Sbaptiste
âTHE cross,â says one encyclopedia, âis the most familiar symbol of Christianity.â Many religious paintings and works of art depict Jesus nailed to a cross. Why is this symbol so widespread in Christendom? Did Jesus really die on a cross?
Many would point to the Bible for the answer. For example, according to the King James Version, at the time of Jesusâ execution, onlookers made fun of Jesus and challenged him to âcome down from the cross.â (Matthew 27:40, 42) Many other Bible translations read similarly. Todayâs English Version says of Simon from Cyrene: âThe soldiers forced him to carry Jesusâ cross.â (Mark 15:21) In these verses, the word âcrossâ is translated from the Greek word staurosâ². Is there a solid basis for such a translation? What is the meaning of that original word?
Was It a Cross?
According to Greek scholar W. E. Vine, staurosâ² âdenotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroÅ, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.â
The Imperial Bible-Dictionary says that the word staurosâ² âproperly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling a piece of ground.â The dictionary continues: âEven amongst the Romans the crux (Latin, from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally an upright pole.â Thus, it is not surprising that The Catholic Encyclopedia states: âCertain it is, at any rate, that the cross originally consisted of a simple vertical pole, sharpened at its upper end.â
There is another Greek word, xyâ²lon, that Bible writers used to describe the instrument of Jesusâ execution. A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament defines xyâ²lon as âa piece of timber, a wooden stake.â It goes on to say that like staurosâ², xyâ²lon âwas simply an upright pale or stake to which the Romans nailed those who were thus said to be crucified.â
In line with this, we note that the King James Version reads at Acts 5:30: âThe God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree [xyâ²lon].â Other versions, though rendering staurosâ² as âcross,â also translate xyâ²lon as âtree.â At Acts 13:29, The Jerusalem Bible says of Jesus: âWhen they had carried out everything that scripture foretells about him they took him down from the tree [xyâ²lon] and buried him.â
In view of the basic meaning of the Greek words staurosâ² and xyâ²lon, the Critical Lexicon and Concordance, quoted above, observes: âBoth words disagree with the modern idea of a cross, with which we have become familiarised by pictures.â In other words, what the Gospel writers described using the word staurosâ² was nothing like what people today call a cross. Appropriately, therefore, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures uses the expression âtorture stakeâ at Matthew 27:40-42 and in other places where the word staurosâ² appears. Similarly, the Complete Jewish Bible uses the expression âexecution stake
Answer
This is the full quote from the Imperial Bible-Dictionary:
"The Greek word for cross, [stauros], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. But a modification was introduced as the dominion and usages of Rome extended themselves through Greek-speaking countries. Even amongst the Romans the crux (from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally an upright pole, and this always remained the more prominent part. But from the time that it began to be recognized as an instrument of punishment, a transverse piece of wood was commonly added; not, however, always even then. For it would seem that there were more kinds of death than one by the cross: this being sometimes accomplished by transfixing the criminal with a pole, which was run through his back and spine, and came out at his mouth...In another place (Consol ad Marciam, xx.), Seneca mentions three different forms: 'I see,' says he, 'three crosses, not indeed of one sort, but fashioned in different ways: one sort suspending by the head persons bent toward the earth, others transfixing them through their secret parts, others extending their arms on a patibulum.' There can be no doubt, however, that the latter sort was the more common, and that about the period of the gospel age crucifixion was usually accomplished by suspending the criminal on a cross piece of wood."
The dictionary goes on to describe three different cross shapes (including "T" and "X"), and then the entry continues, "But the commonest form, it is understood, was that in which the upright piece of wood was crossed by another near the top, but not precisely at it...It was on a cross of this form, according to the general voice of tradition, that our Lord suffered; but there is nothing in the narratives of the evangelists which determines this to have been the form employed, rather than either of the other two. It is, however, the one most commonly met with in the paintings and sculptures that have survived from the earlier ages." (p377)
While it is clear that the Greek word stauros originally meant âstake,â a word means more than its simple etymology, as the English word "nice" demonstrates, which originally meant âignorantâ or âfoolish.â So to understand the biblical stauros, we must look at the historical as well as the linguistic context. Under whose judicial system, using whose methods of execution, did Jesus die? The Romans, of course. So Greek methods of execution are irrelevant â the issue is how Romans did it.
It is very likely that Greeks never used a cross-bar, but impaled people on a sharpened stake as the Phonecians did. Eventually, the Greeks at Carthage began to also hang people on an upright stake. The victims would suffocate very quickly. In fact, it was conclusively proven by medical researchers Frederick T. Zugibe and Hermann Moedder that a person hung by his arms overhead would suffocate in a manner of about 6 minutes, due to the inability of the lungs to expand and contract in such a position. Since Luke 23:44 and Matthew 27:45-46 show that Christ was on the cross for about three hours, the evidence points to His death on a traditional cross.
This is the full quote from the Imperial Bible-Dictionary:
"The Greek word for cross, [stauros], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. But a modification was introduced as the dominion and usages of Rome extended themselves through Greek-speaking countries. Even amongst the Romans the crux (from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally an upright pole, and this always remained the more prominent part. But from the time that it began to be recognized as an instrument of punishment, a transverse piece of wood was commonly added; not, however, always even then. For it would seem that there were more kinds of death than one by the cross: this being sometimes accomplished by transfixing the criminal with a pole, which was run through his back and spine, and came out at his mouth...In another place (Consol ad Marciam, xx.), Seneca mentions three different forms: 'I see,' says he, 'three crosses, not indeed of one sort, but fashioned in different ways: one sort suspending by the head persons bent toward the earth, others transfixing them through their secret parts, others extending their arms on a patibulum.' There can be no doubt, however, that the latter sort was the more common, and that about the period of the gospel age crucifixion was usually accomplished by suspending the criminal on a cross piece of wood."
The dictionary goes on to describe three different cross shapes (including "T" and "X"), and then the entry continues, "But the commonest form, it is understood, was that in which the upright piece of wood was crossed by another near the top, but not precisely at it...It was on a cross of this form, according to the general voice of tradition, that our Lord suffered; but there is nothing in the narratives of the evangelists which determines this to have been the form employed, rather than either of the other two. It is, however, the one most commonly met with in the paintings and sculptures that have survived from the earlier ages." (p377)
While it is clear that the Greek word stauros originally meant âstake,â a word means more than its simple etymology, as the English word "nice" demonstrates, which originally meant âignorantâ or âfoolish.â So to understand the biblical stauros, we must look at the historical as well as the linguistic context. Under whose judicial system, using whose methods of execution, did Jesus die? The Romans, of course. So Greek methods of execution are irrelevant â the issue is how Romans did it.
It is very likely that Greeks never used a cross-bar, but impaled people on a sharpened stake as the Phonecians did. Eventually, the Greeks at Carthage began to also hang people on an upright stake. The victims would suffocate very quickly. In fact, it was conclusively proven by medical researchers Frederick T. Zugibe and Hermann Moedder that a person hung by his arms overhead would suffocate in a manner of about 6 minutes, due to the inability of the lungs to expand and contract in such a position. Since Luke 23:44 and Matthew 27:45-46 show that Christ was on the cross for about three hours, the evidence points to His death on a traditional cross.
Some Nail Art Designs?
Sophia
I want to do nail art on my nails because I'm bored. So give me some ideas?
Answer
You could put black and then use another color and draw a curvy line. Or a just a cross on your nails.
You could put black and then use another color and draw a curvy line. Or a just a cross on your nails.
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