Library









|
|
|
|
Print Free Pamphlet - -
Brief Summary October 7, 2024
Sections :
Introduction
Church Fathers : Sts. Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Cyril A.
No Reason ?
Why Church Fathers’ Answers Could Not Be John’s
Problems with Square Root of 3 Answer
Context Points to the Answer : An Explanation That Works
Archimedes : Context of Time and Place
Greeks and Wisdom
Fish
Calculating the Measure of the Fish
John’s Purpose
Why Church Fathers Did Not (could not?) Give John’s Idea
Conclusion
|
|
Five More Arguments Based
on the Number 3 :
John gives us another clue.
John states this miracle happened on the
3rd
occasion of Christ’s
appearance to the Apostles (John 21:14.)
There are several reasons
as to why John might have wanted to emphasize the number 3.
The Greeks of his day would have unmistakably
associated the number 153 with
wisdom, and especially that of Archimedes.
And the number 3 tends to confirm that association.
Reason #1.
The #3 could be an allusion to the 3rd Person of Trinity, the
Holy Spirit who is closely associated with Wisdom.
Sirach 1: 1-9
“All wisdom comes from the LORD
… he created her through the Holy Spirit”
[See Jerome’s
translation
of the Old Testament for Sirach (Ecclesiasticus – meaning “Church
Book”)]
The pagan Greeks believed in many gods.
John was teaching the Christian message of the One Trinitarian
God.
Wisdom is the first of seven of the gift of the spirit, see
Isaiah
11:2, or 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, states :
“ … He made all things by himself,
that is, by his Word and
by his Wisdom,” “by the Son and the Spirit”
...” CCC
292
|
|
There is a close mathematical relationship between
the numbers 153 and 3. Now, it is not necessary that John believed
that these mathematical characteristics of the number 153 listed below
were anything more than mere coincidences. All that was necessary was
for John to have known that the Greeks of his day would associate mathematics
with esoteric principles. And that these principles were the key
to
spiritual and philosophical wisdom. And, John would have known that
because he lived with the Greeks when he wrote this Greek Gospel for
them. And because they thought this way, all God had to do was to cause
153 fish to swim into the net, and for John to specifically mention this
detail – even when he admits that there are many other things not
included in his Gospel – in order to allude to wisdom and
make his point.
See
John’s Purpose
See
Greeks and Wisdom
“God built the universe on numbers.” – Pythagoras
|
 |
|

|
|
Thus, the number 153 is
the 17th triangular number.
Notice below, that the only Sunday on which John 21:11 is read is on the 3rd
Sunday of Easter in Year C, the third year. Thus, we have two three’s.
Year C falls on the following years : 2019, 2022, 2025, 2028, 2031,
2034, 2037, etc. Picture below found on
Felix Just, S.J.’s web site. |

|
|
Reason #2. |
By using the #3, John could have been making complete a parallel between Jesus’
last
miracle and His first at Cana. John tells us this miracle at the
wedding happened on the Third day (John 2:1.) Jesus uses water in His first miracle.
Water is also a sign of the Holy Spirit.
John 7:38-39
“He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart
shall flow rivers of living water.’”
Now this he said about the Spirit,
which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the
Spirit had not been given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified.” At Baptism a priest takes ordinary water
and by the power of God it becomes sacramental. And through the
Baptismal waters we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And
through Him we receive the first of His gift’s, wisdom.
Jesus changes the water into wine at Cana. Scott Hahn, phd, states:
“Wine serves as a symbol of life and happiness; it is counted
among the greatest gifts of creation … (Ps 104:15; Sir 31:27,
39:26-27).”
Catholic Bible Dictionary, subject wine, page 953.
And we can see a parallel between wine and wisdom. See all of
Wisdom chapters 7, 8, and 9. Wisdom
7:7-12
“Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called upon God,
and the spirit of wisdom came to me. I preferred her to scepters and
thrones, and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her. 9
Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem …
All good things came to me along with her, and in her hands uncounted
wealth. I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them; but I did not
know that she was their mother.”
Wisdom 7:25
“For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the
glory of the Almighty …”
John makes parallels throughout his Gospel
from beginning to end. John tells us that Jesus performed his last miracle, the catch of 153
fish, at Jesus’ 3rd appearance after the
resurrection. If John was wanting to use “153 fish” also as a symbol of
one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Trinity, then
the use of “153 fish” in this way would have made complete the parallel
between the first and last miracle. The number 153 is closely
associated with the number 3 as seen above. So, both miracles would have
been alluding to gifts of the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the
Trinity.
|
Reasons #3, #4, #5
The following 3 reasons could be an association by
John with the best known manifestation of man’s natural wisdom in the
Greek world.
And that is Archimedes’s work on Pi, which the Greeks would have highly
esteemed.
See Archimedes’ Wisdom
Reason #3.
The Bible gives us an approximate of π. That
value is 3 -
Could John’ use of 3 be an allusion to Pi and therefore to Archimedes’ work
on Pi ?
1 Kings 7:23 gives the value Pi, π
, as approximately equal to 3.
1 Kings 7:23
“ … it was round, ten cubits from brim to brim, … and a line
of thirty cubits measured its circumference.”
( 3 x 10 = 30)
The value of
π times the length of a
circle’s diameter is equal to its circumference .
π x D = C. Therefore, Pi,
π, is about 3.
•
So, by referring to 3 John could have been alluding to Pi, and
Archimedes work on Pi.
Reason #4.
The number 3 could have been an allusion to √3
which was instrumental in Archimedes’ work on Pi, π. At
the time of Archimedes, and of John, and up until about AD 1000, more or
less, they did not have the decimal system or the horizontal fraction
bar. So, fractional numbers had to be written in a linear form as
seen below. The equation listing the rational approximate value of
√3’s ends with the number 153. Archimedes is the first
person accredited to using this very close
approximation seen below.
|
|
Reason #5.
The number 3 could have been an allusion to Archimedes’ 3rd
Proposition.
Interestingly, it is Archimedes’ 3rd Proposition where he solved for the value of
π. Is John wanting the Greeks to make
the connection between the number 3 and Archimedes’ third proposition ?
Is there a connection between the number 3 and Archimedes’ wisdom on
how to calculate Pi ?
Is John making a connection between the number 3 and the √3 and the number 153 ?
See Archimedes’ Wisdom
Read :
The Number 153 Was Very Prominent and
Recognizable in Ancient Greek Culture
Continue ...
See
Calculating the Measure of the Fish
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Continue ...
Sections :
Introduction
Church Fathers : Sts. Jerome, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Cyril A.
No Reason ?
Why Church Fathers’ Answers Could Not Be John’s
Problems with Square Root of 3 Answer
Context Points to the Answer : An Explanation That Works
Archimedes : Context of Time and Place
Greeks and Wisdom
Fish
Calculating the Measure of the Fish
John’s Purpose
Why Church Fathers Did Not (could not?) Give John’s Idea
Conclusion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW
Cool Catholic
Graphics
See Articles
at
JESUS
BIBLE
CHURCH AUTHORITY
MARY
MORAL ISSUES
PRO-LIFE
SACRAMENTS
SAINTS
MISC.
HOME - DEFENDING
THE BRIDE
www.DefendingTheBride.com
|
|
|
|