Technology has a tendency to turn science fiction into fact. In the pulp comics of the 1930s, a polo player from Yale University rocketed through outer space in The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. In the 1960s, real rockets hurled real people through the threshold of the final frontier. The communicators that Starfleet personnel activated with a mere tap in Star Trek have turned into the earclip Bluetooth devices of the twenty-first century.[i] And remember the homing beacon that Darth Vader’s Stormtroopers concealed onboard the Millennium Falcon in 1977? The device that the Galactic Empire traced to locate the hidden Rebel base in the original Star Wars film? That’s become a reality too—and not merely in those pesky tags at the discount store that trigger alarms at the exit, even though you’ve paid for every item in your cart.

Today, a “homing beacon” of sorts, almost too small to be seen with the naked eye, can be slipped beneath your skin.

These gadgets are known as “Radio-Frequency Identification transponders.” A RFID transponder, or “tag,” has at least two parts: There’s an integrated circuit that stores data, and there’s an antenna that sends and receives information. Some RFID transponders, known as “active RFID tags,” contain minuscule batteries that actively transmit information about their status and location. “Passive RFID tags,” on the other hand, contain no batteries. Passive tags store personal information, such as encoded medical or financial data, but this information is activated only when a specially-designed reader device is nearby. Scientists are presently exploring methods for shrinking passive RFID tags by replacing the internal antennae with inks that conduct electrical signals. If this technology became a practical possibility, the process of obtaining an RFID transponder would be similar to receiving a tattoo.

So how will this technology function in the near future?

From a technological standpoint, one of the most promising RFID devices is the VeriChip subcutaneous implant. VeriChip implants are passive RFID tags that will enable persons to make financial transactions. The VeriChip implant is about the size of a grain or two of rice. The Hitachi Corporation has recently publicized the possibility of a tag that’s even smaller—only one-twentieth of a millimeter long! After receiving such an implant, individuals could simply place their tagged arm near a reader device and approve a purchase or sale. The transfer of funds would occur instantly, without cash, check, or credit card. With such a tag, your wallet would no longer reside in your pocket or your purse. Your capacity to buy and to sell would be embedded in your flesh.

After contemplating these possibilities, several contemporary Christian commentators have connected RFID tags with the mark of the beast that’s depicted in the biblical book of Revelation.

Remember how John the apostolic elder described the mysterious mark of the beast?

“[The beast] causes all—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be marked on the right hand or forehead, so that no one can buy or sell without the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).

At first glance, that does sound similar to passive RFID tags. Based on these perceived similarities, one Christian website makes this confident declaration regarding RFID tags: “Now, it can be truly said that the biblical ‘mark of the beast,’ with all its ramifications, is a technological reality.” The site goes on to claim that, in Revelation 13:18, the number 666 is a prophetic reference to the hexadecimal numeric system—a common method for codifying computer programs. (The website author was evidently unaware that the word “hexadecimal” describes a computer language with sixteen symbols, not six.) Based on this connection, the same site claims that, according to Scripture, the mark of the beast will use computers to link tagged individuals to a central database.[ii] Anti-RFID books have begun to appear on the bookshelves too. One such book identifies RFID technologies as “uncannily similar to the prophecies of Revelation” and begins its expose with the words, “Imagine a world of no more privacy.”[iii]

In light of these connections, should Christians draw a line directly from RFID tags to the antichrist? Or are other perspectives possible? Is an RFID implant compatible with faithfulness to Jesus Christ? To formulate an answer to this question, let’s first take a look at what “the mark of the beast” actually means in the biblical texts.

That Beastly Mark

According to Revelation, a time will come when everyone is compelled “to be marked on the right hand or forehead” (13:16). The content of this mark will be “the name of the beast or the number of his name,” and this number is “six hundred and sixty-six” (13:18). Somehow, persons will bear the imprint of a beastly ruler’s identity on their hands or on their foreheads. A few verses later, John tells us that the faithful witnesses on Mount Zion also bear a mark; they have “[the] Father’s name inscribed in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).

But how?

To understand the meaning of these marks, look with me at some other ancient texts. The idea of a mark to distinguish believers and non-believers appeared frequently in ancient Jewish literature. In Exodus 13:16, God commanded his people to place the memory of their redemption “as a mark on your hand, even bound between your eyes” (see also Exodus 13:9; Deuteronomy 6:8; 11:18). In the time of Jesus, some persons had taken this text as a command to affix small boxes containing Bible verses to their hands and foreheads; these boxes became known as “phylacteries” (see Matthew 23:5). The original intent of these words, however, was to allow God’s redemption and God’s Word to mold the hearer’s thoughts (“bound between your eyes”) and actions (“a mark on your hand”).

