What does the fish symbol mean in religion? Bible study on the ichthys (fish symbol). The Greek word ichthys (Greek word IXOYE meaning fish) is an acrostic for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior. The fish symbol represents the acrostic, and symbolizes salvation in Christ through water baptism -- fish are saved in water, and we are saved in water through Jesus (1 Pet. 3:21). Tertullian (145-220 A.D.) wrote a treatise on baptism contradicting the Cainites (a Gnostic sect) who taught against water baptism. Speaking of Christians he wrote, we little fishes are born in water, after the example of our Ichthys Jesus Christ. And we have safety in no other way than by permanently abiding in water. Later in the treatise, Tertullian says that the Cainite doctrine against baptism is a false doctrine that shakes the faith which can entirely block a person from receiving the faith. In fact, it opposes the faith on the very principles of which the faith consists! Then describing the simplicity of baptism Tertullian says, With the utterance of a few words, he is dipped, and then rises again not much the [physically] cleaner. The ichthys (fish symbol ) contradicted the Gnostic doctrines brethren fought against in the early centuries (that men could be saved without baptism). It symbolizes the necessity of baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), that our sins are washed away in baptism (Acts 22:16), and that baptism saves us (1 Pet. 3:21).
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 20:47:32 +0000
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