The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John present the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The rest of the Bible reveals other aspects of Jesus, for those who are willing to look. There is a way of meeting Jesus outside the Bible, although it ultimately points us straight back to the gospels. This is what I call the Gospel according to Mathematics.

When we are grappling with mathematical concepts at school — trying desperately to work out the answer to that complicated equation before exam time runs out — we have little time for reflection. Now that we are not in an exam, let’s take a step back and consider: What is mathematics?

When I was at school, it seemed to be a cleverly devised form of torture, especially when the value of x remained obstinately elusive. Trigonometry, in particular, remains a complete mystery to me — why should I even want to know the value of the angle between two sides of a triangle?

Those who struggle with math spend more time wondering why it is necessary to study, rather than why it exists in the first place. Yet the latter question is fascinating, and its answer is exhilarating.

The mystery of mathematics

If mathematics is merely a manmade set of rules — something that clever people invented to torment schoolchildren — then why does it explain physical phenomena in the universe that exist without man’s influence? How is it that our scribbles on a page accurately predict the movements of planets? How did Einstein discover the relationship between energy and matter simply by scratching away at a chalkboard?

Similar questions to these have caused much head-scratching among scientists and philosophers of science. Upon reflecting on the nature of mathematics and how it applies to physics, Eugene Wigner described it this way: “The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve.”

While the symbols we use in math are undoubtedly manmade (e.g. numbers, =, + and -), it appears to be a language that we use to decode an existing message. Most basic mathematical principles (e.g. 1+1 = 2) are simply ways that we state easily observable facts of our world. Yet, as Wigner points out, some of our most complicated mathematical theorems were not based on observations or experiments, but on logic.

The problem is that many of these purely logical statements created by mathematicians (apparently because they find them ‘beautiful’ or ‘elegant’) are then found to accurately describe actual physical phenomena. Some mathematical formulae that were developed to understand one area of science are later found to apply (with changes) to an entirely different area. Wigner calls this a miracle, alongside the equally amazing miracle that “natural laws” exist in the first place — an observation he shared with Erwin Schrödinger.

The logic behind the equations

A compelling explanation for these ‘miracles’ is that logic is a real, self-existent thing that simultaneously governs the universe and resonates with the human mind. When we use logic correctly, we are tapping into something beyond us that we did not create. Rather, in a very real sense, this logic created us and keeps us alive through the laws of nature.

When mathematicians describe their equations and theorems as ‘beautiful’ in the same sense that the non-mathematically minded person finds poetry, art, or natural landscapes ‘beautiful’, we start to see the ultimate logic of the universe in a different light. The logic somehow has a form that attracts and holds our attention — it fascinates us by its beauty.

Going beyond physics, many other natural sciences draw on mathematics to explain diverse phenomena. Even the field of ecology — how organisms interact with each other and their environment — makes extensive use of math, particularly its statistical branches. This poses a tantalizing question: can every field of human knowledge and thought be somehow linked to the same underlying logic?

The search for a unifying theory

Stephen Hawking and other physicists devoted their careers to this very question, and many are still in search of its holy grail: the Theory of Everything. These scientists tend to limit their search to physics, claiming that if we could find one theory that unifies general relativity and quantum mechanics, then we would have a theory that explains all aspects of the universe.

Yet their thinking is too narrow. If we could explain every physical phenomenon in the universe, we would still leave out vast amounts of human experience. Even the sense of beauty found in such a theory (felt by those who could understand it!) would lie beyond its ability to explain. The question of how the human mind is able to generate and grasp such a theory would go equally unanswered.

A real ‘theory of everything’ is akin to what Eugene Wigner calls “ultimate truth”. He describes this truth as something that unifies entirely different fields of science, like physics and genetics. To that I would add art, music, faith, and philosophy, among many others.

Long before Wigner, humans have searched for ultimate truth. The one thing that explains why we are here, what this is all for, and why things are the way they are. The Ancient Greeks coined a term to describe what they were looking for: logos. This simple word meant many things, and possibly everything. In its simplest form it refers to logic and speech, or in combination, rational discourse. Heraclitus, who coined the term, used it to describe the principle of order and knowledge that governs our world.

Discovering the Logos

In light of the thoughts on modern mathematics, physics, and other disciplines, we can use logos as a definition for the underlying logic of the universe, or the ultimate truth. Scientists, philosophers, artists, dreamers, lovers, and you and I are searching in our different ways for the logos. The foundation for life as we know it, the reason why everything exists, the one thing that explains everything from how our heart pumps to why it aches for love.

Roughly five hundred years after the term logos was coined, a man named John made a startling claim about it. A claim that — if true — changes everything. The logos we are searching for is not a thing. It is a Person!

John starts his book — known today as the Gospel of John — with this mind-blowing statement: “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1–4

John describes the Logos as the underlying cause of the entire universe. Nothing that we see, smell, hear, taste, or touch is outside the all-encompassing realm of the Logos, including our lives. He then goes beyond physical life by introducing a term he uses in a non-physical sense: light. As in insight or understanding.

Here is the explanation of the ‘miracle’ that the product of human thought, math accurately predicts physical phenomena. According to John, our physical lives and our mental insights have a common source — the Logos. This great unifier of mind and matter describes Himself as the ultimate truth (John 14:6).

While his readers are still reeling from the opening lines of his gospel, John follows it up with a knock-out punch: “And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 [in both cases, I have substituted the original Greek “Logos” for the English “Word”].

Can it be that the underlying logic of our universe and the ultimate source of our mental and emotional capabilities is a person? This is exactly what John is claiming.

Instead of a theory of everything, John presents the Creator of everything. He is the rationality behind math, physics, and all other sciences; the basis for human thought and emotion; the ultimate truth. 

Behold, Jesus Christ of Nazareth!