Was Christ Hung on a Cross?

Answer 1

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 2

No

He was executed on a stake/tree/timber. 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. (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) 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.”

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 states: “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.

Why, then, was this pagan symbol promoted? Apparently, to make it easier for pagans to accept “Christianity.” Nevertheless, devotion to any pagan symbol is clearly condemned by the Bible. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) The Scriptures also forbid all forms of idolatry. (Exodus 20:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 10:14)

Answer 3

An instrument such as that on which Jesus Christ met death by impalement. (Mt 27:32-40; Mr 15:21-30; Lu 23:26; Joh 19:17-19, 25) In classical Greek the word (stau·ros´) rendered “torture stake” in the New World Translation primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.—See IMPALEMENT; Int, pp. 1149-1151.

Answer 4

Jesus was spiked through both wrists and both feet into the wood of a tree that had been shaped into a cross. And this, after being humiliated,spit on,beat, long thorns driven into his scalp,beard ripped from his agonized face,body torn to shreds by sharp objects weaved into the whips used on Him,compelled in this condition to carry the cross to His destiny.....

The Horror that He felt in the Garden of Gethsemene,was the knowledge that, as he bore the full brunt of the righteous wrath of God,forthe sin of all humanity, the Father would turn His face from Him,and that he would feel the Hopelessness of being rejected,not of man but of God.

Answer 5

The Lord Jesus made the alternative to be crucified, at any 2d he might have called on them to stop his crucifixion, yet he did not. It became a sacrifice of love. Jesus confirmed us his love for all the international. The crucifixion became an act of elegance and love. i don't discover that that's a tragic journey. 9/11 even however became the artwork of evil, not of God. It became the artwork of Devils. without sin interior the international, there is not any tragedy or homicide, yet because of the fact of Eve's sinful act she introduced dying unto humanity. 9/11 is a effect of sin, not of God's good love for the international. God might choose for for our sins to be stored by potential of the crucifixion, until now he might ever want there to be yet another 9/11. So 9/11 is by potential of a techniques a worse journey.

Answer 6

is amazing but Jesus himself said in John 3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the son of man. referring to a something that happens in Numbers 21:7 that said that the serpent was lifted up in a pole. so unless Jesus lie he was lifted in a pole. The word is Stauros in greek look for in the internet and means stakes.

Answer 7

he hung on the cross but not by a rope with a nuse but with spikes driven through his palms and feet, there are many theories to where the spikes were actually placed but for symbolic reasons the bible has stuck with the spike through the palms of each hand

Answer 8

He actually wasn't hung he was crucified. That is spikes driven through both feet and hands into the cross which of which he slowly died.

Answer 9

John 20:25,

"The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Notice the use of the word nails (plural) in reference to hands (plural). This is strong evidence that Jesus was crucified on a cross with outstretched hands -- one nail in each hand which would explain the plural nails. If Jesus was crucified on a stake then both hands would have been placed above his head and only one nail would have been needed to go through both hands. Again, it says "...in his hands the print of the nails..."

The term "crucifixion" is based on the Latin word crux, which means cross. In English versions of the Bible, we read that Jesus was crucified on a cross (stauros in Greek).

Stauros refers to a wooden pole or timber with or without a crosspiece. Acts 5:30 and 10:39 and 1 Peter 2:24 tell us that Jesus was put to death on a tree (xulon in Greek). The reason this word was used in a few places is because the authors were making a point to the Jews. Traditionally, the Jews viewed an individual who was hung on a tree as one who was under God’s curse (Galatians 3:13, quoting Deuteronomy 21:23). But the authors of Acts and Peter, when they used xulon did not mean Jesus was crucified on a living tree. He was crucified on some kind of apparatus fashioned from the timber of a tree.

The worst aspect of crucifixion, from a Jewish perspective, is that it indicated the person was accursed by God. Most Jews could not accept the fact that someone who had been publicly hung up to die could be the Messiah, God's Anointed One. Paul preached a Lord who did die such a cursed death—and his gospel was "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23). The shape of the cross did not offend people, but its function did.

Though information is limited, historical and archaeological evidence shows that the Romans generally used a crossbar, not a vertical post alone, when crucifying individuals. This crossbar either sat on top of the vertical post or traversed it somewhere along its upper quadrant. The beam that Jesus was made to carry (John 19:17), and that Simon from Cyrene carried for him after Jesus collapsed in exhaustion (Luke 23:26), was most likely the crosspiece that was later affixed to an upright pole that was already in place.

There is no indication in the Gospels that Jesus’ crucifixion was in any way different from the normal Roman crucifixion. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states: "It seems that the Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus describe a standard Roman procedure for crucifixion" (page 287). We may conclude with a reasonable degree of assurance that the implement used in the standard Roman crucifixion formed some sort of cross-like shape.

However, the shape of the instrument on which Christ was crucified is not what is important. Rather, what is crucial is the fact of the crucifixion in which the Son of God gave his life to pay for the sins of all humanity. The fact that cross-like emblems and designs were present in non-Christian religious practices does not eliminate its importance to Christians, or prohibit its proper use. What would be wrong, of course, would be to look superstitiously to the cross as an icon, or to worship its image.

In Paul’s writings, the cross is presented in terms of the meaning for believers of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. It became a centerpiece of Paul’s gospel message. When writing to the Galatians, Paul used the expression "the cross" to convey the glory of Jesus’ saving work in the crucifixion: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).

Paul also uses "the cross" to symbolize the entire Christian message. In Corinth, Paul preached "Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). He summarized his message as "Christ crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23). His gospel, proclaiming salvation to Gentiles without any need for circumcision, he called "the offense of the cross" (Galatians 5:11).

Paul, when preaching the gospel about the crucified Jesus, was not concerned about giving a detailed physical description of the death of Jesus or describing the actual shape of the cross. He pointed to the meaning of Jesus' sacrifice, and he used the cross as symbolic of God's grace toward us, demonstrated through Jesus Christ. Because of the cross, God's people are saved by grace through faith (Galatians 2:16-21). Paul can boast in the cross, that is, in what God has done on our behalf, rather than in circumcision, that is, in what people can do (Galatians 6:12-15).

Answer 10

It could have been more like a stake.
I'm not sure I believe Jesus even ever existed.

I heard the Muslims, believe someone else got crucified, not Jesus, but you'd have to ask a Muslim (because this is just a rumor I heard).