to buy or to sell. Antichrist’s mark will allow people to engage in daily commerce, including the purchase of food and other necessities. Without the identifying mark, individuals will be cut off from the necessities of life. number of his name. The beast (Antichrist) will have a name inherent in a numbering system. It is not clear from the text exactly what this name and number system will be or what its significance will be. — John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006), Re 13:17.
Papyrus documents of the first and second centuries were frequently stamped with a seal known as charagma, the very word translated “mark” in this passage. These seals left the name of the ruling Emperor and the date inscribed on the document. Some may have included a likeness of the Emperor’s features as well. They were used as part of the paperwork in buying and selling. There is nothing here about the hand or the forehead. — Lewis Foster, Revelation: Unlocking the Scriptures for You, Standard Bible Studies (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 1989), 195.
The mark of the beast relates to the purchase of food, and possibly employment. God’s people are not protected from this economic privation. — Robert James Utley, Hope in Hard Times – The Final Curtain: Revelation, vol. Volume 12, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2001), 98.
The purpose, (so that; Gk. hina) of the mark is that no-one should engage in trade without it. Could (dynētai) is stronger than ‘hinder’ or the like. It points to a total prohibition, which would make it impossible for people without the mark to buy even necessities like food. It is thus impossible for those who oppose the beast even to live. — Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 167.
The mark may be, as in the case of the sealing of the saints in the forehead, not a visible mark, but symbolical of allegiance. — Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 584.