“THE cross,” says one encyclopedia, “is the
most familiar symbol of Christianity.” Many religious paintings and works of
art depict Jesus nailed to a cross. Why is this symbol so widespread in
Christendom? Did Jesus really die on a cross?
Many would point to the Bible for the answer.
For example, according to the King James Version, at the time of Jesus’
execution, onlookers made fun of Jesus and challenged him to “come down from
the cross.” (Matthew 27:40, 42) Many other Bible translations read
similarly. Today’s English Version says of Simon from Cyrene: “The
soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.” (Mark 15:21) In these verses, the
word “cross” is translated from the Greek word stauros′. Is there a
solid basis for such a translation? What is the meaning of that original word?
Was It a Cross?
According to Greek scholar W. E. Vine,
stauros′ “denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such
malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroō,
to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the
ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.”
The Imperial Bible-Dictionary says that the word stauros′
“properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on
which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling a piece of
ground.” The dictionary continues: “Even amongst the Romans the crux
(Latin, from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally
an upright pole.” Thus, it is not surprising that The Catholic Encyclopedia
states: “Certain it is, at any rate, that
the cross originally consisted of a simple vertical pole, sharpened at its
upper end.”
There is another Greek word, xy′lon,
that Bible writers used to describe the instrument of Jesus’ execution. A
Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament
defines xy′lon as “a piece of timber, a wooden stake.” It goes on to say
that like stauros′, xy′lon “was simply an upright pale or stake
to which the Romans nailed those who were thus said to be crucified.”
In line with this, we note that the King
James Version reads at Acts 5:30: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,
whom ye slew and hanged on a tree [xy′lon].” Other versions, though
rendering stauros′ as “cross,” also translate xy′lon as “tree.”
At Acts 13:29, The Jerusalem Bible says of Jesus: “When they had carried
out everything that scripture foretells about him they took him down from the
tree [xy′lon] and buried him.”
In view of the basic meaning of the Greek
words stauros′ and xy′lon, the Critical Lexicon and
Concordance, quoted above, observes: “Both words disagree with the modern
idea of a cross, with which we have become familiarised by pictures.” In other
words, what the Gospel writers described using the word stauros′ was
nothing like what people today call a cross. Appropriately, therefore, the New
World Translation of the Holy Scriptures uses the expression “torture stake”
at Matthew 27:40-42 and in other places where the word stauros′ appears.
Similarly, the Complete Jewish Bible uses the expression “execution
stake.”
Origin of the Cross
If the Bible does not really say that Jesus
was executed on a cross, then why do all the churches that claim to teach and
follow the Bible—Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox—adorn their buildings with
the cross and use it as a symbol of their faith? How did the cross come to be
such a popular symbol?
The answer is that the cross is venerated not
only by churchgoers who claim to follow the Bible but also by people far
removed from the Bible and whose worship far predates that of “Christian”
churches. Numerous religious reference works acknowledge that the use of
crosses in various shapes and forms goes back to remote periods of human
civilization. For example, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and depictions of
their gods and goddesses often show a cross in the shape of a T with a circle
at the top. It is called the ansate, or handle-shaped, cross and is thought to
be a symbol of life. In time, this form of the cross was adopted and used
extensively by the Coptic Church and others.
According to The Catholic Encyclopedia,
“the primitive form of the cross seems to have been that of the so-called ‘gamma’
cross (crux gammata), better known to Orientalists and students of
prehistoric archæology by its Sanskrit name, swastika.” This sign was
widely used among Hindus in India and Buddhists throughout Asia and is still
seen in decorations and ornaments in those areas.
It is not known exactly when the cross was
adopted as a “Christian” symbol. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words states: “By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either
departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In
order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans
were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were
permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols,” including the
cross.
Some writers point to the claim by the
sun-god worshipper Constantine that in 312 C.E., while on one of his
military campaigns, he had a vision of a cross superimposed on the sun along
with the motto in Latin “in hoc vince” (by this conquer). Some time
later, a “Christian” sign was emblazoned on the standards, shields, and armor
of his army. (Pictured at left.) Constantine purportedly converted to
Christianity, though he was not baptized until 25 years later on his deathbed.
His motive was questioned by some. “He acted rather as if he were converting
Christianity into what he thought most likely to be accepted by his subjects as
a catholic [universal] religion, than as if he had been converted to the
teachings of Jesus the Nazarene,” says the book The Non-Christian Cross.
Since then, crosses of many forms and shapes
have come into use. For example, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary tells
us that what is called St. Anthony’s cross “was shaped like a capital T,
thought by some to be derived from the symbol of the [Babylonian] god Tammuz,
the letter tau.” There was also the St. Andrew’s cross, which is in the
shape of the letter X, and the familiar two-beamed cross with the crossbar
lowered. This latter type, called the Latin cross, is erroneously “held by
tradition to be the shape of the cross on which our Lord died.”
What First-Century
Christians Believed
The Bible shows that in the first century,
many who heard Jesus became believers and accepted the redeeming value of his
sacrificial death. After the apostle Paul preached to the Jews in Corinth,
proving that Jesus is the Christ, says the Bible, “Crispus the presiding
officer of the synagogue became a believer in the Lord, and so did all his
household. And many of the Corinthians that heard began to believe and be
baptized.” (Acts 18:5-8) Instead of introducing some religious symbol or image
into their worship, Paul instructed his fellow Christians to “flee from
idolatry” and from any other practice drawn from pagan worship.—1 Corinthians
10:14.
Historians and researchers have found no
evidence to validate the use of the cross among the early Christians.
Interestingly, the book History of the Cross quotes one late
17th-century writer who asked: “Can it be pleasing to the blessed Jesus
to behold His disciples glorying in the image of that instrument of capital
punishment on which He [supposedly] patiently and innocently suffered,
despising the shame?” How would you answer?
Worship acceptable to God does not require
objects or images. “What agreement does God’s temple have with idols?” Paul
asked. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16) Nowhere do the Scriptures suggest that a
Christian’s worship should include the use of a likeness of the instrument used
to impale Jesus.—Compare Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:13.
What, then, is the identifying mark of true
Christians? Not the cross or any other symbol, but love. Jesus told his
followers: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just
as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:34, 35.
For more information please go to www.jw.org
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