THE CROSS AND CRUCIFIXION

 

In the Greek N.T. two words are used for "the cross", on which the Lord was put to death.

1. The word stauros (Σταυρος) ; which denotes an upright pale or stake, to which the criminals were nailed for execution.

2. The word xulon (Ξυλον), which generally denotes a piece of a dead log or wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose.

As this latter word xulon is used for the former stauros, it shows us that the meaning of each is exactly the same.

The verb stauroo  means to drive stakes.

The English word "cross" is the translation of the Latin crux; but the Greek stauros no more means a crux that the word "stick" means a "crutch".

It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone.

There is nothing in the Greek of the N.T. even to imply two pieces of timber.

The letter Chi, X, the intial of the word Christ (Xριστος), was originally used for His name; This was superseded by symbols on these crosses of the Babylonian sun-god., and are first seen on a coin of Julius Caesar, 100-44 B.C., and then on a coin struck by Caesar's heir (Augustus), 20 B.C.

This is the symbol on the coins of Constantine :

This was the symbol especially venerated as the "Solar Wheel". It should be stated that Constantine was a sun-god worshipper, and would not enter the "Church" till some quarter of a century after the legend of his having seen such a cross in the heavens.

The catacombs in Rome bear the same testimony: "Christ" is never represented there as "hanging on a cross", and the cross itself is only portrayed in a veiled and hesitating matter. In the Egyptian churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life, borrowed by the Christians, and interpreted in the pagan manner.

"The Invention of the Cross" by Helena the mother of Constantine (in 326), though it means the finding of the cross, may or may not be true ; but the "invention" of it in pre-Christian times, and the "invention" of its use in later times, are truths of which we need to be reminded in the present day. The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not two pieces of timber placed at any angle.

GOD BLESS

SOURCE: COMPANION BIBLE, APPENDIX 162.

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