me!
Back to that massive new prime number—larger than the 80-digit enumeration that estimates the number of atoms in the observable universe! Peeking out of that colossal number is the helpful reminder that everything about God is beyond our ability to qualify or quantify it. As in “awe-inspiring”….
With Epiphany’s starry witness in mind, think of the amazing wonder that this beyond-prime-numbers God would send us God’s only Son.
A prime number that shows God’s grace….
*Here I am indebted to freelance math writer and puzzle creator Jack Murtagh, who authored “A Gargantuan Prime Number” in the February 2025 issue of Scientific American. The article is worth reading just for the pleasure of knowing how prime numbers work and how they have been discovered over the centuries.
(To receive these entries when they are posted, go to the upper right-hand corner of the top banner and click on the three dots or parallel lines. Scroll down to the subscription form and enter your information.)