Later Jewish literature picked up on this idea of being marked. A Jewish psalm written a few years before the birth of Jesus declared, “The mark of God is on the righteous so that they will be saved, … but lawless people will not escape God’s judgment. The mark of destruction is on their foreheads” (Psalms of Solomon 15:6-9). The apostle Paul echoed this language in the New Testament, describing Christians as persons “marked” or “sealed” by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). In the early second century A.D., a Christian pastor named Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “There are two coinages, one of God and the other of the world. Each has its appropriate stamp impressed on it: Unbelievers bear the mark of this world; the faithful in love bear the mark of God the Father through Jesus Christ” (To the Magnesians, 5).

In all of these cases, it’s clear that the mark or seal is not a physical imprint. Instead, it has to do with an individual’s thoughts, actions, and allegiances. So what does that mean for the book of Revelation? When John predicted that a beastly ruler would compel everyone “to be marked on the right hand or forehead,” (Revelation 13:16) what he most likely meant was not that people would receive a physical mark. Instead, people would be expected to think and to act according to the whims of this beast. Those who take their stand alongside the Lamb of God on Mount Zion have surrendered their very thoughts to God; so, the text states that they have God the Father’s name “inscribed in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1). These persons possess, in Paul’s way of putting it, “the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5).

If the mark on one’s hand or forehead points to a person’s thoughts and actions, what does the number 666 imply? It’s important to recognize that, in ancient languages, letters often functioned as numbers. The first letter of the alphabet might mean “one,” while the second would mean “two.” The eleventh letter might imply “twenty,” the twelfth letter “thirty,” and so on. As such, it was possible to add letters and come up with the number of someone’s name. An example of how this process functioned in real life can be found in the ruins of Pompeii. There, archaeologists have unearthed a fragment of graffiti that reads, “I love her whose number is 545.” Another example of this process can be found in a document known as the Sibylline Oracles, where the number of Jesus’ name is calculated as “888.”[iv]

With this background in mind, there are a couple of possible meanings for 666, both of which could be true. It’s possible that John remembered how Jesus’ name added up to 888—each digit moving one beyond seven, a number that the Jews identified with completeness. By connecting 666 with the beast—each digit of 666 falling one short of seven—John predicted a world ruler who would fall short of God’s glory in every way. The other possibility points out that the name of Emperor Nero adds up to 666 when written in Hebrew letters. It was Nero who first developed a full-blown cult of emperor worship during his lifetime. (Previous emperors had, for the most part, settled for being worshiped after their deaths.) Nero even claimed equality with the Roman deity Apollo. If the character of Nero was what John had in mind, perhaps the inspired author was prophesying the rise of a ruler who, like Nero, would claim to be divine. According to John, anyone who resisted such a ruler’s rule would be persecuted and prevented from purchasing or selling.

What about RFID?

How should all of this affect a Christian’s response to RFID technology? In my opinion, the mark described in Revelation, when understood in its historical context, is clearly not a physical imprint. Christians can, therefore, live free from the fear that an RFID tag might be the mark of the beast.

Does that mean that every Christian ought to jump directly onto the RFID bandwagon? Should I replace my wallet with an implant as soon as possible? Should my church institute tithing through electronic tags?

Probably not.

Significant issues—ranging from the potential insecurity of private information to the possibility of tumors triggered by radioactivity—still plague subdermal RFID technology. At this point, patient observation of this technology seems to be a more prudent choice than hasty appropriation.

For the Christian, though, there’s a much more important issue at stake: The goal of Christian life is to glorify God by conforming to the character of Jesus Christ. As such, the question that controls a Christian’s choices shouldn’t be, “Does this make life more convenient?” or “Is this the latest trend?” The question should be, instead, “Will this help me to reveal more clearly the glory of God?” And that applies to far more than the question of whether to have a RFID transponder injected into your arm. It also goes for whether to get the Wii, the SUV, the flat-screen TV—whatever it is that the world is telling you that you absolutely must possess. In the end, after all, what matters most will not be the technology that you possessed but whether you learned to find your peace in the God who possesses you.

Dr. Timothy Paul Jones is a theologian, a former pastor, and currently a professor of Leadership and Church Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also a bestselling author of books like The Da Vinci Codebreaker, Misquoting Truth, and Conspiracies and the Cross.