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About the Christian Fish (ichthus)
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Fishtory of the Ichthus Acrostic
Sometime during the 1st century the early Christians in the Rome catacombs
began using fish symbols for secrecy purposes. The earliest reference to this
symbol was in Paedogogus, III, xi by Clement of Alexandria.
In the Greek language, which was commonly used at that time,
the word for fish was ichthus (often spelled icthus).
At some point a creative person or group formed an acrostic
using the letters of
i ch t hu s.
The table below shows the correlation of the word to the acrostic, and
its English meaning.
Additional explanation and relavent scriptures are as follows:
Jesus - means "the Lord saves"
- She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the
name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21
- On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him,
he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before
he had been conceived. Luke 2:21
Christ - means "anointed one" or Messiah
- How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and
power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who
were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
Acts 10:38
- Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard
what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing
Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have
found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). John 1:40,41
God's Son
- For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by
the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in
sinful man, Romans 8:3
- And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had
with you before the world began. John 17:5
- Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being
in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to
be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a
servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death
on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8
- On Christ's oneness with the Father:
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,
for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 16:16,17
I and the Father are one. John 10:30
Saviour
- Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ
the Lord. Luke 2:11
- He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die
to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
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