The Meaning of the Jesus Fish Symbol (ICHTHUS) You may have seen a simple fish symbol as a bumper sticker on cars, but it is actually a very ancient symbol for Jesus. There are a lot of references to fish in the Bible, but the symbol doesn't actually refer to a Biblical story. It actually refers to the Greek word for fish: ICHTHYS. It was illegal to be a Christian in the Roman Empire for hundreds of years. Christians in the early Church had to worship in secret to avoid persecution and death. So