It’s funny. I just got to Galatians 3.13 (“he became a curse for us”) on my book on healing when I decided to take a break and cruise the net. First article? This one that says, Jesus Christ May Not Have Died on Cross. At first I thought it was another Geraldo Rivera story. But [...]
It’s funny. I just got to Galatians 3.13 (“he became a curse for us”) on my book on healing when I decided to take a break and cruise the net. First article? This one that says, Jesus Christ May Not Have Died on Cross. At first I thought it was another Geraldo Rivera story. But it appears that Gunnar Samuelsson, a Swedish theologian, has created a theological ruckus by questioning whether stauros, the Greek word for crucifixion in the Bible, really means crucifixion by cross. Samuelsson says that all he could find in ancient papers was that generally meant suspension in so many ways—a pole, a pike, a rope, a tree (Peter did write tree in his epistle, but that’s usually taken to mean cross). He told ABC, “There is no distinct punishment called ‘crucifixion,’ no distinct punishment device called a ‘crucifix’ anywhere mentioned in any of the ancient texts, including the Gospels.”
Fair enough, but the “punishment device” had to include the nailing of his hands and feet. That doesn’t sound like a pole or pike to me.
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Without going to great lengths to disprove this man, the Liddell-Scott Lexicon (9th edition with revised supplement) and the abridged edition of the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology completely disagree with him. (I just happened to have them sitting by the recliner as I read with bewilderment your post and the linked article.) Articles like these seem to be subtly trying to undermine the Truth and confuse people about the Gospel. People have enough trouble keeping the facts straight as it is.