THE WORD "CROSS"---- SHOULD WE USE IT?

 THE  WORD  CROSS  SHOULD  WE  USE  IT?

SOME  “CHRISTIANS”  WILL  TELL  YOU  WE  SHOULD  NOT  USE  THE  WORD  CROSS.

THEY  WILL  TELL  YOU  WE  SHOULD  USE  THE  WORD  STAKE  OR  SOMETHING  LIKE  IT.  BUT  THE  WORD  CROSS  SHOULD  NOT  BE  USED.

HERE’S  WHAT  BIBLE  DICTIONARIES  TELL  YOU  ABOUT  THE  CROSS.

VINER’S  EXPOSITORY  DICTIONARY  OF  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS  WORDS:

CROSS, CRUCIFY

A. Noun.

stauros (#4716 in Strong’s Concordance) denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter 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……

The method of execution was borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians. The stauros denotes (a) "the cross, or stake itself," e.g., Matt. 27:32; (b) "the crucifixion suffered," e.g., 1 Cor. 1:17—18, where "the word of the cross," RV, stands for the gospel; Gal 5:11, where crucifixion is metaphorically used of the renunciation of the world, that characterizes the true Christian life; 6:12, 14; Eph. 2:16; Phil. 3:18.

The judicial custom by which the condemned person carried his stake to the place of execution, was applied by the Lord to those sufferings by which His faithful followers were to express their fellowship with Him, e.g., Matt 10:38.

B. Verbs.

1. stauroo (#4717) signifies (a) "the act of cmcifixion," e.g., Matt. 20:19; (b) metaphorically, "the putting off of the flesh with its passions and lusts," a condition fulfilled in the case of those who are "of Christ Jesus," Gal. 5:24, RV; so of the relationship between the believer and the world, 6:14.

2. sustaurod (#4957), "to crucify with" (su-, "for," sun, "with"), is used (a) of actual "crucifixion" in company with another, Matt. 27:44; Mark 15:32; John 19:32; (b) metaphorically, of spiritual identification with Christ in His death, Rom. 6:6, and Gal. 2:20.]

3. anastauroo (#388) is used in Heb. 6:6 of Hebrew apostates, who as merely nominal Christians, in turning back to Judaism, were thereby virtually guilty of "crucifying" Christ again.]

4. prospegnumi (#4362), "to fix or fasten to anything" (pros, "to," pegnumi, "to fix"), is used of the "crucifixion" of Christ, Acts 2:23.]

CROSS (Verb)

diaperao (#1276), "to pass over, to cross over" (dia, "through," perao, "to pass": akin to this are peran, "across," peras, "a boundary," Latin, porta, "a gate," Eng., "portal, port," etc.), is translated by the verb "to cross" in the RV, but differently in the KJV; in Matt. 9:1; Mark 5:21; 6:53 (KGV, "passed"); Matt. 14: 34…….

BIBLE MANNERS  AND CUSTOMS.

730.—CRUCIFIXION.

XXVII, 35. They crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots.    See also Mark xv, 25; Luke xxiii, 33; John xix, 18.

Crucifixion was not a Jewish punishment, though among the Jews culprits were sometimes tied to a stake by their hands after death. See Deut. xxi, 22. It was an ancient mode of capital punishment, and is said to have been devised by Semiramis. It was in use by _the_Persians, Assyr'ans, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Scythians. Greeks, Romans, and ancient Germans. /It was a most shameful and degrading punishment, and among- the Romans was the fate of robbers, assassins, and rebels. It was especially the punishment of criminal slaves. 

There were several kinds of crosses used. One consisted of two beams of wood laid across each other in the form of an X- Another had two beams of unequal length, the shorter placed on top of the longer, like the letter “T”. In a third variety, a small portion of the longer piece appeared above the transverse beam, thus: and on this the inscription was placed. See note on Matt, xxvii, 37. This was doubtless the form of cross on which our Lord was crucified. From the center of the perpendicular beam there projected a wooden plug or horn, on which the body of the condemned rested. The bottom of the cross was sharpened, that it might be more easily driven into the ground. The ordinary representations of the cross in paintings and engravings are incorrect, inasmuch as they make it appear larger and heavier than the reality. It was not generally more than ten feet high, so that when erected, a part of it being in the earth, the feet of the sufferer were not far from the ground.

