Crucified On A Stake?

Was Jesus crucified on crossed timbers tied together or a stake? The fact that he was crucified is overwhelmingly supported by NT accounts. It was such a well-know fact in Jerusalem that there was no room for questioning it. Peter merely affirmed what was known by his Jewish audience in Acts 2:23 – “…ye have by wicked hands crucified and slain.” This was not the only time he laid that guilt at the feet of the Jews and their rulers.

It is evident from the definition of the Greek word “stuaros” that “stake” is a better translation than “cross.” The word “cross,” to us, conveys the thought of two pieces of wood which are “crossed” by being tied or nailed together. What Jesus was crucified on may have been either a large piece of timber or a crude trunk of a tree. Notice that Peter uses the word “tree” in Acts 5:30 and 10:39 and again in 1 Peter 2:24. Later when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 1:18, he used the word “stauros” to stand for the entire message of the crucified savior.

But, crucified on a stake? That surely would ruin the goldsmiths who have profited so much from the little gold necklaces and articles that adorn some church buildings and homes. The acceptance of “tree” instead of two timbers tied together would cause an uprising far surpassing Demetrius and those of his craft (cf. Acts 19:23-41). And, the thought of Jesus being crucified on a stake instead of the crossed timbers would seem almost blasphemous to those who put so much stake in tradition and symbolism where prejudice rules instead of truth.

Neither crossed beams nor tree trunk is critical when considering the crucifixion of Jesus. It is not the object upon which Jesus was crucified that is sacred and it matters not if the Romans nailed Jesus to crossed timbers or a stake. Furthermore the “message of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) is not a message about a piece of wood. It is the message of a crucified savior who died for the sins of the world in the most horrible way conceivable to man.

It is possible to attach significance to the insignificant and miss the point of the message of the cross altogether. Wearing a little gold cross around one’s neck does not make one any closer to God. But trust in the crucified savior by which our sins are forgiven and by which we walk daily with God? -- that’s the real story