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DEFENDING  THE  BRIDE

 

 
Print Free Pamphlet - - Brief Summary

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
 
153 Fish : Explaining the number 153
 

153 a Triangular Number

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

 

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See  Calculating the Measure of the Fish

 


 



 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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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

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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