Why  153  Fish  in  John  21:11  ?

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

  
  
                              John  the  Fisherman

Before John was called by Jesus to be His Disciple and Apostle, John was a professional fisherman.  At the end of his Gospel he makes 8 references to the measure of a fish.  This would bring to the minds of the Greeks the following mathematical calculations.

Final Number

The square root of 3 is an irrational number.  If it was expressed in decimal form the numbers after the decimal point go on forever.  They do terminate and they do not repeat.  An approximation of  √3   would have to be used in a calculation if a rational answer was desired.  The decimal system did not come to the west until the 12^th century so the approximation of   √3   would have to be expressed in a fractional, or ratio, format.  The horizontal fraction bar did not come to the west until the 12^th century as well.  So, at the time John’s Gospel was written the rational approximation for the square root of   √3   would have be expressed in a linear, ratio, format as below.  The closest approximation of the square root of 3 expressed in small whole numbers and by its upper and lower limits is the following :
  

   
Notice that the final number in this equation for the measure of the fish is the number  153.  John knew that his reference to the  fish,  and its measure together with his reference to the number 153 would not be lost upon the minds of the Greeks to whom he was writing.  John was referring to Greek wisdom specifically, and by extension to all wisdom.

So, the Greeks make the connections between the measure of the fish and the final number in the equation, 153.  It would also bring to their minds their great cultural heroes, Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes.

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans were best know for their Pythagorean Formula. And it was by this formula that the measure of the fish is determined.

Euclid was best known for his book on geometry, Elements.  And it is the first proposition of this book where he constructs the vesica piscis, which is the diagram of the fish.

Archimedes was known to have used the above approximation for square root of   √3  ending in the number 153.  (He does not explain from where he got this number.  So, possibly he was the first to use it.)

So, both the final number 153 in the answer to the question of
What is measure of the fish?,
as well as the method of how it is calculated would cause the Greeks of John's day to think of the quality of wisdom for which Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes were highly esteemed.

Continue ...
John’s Purpose

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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