Where was Jesus put on when he was crucified?

Question

In Mark 15: 32, we are told that Jesus was put on a “cross” to be crucified:
Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

The word for “cross” here in Greek is “stauros”, which James Strong defined as:

(4716) from the base of 2476; a stake or post (as set upright), i.e. (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively, exposure to death, i.e. self-denial; by implication, the atonement of Christ: –cross.[1]

Yet in I Peter 2:24, we are told that Jesus was crucified on the “tree”:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye

The word for “tree” in Greek is “xulon”, and is defined by Strong as:

(3586)from another form of the base of 3582; timber (as fuel or material); by implication a stick, club or tree or other wooden article or substance: –staff, stocks, tree, wood.[2]

The error here is obvious. The Greek word stauros means definitively a “cross”. There is no double meaning employed to the word. Whereas the word xulon can be translated interchangeably as “wood”, “staff”, “tree”, etc. but in the case of I Peter 2:24, it is translated as “tree”. Now we need to ask why would the word xulon was used in the first place when there is a more definitive word for it, stauros, if the verse really intends to mean the “cross”?

It is therefore obvious that the word xulon is indeed used for “tree” in I Peter 2:24, and therefore there is a contradiction with Mark 15: 32.

Answer 1

It's a good point. I love word studies by the way! I think that Peter, in all likelihood had the cross in mind. What Peter refers to is the curse in the O.T. that states anyone who dies on the tree is cursed. His point is that Jesus accepted the curse of death for all humanity which in turn freed humankind from the consequences of sin. I don't necessarily agree with Peter there, but that is essentially what he is saying. Most of the crosses were trees upon which a cross beam could be fixed. So, again, Peter is most likely referencing the cross.

The larger point that you raise however is that the Bible is riddled with contradictions. This could very well be another if I am wrong. Good question and nice work with the Greek.

Answer 2

It's all wood! What's the point? The point is what took place on that wood and why. It was His redemptive work to save lost souls. Isn't that what's really important here? Tree, wood, whatever....It's what He accomplished there.

Answer 3

Please spare us the Greekness. The matter has been settled for twenty centuries.

Which reminds me of an appropriate passage in the Book of Matthew:

Matthew 23:24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.

Answer 4

First ask yourself, who actually crucified Christ?...The Romans did. What was their mode of execution? ...Crucificion. It took an act of Cesar to change the mode of execution. No such order was ever given.

Answer 5

doesn't wood come from trees? its the same thing, no contradiction there.

Answer 6

so your point is what?