Mar 1:17 Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
Alternative: Follow me and I will prepare you to become sailors of mankind.

As I pointed out in the look at the similar verse in Matthew, (Mat 4:19) the terms translated as "fisher" is more commonly used to simply mean "sailor" or "seaman." However, looking more closely at the other terms that specifically mean "fisherman," they are not as common as halieus and another term, nautês, is much more commonly used to refer to a "sailor." As always, I prefer to think that both ideas, that of being both a fisherman and a sailor are intended.

What does it mean to be sail upon the seas of humanity? It means not being tied to one place or group. It means to move where the wind (the real meaning of the Greek word for "spirit) takes you. It means to be at the mercy of the weather but to have a course and a purpose. No one wanders the sea as one might wander the desert.

A "fisher of men" for me is a somewhat more clumsy metaphor but it works on another level. It means catching men, or as they did in Galilee, in nets, and pulling them from the sea. If we think of the sea as a metaphor for the world of men and the air as the world of the spirit, it means bringing them up from a limited world to a bigger world. Before Christ, all men were under water, lost in the depth. The role of the apostles was to pull them from the depths, up to the light. Of course, the fish would die out of water, but the men would be reborn.

This metaphor gives more meaning to the symbol of baptism. Though the term in Greek means being dunked in water, the real rebirth here is the rising from the water, rising from the depths. It isn't a ritual washing, but a coming out of the depths into the air.


"Come" is from deute (deute), which means "come here" and "come hither." It is an imperative form, indicating a command.

"After is from opisô (opiso), which means "back," "behind," "hearafter," and in the special case with deute as here, "follow me."

"I will make" is from poieô (poieo), which means "to make," "to produce," "to create," "to bring into existence," "to bring about," "to cause," "to render," "to consider," "to prepare," "to make ready," and "to do."

"Become" is from gignomai (ginomai), which means "to become," "to come into being," "to be produced," and "to be."

"Fishers" is from halieus (halieus), which means "one who has to do with the sea," "seaman," "sailor," and "fisher."

"Men" is from anthrôpos (anthropos), which "man," and, in plural, "mankind." The use here is in plural.