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Being crucified is an absolutely horrible way to die. So why would Christ choose that way to die? The answer is simple He did it for us.
Now that doesn't provide evidence that Christ was crucified the evidence is provided by our faith in God. Through His grace, we have the way to eternal life, but that was at a high price the death of Jesus, who is fully man and fully God.
The Bible makes it clear it all four gospels that Christ was crucified. The book of Isaiah dedicates one whole chapter to the future death of Christ. Chapter 53 is describing Jesus as the man of sorrows, and indeed He was. Although crucifixion was not explicitly stated in these verses, the fact that the death of Christ being written long before His human birth is significant.
The testimony of Jesus Himself is significant. Being God, He cannot lie and therefore is completely trustworthy. In Matthew 16:20, Christ reveals to His apostles that He will die and be raised on the third day. Matthew 20:19, He further discusses His death by crucifixion. Yet He reminds His apostles that he will raise from the dead on the third day.
Each of the four gospels is a witness to the crucifixion of Christ. Each account adds to the other and not one of them is in discrepancy. The witnesses were known to be truthful men, not seeking recognition for themselves, but rather looking to God. The men were not speaking in a prejudiced manner. After all, they saw Jesus' life, His death, and His resurrection. They saw Jesus in the Upper Room. Thomas touched Jesus' hands and feet where the nails were pounded through his skin into the wood of the cross. Paul, speaking in Acts 13, reiterates that Jesus was taken down from the cross and laid to rest in a tomb.
Besides the men who were with Jesus at His death, there were Roman guards, Jesus' mother, and other followers of Christ. Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man by those standards, asked for the body of Christ and laid Him in a new tomb.
Crucifixion was not an honorable way to die and was reserved for only what the rulers considered abominable people. It would not be logical to make up a story of Christ being crucified. It can only be true.
As Christians, it is fundamental to our faith to believe that the Bible, including the death and manner of death, are true accurate accounts of Christ's time on earth. We need to hold true to this verse from Hebrews: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Learn more about this author, Jinianne Lutz.
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No
Was Christ really crucified?
Well the simple answer is no and yes. If you are a Christian and believe that the scriptures were inspired by God then you believe what's written in them. The Bible, or the word of God, tells us that Jesus Christ did die for mankind's sin and that he was put to death. The word crucified is crucial to this debate though. Was he crucified? No! The original Greek word rendered "cross" is stauros. This word merely means an upright stake, or pale.
The Imperial Bible-Dictionary acknowledges this, saying: "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."-Edited by P. Fairbairn (London, 1874), Vol. I, p. 376.
The Bible also uses the word xylon to identify what Jesus died on. This word is generally translated in most Bible translations at Acts 5:30 and 10:39 as tree.
The historical origin of the cross is also of interest. "The shape of the [two-beamed cross] had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ."-An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (London, 1962), W. E. Vine, p. 256.
"Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus."-A Short History of Sex-Worship (London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p. 183.
The introduction of the cross into Christianity comes from Pagan origin. Evidence indicates that Jesus died on an upright stake and not on the traditional cross. So was Jesus crucified? No! Was Jesus put to death? Yes.
Learn more about this author, Christa Walker.
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