The Cross and Crucifixion.

This Is Appendix 162 From The Companion Bible.

In the Greek New Testament two words are used for "the cross"

on which the Lord was put to death.

1. The word stauros; which denotes an upright pole or stake, to

which the crimminals were nailed for execution.

2. The xulon, which generally denotes a piece of a dead log of

wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose. Is is not like

dendron, which is used of a living, or green tree, as in Matthew

21:8; Revelation 7:1, 3; 8:7; 9:4, etc.

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 stauroõ means to drive stakes.1

Our English word "cross" is the translation of the Latin crux; but

the Greek stauros no more means a crux than the word "stick"

means a "crutch".

Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a

single piece of timber.2 And this is the meaning and usage of the

word throughout the Greek classics.3

It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at

any angle, but always of one piece alone. Hence the use of the word

xulon (No. 2, above) in connection with the manner of our Lord's

death, and rendered "tree" in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29. Galatians

3:13. 1 Peter 2:24. This is preserved in our old English name rood, or

rod. See the Encycl. Brit., 11th (Camb.) ed., volume 7, page 505d.

There is nothing in the Greek of the New Testament even to imply

two pieces of timber.

The letter chi, , the initial of the word Christ , was

originally used for His Name; or . This was superseded by

symbols and , and even the first of these had four equal arms.

These crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god,

, and are first seen on a coin of Julius Cæsar, 100 - 44 B.C., and

then on a coin struck by Cæsar's heir (Augustus), 20 B.C.4

On the coins of Constantine the most frequent symbol is ; but

the same symbol is used without the surrounding circle, and with

the four equal arms vertical and horizontal; and this was the symbol

specially 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 (EUSEBIUS, Vit. Const. I.

37).

The evidence is the same as to the pre-Christian (phallic) symbol

in Asia, Africa, and Egypt, whether we consult Nineveh by Sir A.

H. LAYARD (ii 213), or Manners and Customs of the Ancient

Egyptians, by Sir J. GARDNER WILKINSON, iii. pages 24, 26, 43, 44,

46, 52, 82, 136.

Dr. SCHLIEMANN gives the same evidence in his Ilios (1880),

recording his discoveries on the site of prehistoric Troy. See pages

337, 350, 353, 521, 523.

Dr. MAX OHNEFALSCH - RICHTER gives the same evidence from

Cyprus; and these are "the oldest extant Phoenician inscriptions";

see his Kypros, the Bible, and Homer : Oriental Civilisation, Art,

and Religion in Ancient Times, Plates XIX, XXV, XXVI, XXX, XXXI,

XXXII, XL, LVIII, LXIX, etc.

The Catacombs in Rome bear the same testimony : "Christ" is

never represented there as "hanging on a cross", and the cross itself

is only pourtrayed in a veiled and hesitating manner. In the Egyptian

churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life, borrowed by the

Christians, and interpreted in the pagan manner. See the Encycl.

Brit., 11th (Camb.) ed., volume 14, page 273.

In his Letter from Rome Dean Burgon says : "I question whether

a cross occurs on any Christian monument of the first four

centuries".

In Mrs. Jameson's famous History of our Lord as Exemplified in

Works of Art, she says (volume ii, page 315) : "It must be owned

that ancient objects of art, as far as hitherto known, afford no

corroboration of the use of the cross in the simple transverse form

familiar to us, at any period preceding, or even closely succeeding,

the time of Chrysostom"; and Chrysostom wrote half a century after

Constantine!

"The Invention of the Cross" by Helena the mother of

Constantine (in 326), though it means her 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 on two piece of timber placed at any angle.

NOTES

1 There are two compounds of it used : sustauroo = to put any one

thus to death with another (Matthew 27:44. Mark 15:32. John 19:32.

Romans 6:6. Galatians 2:20); and anastauroo = to rise up and fix

upon the stake again (Hebrews 6:6). Another word used is equally

significant : prospegnumi = to fix or fasten anything (Acts 2:23).

2 Iliad xxiv. 453. Odyssey xiv. 11.

3 For example, Thucydides iv. 90. Xenophon, Anabasis v. 2. 21.

4 Other coins with this symbol were struck by Augustus, also by

Hadrian and other Roman emperors. See Early Christian

Numismatics, by C. W. King, M.A.

Appendix List

The Three Commissions.

This Is Appendix 167 From The Companion Bible.

It will be seen from Appendix 166 that there were three separate

Commissions given to the Eleven Apostles, at different times, on

distinctly specified occasions and in varying words.

The first is recorded in Luke 24:47. This was given in Jerusalem

on the evening of the day of the resurrection. It was given, not to the

Eleven only, but also to "them that were with them." (verse 33). The

commission was the continuation of His own ministry and that of

John the Baptist (Matthew 22:1 - 10). They were all to proclaim

"repentance and remission of sins". The New Covenant had been

made, in virtue of which this message of pardon could be declared.

(Matthew 26:26 - 29. Mark 14:22 - 25. Luke 22:14 - 23. Acts 3:19),

first in Jerusalem, and then to all nations. This was done by Peter

(Acts 2:38; 3:19, etc.).

The second is recorded in Mark 16:15 - 18, and was given when

the Lord appeared to the Eleven as they sat at meat; and it was

carried out by "them that heard Him", as foretold in Matthew 22:4-

7, and fulfilled in Mark 16:20, as confirmed in Hebrews 2:3, 4. The

Acts of the Apostles is the inspired history of the fulfillment of this

commission, so far as it is necessary for our instruction. It was given

for the personal ministry of the Apostles, to be fulfilled by them

before the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem.

The third is recorded in Matthew 28:19, 20, and was given on a

mountain in Galilee (Appendix 169). It was the proclamation of the

King, Who had left Jerusalem, according to the Parable (Luke

19:12), until He returns in power to set up His kingdom (26:64). It is

the summons to the Gentile nations to submit to the Lord Jesus, as

the king of Israel, according to Psalm 2:10 - 12. It is the

proclamation of "the Gospel of the Kingdom" (Appendix 140. II)

for a witness to all nations, immediately before the end of the age

(Matthew 24:14. Revelation 14:6). It is still wholly future in its

application, and proclaims the judgment on the Gentiles for the final

deliverance of Israel, according to Psalm 2:9, when verse 6 shall be

fulfilled.