During the first century of Christianity, the ichthus or fish symbol spread from Rome throughout Christendom. It is believed to have been started by an Alexandrian Greek who discovered that the Greek letters of the word "fish" formed an initial anagram for "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior" or "Jesus Christus Dei filius Salvator." This was a particularly apt political expression for early Christians since pagan emperors of that time referred to themselves as "son of god." The fish anagram reminded them who the true son of God was.
The fish also reminded Christians that "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:40).
During the secrecy imposed by the persecutions, the fish symbol was used to identify Christians and their meeting places. A pagan, seeing a fish symbol drawn on the outer wall of a house, would believe that a funeral feast was taking place within. However, to the Christian, the sign indicated that the Eucharistic Mass was being held there that night. A Christian might have a fish drawn on his tomb for religious reasons but a Greek would place a fish on his tomb to show that, during his lifetime, he was a fisherman.
Since Jesus told His disciples to leave their nets and become "fishers of men," the fish has become a symbol of apostles and evangelists, especially of St. Peter (Mt 4:14-22; see also Lk 5:10; Mk 1:16-20). In baptism, the great fisherman represents Christ, the net symbolizes the Church, and the fish represent Christians. Christ likened the kingdom of heaven to "a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away" (Mt 13:47-48). A trio of fish laid in a triangular shape represents the Trinity. Judas is sometimes shown stealing a fish from a plate.
Christ performed many miraculous multiplications of fish. The most famous would be the feeding of the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish (Mt 14:17-21; Mk 6:43-44; Lk 9:13-16; John 6:9-1) and the feeding of the 4000 with 7 loaves and a few little fish (Mt 15:34-3; Mk 8:7-9). Fish in pictures of these events represent the food which is Christ.
Both before and after His resurrection, Jesus instructed Simon Peter and some other disciples to cast their nets once more after a bad night of fishing. Both times their obedience was rewarded with such a catch their boats nearly sank (Lk 5:3-11; Jn 21:6-14). The large catches were indicative of the great spread of Christianity.
After His resurrection, Jesus ate some broiled fish to prove to His frightened disciples that He was not a ghost (Lk 24:36). The third time the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples, He cooked them a fish breakfast on the shore (Jn 21:6-14).
The use of nets, fishermen, and fish to represent the faithful was not new to the Jews of Jesus's day. Jeremiah prophesied the return of the Jews to Israel after the Babylonian captivity, and the inclusion of the Gentiles, when he announced that the LORD had said, "Behold, I will send for many fishermen, and they shall fish them... The Gentiles shall come to You from the ends of the earth and say, 'Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things'" (Jer 16:16-19). Devout Jews, represented by fish, swam in the waters of the Torah.
The complete dependence of human fish on the timing and chance of God is noted by these words in Ecclesiastes: "I returned and saw under the sun that; the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. For man does not know his time: like fish taken in a cruel net...so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them" (Eccl 9:11-12). The cruel Chaldeans and their conquests were compared to fishermen who fished the nations with a hook and gathered people into captivity with a dragnet (Hab 1:14-17).
The god Dagon of Philistines and the Phoenicians was half man and half fish. Samson pulled the roof down upon himself and the Philistines as they gathered to sacrifice to Dagon (Judg 16:23). When the ark of the LORD was captured and brought to the temple at Ashdod, the statue of Dagon fell down and broke before it. "And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, "the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god" (1 Sam. 5:2-7). When Saul was killed in battle the Philistines "put his armor in the temple of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon" (1 Chr 10:10).
The fish is an attribute of Tobias who restored his father's sight with fish gall (Tobit) and of St. Anthony of Padua who preached to the fish in Rimini because the unbelieving people refused to hear him. According to the story, the fish were attentive to the point of standing on their tails in the water until he was finished.
The rays of light seen behind the figure of Jesus in many paintings are called Vesica if the light is believed to be fish-shaped.
During medieval times, images were made in which the fish clearly stood for Satan or Leviathan who was being attacked by angels with swords (Job 3:8; 41:31-34; Psa 74:14; 104:2; Isa 27:1).
Buddha and his followers are also called "fishers of men." Buddha's footprints may be shaped like fish and demonstrate freedom from worldly desires and attachments.
One popular non-Christian use of the fish symbol is that of the Pisces zodiac sign. The fish also symbolizes water, fertility, love, abundance, the unconscious mind, creativity, inspiration, and divine knowledge. Salmon and trout were associated by the Celtics with the sacred wells. Carp, because of their struggles to swim upstream to get to their spawning grounds, were especially associated with luck, endurance, courage, perseverance, and in Japan the gracious acceptance of one's fate.
Unless otherwise noted all scripture quotes are from the NKJV Bible.
Read more about fish at:
Comments© 1997 by Suzetta Tucker
To cite this page:
Tucker, Suzetta. "ChristStory Fish Page." ChristStory
Christian Bestiary. 1997. http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/legend01/fish.htm
().