CROSS
This term does not appear in the OT, but outside of Israel crucifixion was a common torture for various ancient peoples. (See CRUCIFIXION).
It is seen from the account of the crucifixion that the cross was made of wood (Col. 2:14), heavy, but that a robust man could carry it (Mt. 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26; John . 19:17); It is therefore doubtful that it had the immense dimensions with which it appears in certain artistic representations.
It was lifted before or after the victim had noticed it, although it is likely that in most cases it was before. The three main types of cross are:
(a) The cross generally called St. Andrew’s cross, which is X-shaped.
(b) A cross analogous to the letter T.
(c) The cross that we know in the shape of a dagger.
It is probable that the cross of Christ had the shape of type (c), as it is commonly represented artistically, since it allowed better than the others for the fixation, in the upper part, of a sign with the name, the title, and the crime. of the prisoner (Mt. 27:37; Mr. 15:26; Lk. 23:38; Jn. 19:19).
Until the death of Christ, and even after, the cross aroused horror and repulsion, as the scaffold does today (John 19:31; 1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 3:13; Phil. 2 :8; Heb. 12:2; 13:13).
Carrying the cross thus means incurring disgrace and slander.
After the crucifixion, the most ardent disciples assumed an entirely different attitude in this regard.
Paul gloried in the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14), which meant, for the apostle, the forgiveness of sins thanks to Christ, death and resurrection with Him (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1: twenty).
Jesus himself used the cross in a figurative and spiritual sense (Mt. 10:38; 16:24).
Before the Christian era, the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and numerous peoples of the East, used the cross in one form or another, as a sacred symbol.
The Spanish discovered it in the 16th century among the Indians of Mexico and Peru, but with a totally different meaning than what it has for us.