Crosses 
Seven in the Church
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It's interesting that Christians revere the Cross and consider Fingers Crossed to be superstitious nonsense (even though it has Christian origins), yet the number seven plays an important part of their religion (even though the number is deeply associated with ancient Paganism).
So why do Christians use the number seven so much?
Seven has been a significant part of the Church since its inception, and continues today, especially in Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Churches.
Seven Deadly Sins
(also known as the Seven Cardinal Sins)
In the 6th century Pope Gregory the Great defined a set of seven negative attributes1 that must be avoided:
- Pride- leading to a conceited opinion of one's self(related Proverbs)
- Envy- a desire for the status, abilities or possessions of others, leading to resentment of others(related Proverbs)
- Gluttony- a desire to eat or consume more than is needed, thereby wasting food or drink, ergo denying sustenance to others(related Proverbs)
- Lust- a craving for sex, power or riches(related Proverbs)
- Anger- a loss of rational self-control, leading to hatred and a desire to harm others(related Proverbs)
- Greed- a desire for material wealth or gain(related Proverbs)
- Sloth- a laziness and the avoidance of work(related Proverbs)
Seven Heavenly Virtues
The pope instructed the best way to avoid these sins was to adopt seven positive attributes to counter the seven negative attributes. The three Theological Virtues defined by St. Paul (faith, hope and love) added to the four Cardinal Virtues (prudence, temperance, courage and justice) give us the Seven Heavenly Virtues:
- Faith- a belief in the right things(related Proverbs)
- Hope- taking a positive view that good will prevail(related Proverbs)
- Charity- love and concern for others and actively helping others(related Proverbs)
- Fortitude- never giving up(related Proverbs)
- Justice- being fair and equitable with others(related Proverbs)
- Prudence- care of and moderation with money(related Proverbs)
- Temperance
Seven Contrary Virtues
For the Seven Deadly Sins (see list above), there are Seven Contrary Virtues:
Seven Corporal Works of Mercy
The medieval instructions for helping others, give us the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy:
Seven Sacraments
Originally there were seven Stations of the Cross and there are Seven Sacraments:
Seven I AM's
Many times people asked Jesus who He was, and in reply, Jesus compared Himself to different things to help us understand. The Gospel of John records seven of these:
- I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry (John 6:35)
- I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness (John 8:12)
- I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved (John 10:9)
- I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:10)
- I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies (John 11:25)
- I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)
- I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener (John 15:1)
Other Sevens in the Bible
Seven appears in the Bible significantly more frequently than adjacent numbers.
| six/sixth/sixty | 199 times |
| seven/seventh/seventy | 320 times |
| eight/eighth/eighty | 117 times |
Let's look at a few examples:
Prov. 6:17-19 lists seven things that are an abomination to God, the first being 'Pride'. Pride might be acceptable in today's society, but God never changes; He still hates it. Pride was, as Isa. 14:12-15 tells us, the reason Lucifer fell from grace.
God hates not only these seven sins; God hates all sin.
Menorah
The Menorah was used with the tabernacle and its seven-branch design was dictated by God to Moses (Exod. 25:31-40). There are lots of sevens in the story of the Fall of Jericho (Josh. 6) and seven is particularly popular in these chapters of the final book of the Bible.
In Revelation we read of seven:
| angels | 8 10 11 15 16 17 21 | mountains | 17 |
| beasts | 17 | plagues | 15 21 |
| candlesticks | 1 2 | sardius | 21 (a precious stone) |
| churches | 1 | seals | 5 8 |
| crowns | 12 | spirits | 1 3 4 5 |
| eyes | 5 | stars | 1 2 3 |
| horns | 5 | thousands | 11 |
| heads | 12 13 17 | thunders | 10 |
| kings | 17 | trumpets | 8 |
| lamps | 4 | vials | 15 15 21 |
In Lev. 25:3-4 we read that fields should lie fallow on the seventh year. And of course, the seventh day is an important day in the Bible. Exod. 20:8-11 says:
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The seventh day is the Sabbath3 and the premise is given in Gen. 2:1-3. In total the seventh day is mentioned 50 times, including: Exod. 16, 31, 35, Isa. 58, Mark 2, Luke 4, Acts 13, 17, 18, & Num. 15.
But why seven? Why not six? Or eight?
See our main seven page for the simple answer.
| 1: | These included gluttony and greed; two quite similar vices which could easily be lumped together. But then there would only be six deadly sins. |
| 2: |
Dilbert, on 'patience' (click image to enlarge) © www.dilbert.com. To receive daily witty office humour by email, sign up at www.dilbert.com/register/. Highly recommended! |
| 3: | See also reference to Sabbath and Sunday |
