The fish.
How do you identify yourself as a Christian? Or maybe the real question, how do you and I spot another Christian in the crowd? Do we look for someone wearing a cross around his or her neck? We might judge them to be Christian by their tone of voice and their demeanor. Do they have a particular church logo plastered on their car’s bumper? Or the ubiquitous fish symbol - there are still some brave Christians who mark themselves as such using the fish.
Where did this come from?
In the ancient Christian church, at a time of immense persecution, the Christian church came up with a method of communicating with other Christians to denote a follower of Jesus. It was done by means of a quick drawing in the dirt that resembled a fish.
How did this characterize someone as a believer? Here’s how: the Greek word for “fish” is “ichthys” or “ichthus.” It’s symbol is two intersecting arcs, much like the mark we see on Christian bumpers.
Its letters (i, ch, th, u, s) represented a particular word that speaks to the Christian faith. The symbol was adopted by early Christians as a secret symbol. It is now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish".
Ἰ - Jesus
Χ - Christ
Θ - Theos / God
Ύ - u = uios - son of
Σ - Savior
If a Christian met with and suspected another of being a follower of Jesus, he or she would draw this symbol in the dirt and the other would confirm that they were also a follower of Christ Jesus by also drawing a symbol of the fish. Or one would start the drawing with one arch and the other would finish the symbol with the remaining arc.
In that moment, each of these believers were encouraging the other in their faith. They were saying, “we believe that Jesus Christ is God’s own Son and he is also our Savior.” They were holding onto this illegal faith under penalty of death. When you know that someone else is also willing to believe in Jesus as Savior, it emboldens you. We feel like less of an island and more at ease with how the Holy Spirit builds and sustains faith.
Tertullian (c. 160-220), an ancient Christian leader, wrote this in his treatise on baptism: as water sustains fish, “we, little fishes, after the image of our ichthus, Jesus Christ, are born in the water (of baptism) nor are we safe but by remaining in it.” (link)
Jesus has birthed our faith by the Spirit of the Living God; many of us were brought to faith through the waters of Baptism. Some of us were strengthened in our faith by Baptism. And we are all kept safe by remaining daily in our baptism. This is what Tertullian points to.
As we ponder Jesus Christ, the Son of God our Savior, may we also remember that Baptism daily washes away every stain, wrinkle and blemish that could ever tarnish our record. By Jesus’ own commitment to innocent and horrific death, baptism assures us of our Savior’s work - saving us.
May we be blessed to examine that saving work today and always.
Thank you Jesus for washing us clean!