Where did the Catholics and most of Christianity get the idea that Christ was killed on a cross?

Question

I'm a Jehovah's Witness and we believe he was killed on a death stake, not a cross.

Answer 1

Jesus almost certainly died while impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create such devices, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

It is also enlightening to examine other relevant Scriptures.

You may be interested to see how your own copy of the bible translates Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, and Acts 10:39. The King James, Revised Standard, Dyaglott, and Jerusalem Bible translate the instrument of Christ's death simply as "stake" or "tree" because the original wording simply does not support the idea that this was more than a piece of upright wood.

It is also eye-opening to examine how the first-century Christians felt about idols of any kind, much less one that glorified an instrument of death.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20050508a/article_01.htm

Answer 2

I've researched the subject a lot, and I'm not sure why the early Christians believed that Jesus' death stake had a crosspiece. Possibly because it really did. There were many eyewitnesses to Jesus' execution and the details would be known by the eyewitnesses, such as the apostles and others with whom they may have shared information.

Polycarp, for example, recalled listening to the aged apostle John, when (he) Polycarp was a young boy.

Although there is nothing definite about the shape of Jesus' death stake, the importance of Jesus' stauros in early Christianity did not derive from any significance of the shape, but from the fact that it was by means of that despised instrument that Jesus bought salvation for mankind. The crosspiece itself carries no particular symbolism.

I was a JW for many years and believed that (1) crosses weren't used in the first century (2) a stauros was only a stake without a crosspiece, and (3) It was centuries after Jesus death before the idea arose that he died on a cross. After doing independent research on information I found in Watchtower publications, I now know that all of those beliefs are erroneous.

If you are a honest hearted truth seeker, you should put aside your preconceived ideas and do some honest research on the subject. The Imperial Bible Dictionary is a good place to start.

Answer 3

I used to study with Jehovah's Witnesses and was also convinced that Jesus didn't die on a cross.

Since then I've found out that there is a lot more to the subject than what Witnesses tell you. They left out a lot of facts. For example, they told me that a stauros was originally just a plain stake, not a cross. That's true, but it seems likely that by Jesus' time, some stauroses were also crosses. They told me that Constantine started the idea that Jesus died on a cross in the 4th century, but I've read Christian writings that say he died on a cross, that were written before Constantine was even born.

I don't know where they got the idea but it was around a long time before Christians got mixed up with Constantine, and I'm not so sure anymore there's any reason to doubt it.

Is the shape really important?

Answer 4

The King James Bible says that Jesus was put to death on a tree, not a cross.

The King James Bible says Jesus was put to death on a tree.

Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Acts 10:39 And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:

Acts 13:29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Michelangelo and the Cross

Italian government art experts are said to be “90 percent sure” that a sculpture recently found in a monastery in Lebanon is the work of the famous Italian artist Michelangelo. The small wooden carving is said to be worth $2.5 million (U.S.) if it actually is Michelangelo’s work. According to an Associated Press report, “the figure is unusual because it represents Christ with his hands stretched out above his head instead of to the side, as he usually is depicted on the cross.”

Whether the wooden sculpture is the work of the 16th-century artist Michelangelo or not, it illustrates that the impalement of Christ on a cross frame has not always been so certain as Christendom’s leaders today would have people believe. For example, the 16th-century Roman Catholic scholar Justus Lipsius illustrated impalement on an upright stake in his book “De Cruce Liber Primus.” This fits the meaning of the Greek word used in the Bible to describe the impalement of Christ, “stauros”, which “denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake.”, “An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.

Jesus Christ did not die on a cross. The Greek word generally translated “cross” is stau·ros'. It basically means “an upright pale or stake.” The Companion Bible points out: “[Stau·ros'] never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, There is nothing in the Greek of the [New Testament] even to imply two pieces of timber.”

In several texts, Bible writers use another word for the instrument of Jesus’ death. It is the Greek word xy'lon. This word simply means “timber” or “a stick, club, or tree.”

Explaining why a simple stake was often used for executions, the book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, states: “Trees were not everywhere available at the places chosen for public execution. So a simple beam was sunk into the ground. On this the outlaws, with hands raised upward and often also with their feet, were bound or nailed.”

The most convincing proof of all, however, comes from God’s Word. The apostle Paul says: “Christ by purchase released us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: ‘Accursed is every man hanged upon a stake [“a tree,” King James Version].’” (Galatians 3:13) Here Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, which clearly refers to a stake, not a cross. Since such a means of execution made the person “a curse,” it would not be proper for Christians to decorate their homes with images of Christ impaled.