The condemned man was first stripped of his clothing, which seems to have been the perquisite of the executioners. See John xix, 23, 24. He was then fastened to the cross, which had been previously fixed in the earth—though sometimes he was first fixed to the cross—which was then .lifted and thrust into the ground. He sat on the middle bar or horn, already mentioned and his limbs were stretched out and tied to the bars of the cross. Large iron spikes were then driven through the hands and feet. Sometimes the feet were nailed separately, and at other times they were  crossed and a long spike was driven through them both.

In this situation the poor sufferer was left to linger until death slowly came to his relief. This usually required two or three days, though some lingered a longer time before their sufferings ended……

………………………..

IT  IS  EVIDENT  FROM  THE  GOSPELS  THAT  OUR  LOIRD  WAS  CRUCIFIED  ON  THE  WOODEN  CROSS  THAT  MOST  OF  US  IMMEDIATELY  THINK  OF  AS  WE  USE  THAT  WORD.

NOW  LANGUAGE  IS  A  VEHICLE  WE  USE  TO  BRING  INTO  OUR  MINDS-EYE  SOMETHING  THAT  THAT  LANGUAGE  WE  HAVE  IN  OUR  NATION,  BRINGS  US  WHEN  WE  USE  CERTAIN  WORDS—— IF  I  USE  THE  WORD  “PRESENT”  THAT  I  GIVE  SOMEONE  ON  THEIR  BIRTHDAY,  YOU  KNOW  THE  CONTEXT  AND  YOUR  MINDS-EYE  PICTURES  SOMETHING  I  LITERALLY  GIVE  TO  A  PERSON.  IF  I  USE  THE  WORD  “PRESENT”  IN  THE  CONTEXT  OF  BEING  THERE  AMONG  A  GROU.P  OF  PEOPLE,  YOUR  MINDS-EYE  PICTURES  A  GROUP  OF  PERSONS  WITH  ME  IN  THEIR  MIDST.

NOW  MOST  OF  US  KNOW  THE  WORD  “BOOMERANG”  AND  A  PICTURE  IN  OUR  MIND  COMES  OF  A  BEND  PEICE  OF  WOOD,  THAT  THROWING  IT  OUT,  IT  COMES  BACK  TO  YOU.  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  USES  THE  WORD BOOMERANG.

SOMEBODY  IN  ANOTHER  COUNTRY  MAY  CALL  THIS  PIECE  OF  WOOD  TIMBALICH.  TO  THEM  WITH  THIS  SOUNDING  WORD  THE  SAME  PICTURE  OF  A  BEND  PIECE  OF  WOOD  COMES  TO  THEIR  MIND.

AND  SO  IT  CAN  GO  ON  WITH  OTHER  LANGUAGES  OF  OTHER  NATIONS.

LANGUAGE  IS  A  TOOL  TO  PICTURE  IN  YOUR  MIND  SOMETHING  WE  WANT  YOU  TO  PICTURE.

SO  THE  WORD  CROSS  IN  ENGLISH  PICTURES  FOR  US  THE  SIGN  OF  A  VERTICAL  PIECE  OF  WOOD,  WITH  A  HORIZONTAL  PIECE  OF  WOOD  DOWN AT  THE  TOP  ABOUT  A  ONE  OR  TWO  FEET.  YES  THE  TYPICAL  “CROSS”  THAT  COMES  TO  OUR  MIND.

JESUS  WAS  INDEED  CRUCIFIED  ON  THIS  WOODEN  BEAM  THAT  COMES  TO  OUR  MIND  WHEN  WE  HEAR  THE  ENGLISH  WORD  CROSS.

THERE  IS  NOTHING  PAGAN  ABOUT  THE  ENGLISH  WORD!

WHAT  IS  PAGAN  IN  SOME  NATIONS  IS  THAT  THEY  KILLED  PEOPLE  ON  A  CROSS,  A  CROSS  THAT  JESUS  WAS  KILLED  ON.

IT  IS  TIME  FOR  SOME  7TH  DAY  SABBATH  OBSERVING  CHURCHES  OF  GOD,  TO  GET  OUT  OF  THE  CULTIC  MIND-SET  OF  TEACHING  WE  SHOULD  NOT  USE  THE  ENGLISH  WORD  “CROSS.”

THERE  IS  NOTHING  WRONG,  NOTHING  PAGAN,  NOTHING  SINFUL,  ABOUT  USING  THE  ENGLISH  WORD  CROSS  WHEN  TALKING  ABOUT  JESUS’  DEATH  ON  THE  CROSS.

Keith Hunt