Advantages of the New World Translation:
Did Jesus Die on a Cross?
WAS it a mistake? Had church leaders erred? Such questions might well have
occurred to residents of Cartagena, Spain, not long ago. Why? Because of a Holy
Week poster that depicted Jesus Christ impaled, not on a cross, but upon an
upright stake that lacked a crossbeam. For centuries, professing Christians have
been taught that Jesus Christ was put to death on a cross. Among many Christians
"representations of Jesus nailed to a cross" have special importance. Yet, is it
possible that Christ did not die on a cross?
Crosses of various kinds have been common from early times. Says The
Encyclopedia Britannica: "From its simplicity of form, the cross has been used
both as a religious symbol and as an ornament, from the dawn of man’s
civilization. Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the
Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in
almost every part of the old world." (Eleventh Edition, Vol. VII, p. 506) Hence,
the cross does not have what some might term a "Christian" origin. Of course,
that does not mean that Jesus did not die on a cross. Some people have been
executed by being impaled on crosses. However, the Romans often put individuals
to death on posts having no crossbars. Could that have happened in Jesus’ case?
If a contemporary artist had stood before the dying Jesus on Golgotha, he might
have left us an authentic portrayal of that highly significant event. But no
artwork of this kind is in existence, and certainly later tradition is not
conclusive. Nevertheless, we do have the recorded words of an eyewitness. Who
was he?
As Jesus looked down from that implement of torture and death, he saw "the
disciple whom he loved," the apostle John. To him Jesus committed the care of
his mother, Mary. (John 19:25-30) So, John was there. He knew whether Jesus died
on a cross.
To designate the instrument of Christ’s death, John used the Greek word stawros
rendered "torture stake" in the New World Translation. (John 19:17, 19, 25) In
classical Greek, stawros’ denotes the same thing that it does in the common
Greek of the Christian Scriptures-primarily an upright stake or pole with no
crossbar.
Interestingly, John Denham Parsons wrote in the book The Non-Christian Cross:
"There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New
Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the
effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary
stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber,
but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross."
The Jnterpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states, with reference to stauros’:
"Literally an upright stake, pale, or pole... As an instrument of execution, the
cross was a stake sunk vertically in the ground. Often, but by no means always,
a horizontal piece was attached to the vertical portion."
Another reference work says: "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....
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."-The Imperial Bible Dictionary.
In the book The Cross and Crucifixion, by Hermann Fulda, it is said: "Jesus died
on a simple death-stake: In support of this there speak (a) the then customary
usage of this means of execution in the Orient, (b) indirectly the history
itself of Jesus’ sufferings and (c) many expressions of the early church
fathers." Fulda also points out that some of the oldest illustrations of Jesus
impaled depict him on a simple pole.
The Christian 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."’ (Gal. 3:13) His quotation was from
Deuteronomy, which mentions placing the corpse of an executed person on a
"stake," then adds: "His dead body should not stay all night on the stake; but
you should by all means bury him on that day, because something accursed of God
is the one hung up; and you must not defile your soil."-Deut. 21:22, 23.
Was this "stake" a cross? No. In fact, the Hebrews had no word for the
traditional cross. To designate such an implement, they used "warp and woof,"
alluding to yarns running lengthwise in a fabric and others going across it on a
loom. At Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, the Hebrew word translated "stake" is ‘ets,
meaning primarily a tree or wood, specifically a wooden post. Executional
crosses were not used by the Hebrews. The Aramaic word ‘a’, corresponding to the
Hebrew term ‘ets, appears at Ezra 6:11, where it is said regarding violators of
a Persian king’s decree: "A timber will be pulled out of his house and he will
be impaled upon it." Obviously, a single timber would have no crossbeam.
In rendering Deuteronomy 21:22, 23 ("stake") and Ezra 6:11 ("timber"),
translators of the Septuagint Version employed the Greek word xylon, the same
term that Paul used at Galatians 3:13. It was also the one employed by Peter,
when he said Jesus "bore our sins in his own body upon the stake." (1 Pet. 2:24)
In fact, xy’lon is used several other times to refer to the "stake" on which
Jesus was impaled. (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29) This Greek word has the basic
meaning of "wood." There is nothing to imply that in the case of Jesus’
impalement it meant a stake with a crossbeam.
So, the evidence indicates that Jesus did not die on the traditional cross.
Hence, Jehovah’s witnesses, who once had a representation of the cross on the
front cover of their journal The Watchtower, no longer use such a symbol. Nor do
they give the stake veneration. Surely, the instrument of Jesus’ suffering and
death no more merits such reverence than would the gallows on which a beloved
one might have died unjustly. Moreover, God’s Word prohibits such veneration,
for it says, "flee from idolatry" and "guard yourselves from idols." (1 Cor.
10:14; 1 John 5:21).
Does this mean that Jehovah’s witnesses care little about the death of Jesus
Christ? No. They know that by means of it God provided the ransom that releases
believing mankind from bondage to sin and death. (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) These matters
often are discussed at our meetings. And, like the early Christians, annually
they commemorate Jesus’ death during celebration of the Lord’s evening meal. (1
Cor. 11:23-26) At all of such gatherings in the local Kingdom Hall you will find
a hearty welcome.
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