There is no evidence that for the first 300 years after Christ’s death, those claiming to be Christians used the cross in worship. In the fourth century, however, pagan Emperor Constantine became a convert to apostate Christianity and promoted the cross as its symbol. Whatever Constantine’s motives, the cross had nothing to do with Jesus Christ. The cross is, in fact, pagan in origin. The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The cross is found in both pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures.” Various other authorities have linked the cross with nature worship and pagan sex rites.

Answer 5

The same place they got the image that he's Caucasian with a beard, neatly trimmed mustache, and long brown wavy hair, and dressed in a long pale robe with a colored coat over it tied with a rope. From medieval art.

The cross is actually one of the possible shapes. It could've been a single pole, crossed beams in the shape of an X, a pole with a long bar across the top, etc.

Answer 6

The cross is mentioned in all four Gospels:

Matthew 27:33: As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry his cross.

Matthew 27:40: "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, (and) come down from the cross!"

Mark 15:21: They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

Mark 15:29-30: Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross."

Mark 15:32: "Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe."

Luke 23:26: As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus.

John 19:16-17: Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha.

John 19:19: Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews."

John 19:31: Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down.

And that's ot even looking at the Epistles.

With love in Christ.

Answer 7

Many early Christians received the preaching of Jesus from the Apostles. During the Apostolic age, the twelve apostles preached that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. The Apostle told stories of Jesus who was performed miracles, raise the dead, and preach the kingdom of heaven. He is only the Messiah would save people from there sins.

To accomplished this, Jesus is to be handed to the Jewish Leaders, be crucified, and only to rise from the dead after three days. Jesus know his destiny. In the Gospel of John it says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

There are non-biblical sources citing that Jesus was crucified. According to Josephus the Jewish historian at the time wrote the following;

Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man . . . . For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. . . . When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. . . . And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared (18.3.3).

Another historian is a Pagan name Tacitus. He wrote the following concerning Jesus.

The founder of this sect, Christus, was given the death penalty in the reign of Tiberius by the procurator, Pontius Pilate; suppressed for the moment, the detestable superstition broke out again, not only in Judea where the evil originated, but also in [Rome], where everything horrible and shameful flows and grows (15.44).

Answer 8

I would say that it has to do with READING the BIBLE. The BIBLE is GOD's HOLY WORD. We read in the four gospels, (Mattew, Mark, Luke, and John) that Christ was crucified (hung on a cross). This was a most torturous death that was used by the Roman Empire for horrible criminals. Jesus was the SON of GOD. HE was sinless. HE died for our sins. HE was resurrected from the grave and spent time with a number of people until HE was taken into heaven. There were a number of people who saw this also. The BIBLE is not the only record of what happened on the cross and after HIS ressurection. There were others that wrote about it also (historical records). I hope that this makes sense. I am rather tired at this time. Have a great holiday with your family!
Eds

Answer 9

From the fact.
Who cares what you believe?
That is the problem with JWs. Cross or crucifying stake, who cares?
JWs slander Christianity and speak much evil that cannot be backed up or proven. It would be one thing if you could prove what you assert but you can't, you can only hope for charity from others, to give you a pass or because of the shock of your claims to unprepared Catholics , they fall for your assertions and think that they have been deceived . It is true that they have in some ways, but not in the ways that you say.

Jws are a very slanderous group and that is an evil in the sight of God, according to scripture. They have venom in their hearts, because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Again, it would be acceptable, if you disagree and present your reasons scripturaly for disagreeing but fishing into the cults and myths of the past to find some similarity, and thereby assert that there is connection is far from just and honest. Because according to your reasonings, even the things that you do accept as true doctrine, pure and incorrupt, have similarities to some things in the myths and mystery cults. But you do not think that these things are corrupt and borrowed, why not? Of course I do not care for an answer from you. That is for you to see yourself only. I know why. it is the way dishonest men argue and debate, in order to make themselves appear to win at all cost. Being exacting where the enemy is concerned and charitable where they themselves are concerned. You overlook of course all the false prophecies and errors that your organization make.
It is enough to discredit false teaching by scripture and with honor, it is unnecessary to slander with unprovable assertions, especially Christians amongst whom are very many children of God.

Answer 10

Jesus died on a cross not a stake. The JW got it wrong and most of their doctrine are erroneous.