John 21:11

εἰς τὴν γῆν (אABCLPXΔ) for ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς (E). After ἀνέβη we should probably insert οὖν with אBCLX against ADP.

11. ἀνέβη. The meaning probably is ‘went on board’ the vessel, now in shallow water. The details in this verse are strong evidence of the writer having been an eyewitness: he had helped to count these ‘great fishes’ and gives the number, not because there is anything mystical in it, but because he remembers it; just as he remembers and states the six large water-pots (John 2:6), the five loaves and two fishes, the 5000 men and the 12 baskets (John 6:9-13).

The points of contrast between this Draught of Fishes and the similar miracle at the beginning of Christ’s ministry are so numerous and so striking, that it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the spiritual meaning, which from very early times has been deduced from them, is divinely intended. Symbolical interpretations of Scripture are of three kinds: (1) Fanciful and illegitimate. These are simply misleading: they force into plain statements meanings wholly unreal if not false; as when the 153 fishes are made to symbolize Gentiles, Jews, and the Trinity. (2) Fanciful but legitimate. These are harmless, and may be edifying: they use a plain statement to inculcate a spiritual lesson, although there is no evidence that such lesson is intended; as when the miracle at Cana is made to symbolize the substitution of the Gospel for the Law, or the intermittent spring at Bethesda, to mean the meagreness of Judaism in contrast to the fulness of Christ. (3) Legitimate and divinely intended. In these cases the spiritual meaning is either pointed out for us in Scripture (Luke 5:10), or is so strikingly in harmony with the narrative, that it seems reasonable to accept it as purposely included in it. Of course it requires both spiritual and intellectual power to determine to which class a particular interpretation belongs; but in the present instance we may safely assign the symbolism to the third class.

The main points are these. The two Miraculous Draughts represent the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant. The one gathers together an untold multitude of both good and bad in the troubled waters of this world. Its net is rent with schisms and its Ark seems like to sink. The other gathers a definite number of elect, and though they be many contains them all, taking them not on the stormy ocean but on the eternal shore of peace.