Jehovah's Witnesses view of Jesus' death: Difference between revisions
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*According to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Greek word "stauros" does not refer to a cross.<ref name="W111592p7">The Cross—Symbol of Christianity?, ''The Watchtower'', November 15, 1992, p.7.</ref> [[A Greek-English Lexicon|The Greek-English Lexicon]] of Liddell and Scott, the major reference work on the [[Greek language]] from [[Homer]]ic to early Christian times, reports that the meaning of the word "σταυρός" in the early Homeric form of Greek, possibly of the 8th to 6th century B.C., and also in the writings of the 5th-century B.C. writers [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]] and the early-4th century B.C. [[Xenophon]], is that of a stake; but that in the writings of the first-century B.C. [[Diodorus Siculus]] and in later writers, such as [[Plutarch]] and [[Lucian]], it refers to a cross.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2396298 Liddell and Scott: σταυρός]</ref> |
*According to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Greek word "stauros" does not refer to a cross.<ref name="W111592p7">The Cross—Symbol of Christianity?, ''The Watchtower'', November 15, 1992, p.7.</ref> [[A Greek-English Lexicon|The Greek-English Lexicon]] of Liddell and Scott, the major reference work on the [[Greek language]] from [[Homer]]ic to early Christian times, reports that the meaning of the word "σταυρός" in the early Homeric form of Greek, possibly of the 8th to 6th century B.C., and also in the writings of the 5th-century B.C. writers [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]] and the early-4th century B.C. [[Xenophon]], is that of a stake; but that in the writings of the first-century B.C. [[Diodorus Siculus]] and in later writers, such as [[Plutarch]] and [[Lucian]], it refers to a cross.<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2396298 Liddell and Scott: σταυρός]</ref> |
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*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the cross was a pagan symbol later adopted by the churches.<ref name="W111592p7"/> This claim has been criticized as a [[Non sequitur (logic)|non sequitur]].<ref>[http://jehovah.net.au/stake.html Cross or Stake]</ref> |
*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the cross was a pagan symbol later adopted by the churches.<ref name="W111592p7"/> This claim has been criticized as a [[Non sequitur (logic)|non sequitur]].<ref>[http://jehovah.net.au/stake.html Cross or Stake]</ref> |
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*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that [[archaeology]] shows that Jesus died on a stake, not a cross.<ref name="W111592p7"/> The "only archaeological case of crucifixion yet found (from Giv'at ha-Mivtar)"<ref>([www.jrsm.org/cgi/content/full/99/4/185 Matthew W Maslen and Piers D Mitchell: ''Medical theories on the cause of death in crucifixion'', in ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'', Volume 99, Number 4 (2006)]</ref><ref>[http://www.allbusiness.com/middle-east/israel/771089-1.html Ancient Jewish Man's Remains Give Clues on Crucifixion]</ref><ref>[http://www.archaeology.org/0609/reviews/judaism.html Timothy K. Beal. ''Jesus & Judaism'' in ''Archaeology'', Volume 59 Number 5, September/October 2006]</ref> is of a man crucified in first-century Palestine; this one example has been interpreted as that of a man whose arms were attached in some manner to a crossbeam.<ref>See drawings in the three studies [http://www.centuryone.org/crucifixion2.html Crucifixion in Antiquity - The Evidence], [http://www.restorationfoundation.org/volume_2/2139.htm Physical Evidence Unearthed for First Century Crucifixion], and [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/jesus/crucifixion.html Jesus and Jehonan: An Archaeological Note on Crucifixion].</ref> |
*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that [[archaeology]] shows that Jesus died on a stake, not a cross.<ref name="W111592p7"/> The "only archaeological case of crucifixion yet found (from Giv'at ha-Mivtar)"<ref>([www.jrsm.org/cgi/content/full/99/4/185 Matthew W Maslen and Piers D Mitchell: ''Medical theories on the cause of death in crucifixion'', in ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'', Volume 99, Number 4 (2006)]</ref><ref>[http://www.allbusiness.com/middle-east/israel/771089-1.html Ancient Jewish Man's Remains Give Clues on Crucifixion]</ref><ref>[http://www.archaeology.org/0609/reviews/judaism.html Timothy K. Beal. ''Jesus & Judaism'' in ''Archaeology'', Volume 59 Number 5, September/October 2006]</ref> is of a man crucified in first-century Palestine; this one example has been interpreted as that of a man whose arms were attached in some manner to a crossbeam, however no conclusive evidence of arm position is provided by the evidence in that case...<ref>See drawings in the three studies [http://www.centuryone.org/crucifixion2.html Crucifixion in Antiquity - The Evidence], [http://www.restorationfoundation.org/volume_2/2139.htm Physical Evidence Unearthed for First Century Crucifixion], and [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/jesus/crucifixion.html Jesus and Jehonan: An Archaeological Note on Crucifixion].</ref> |
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*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the Bible does not say that Jesus died on a cross.<ref name="W111592p7"/> In speaking of Jesus' death on a ''stauros'', the Bible uses a word that at that time, as shown above, could mean a cross. |
*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the Bible does not say that Jesus died on a cross.<ref name="W111592p7"/> In speaking of Jesus' death on a ''stauros'', the Bible uses a word that at that time, as shown above, could mean a cross. |
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*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the torture stake (or cross) was insignificant and should not be used in worship.<ref name="W111592p7"/> Commentators see {{bibleverse||Galatians|6:14}}, one of the earliest Christian writings, as saying that the gibbet on which Christ died is something of which to boast.<ref>[http://www.lgmarshall.org/Calvin/calvin_varsermon11.html John Calvin: On Glorying Only in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ]</ref><ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/barnes/ntnotes.xii.vi.xiv.html Barnes New Testament Notes]</ref><ref>[http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/an-exposition-of-galatians/may%20i%20never% Kim Riddlebarger: "May I Never Boast"]</ref><ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb.xi.ix.vii.html#xi.ix.vii-p0.1 Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible]</ref><ref>[http://versebyversecommentary.com/2000/06/19/galatians-614/ Verse by verse commentary by Dr Grant C. Richison]</ref><ref>[http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols31-33/chs1859.pdf C. H. Spurgeon:The Cross Our Glory]</ref><ref>[http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/cross.htm Cross or Stake]</ref> |
*Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the torture stake (or cross) was insignificant and should not be used in worship.<ref name="W111592p7"/> Commentators see {{bibleverse||Galatians|6:14}}, one of the earliest Christian writings, as saying that the gibbet on which Christ died is something of which to boast.<ref>[http://www.lgmarshall.org/Calvin/calvin_varsermon11.html John Calvin: On Glorying Only in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ]</ref><ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/barnes/ntnotes.xii.vi.xiv.html Barnes New Testament Notes]</ref><ref>[http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/an-exposition-of-galatians/may%20i%20never% Kim Riddlebarger: "May I Never Boast"]</ref><ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/jamieson/jfb.xi.ix.vii.html#xi.ix.vii-p0.1 Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible]</ref><ref>[http://versebyversecommentary.com/2000/06/19/galatians-614/ Verse by verse commentary by Dr Grant C. Richison]</ref><ref>[http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols31-33/chs1859.pdf C. H. Spurgeon:The Cross Our Glory]</ref><ref>[http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/cross.htm Cross or Stake]</ref> |
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The Jehovah's Witnesses view of Jesus' death is that Jesus was crucified on an upright stake or pole, and not, as has been traditionally believed at least since the early second century,[1] on a cross.
Arguments
The New Testament was written in Koine Greek (Κοινή), the common language of commerce during the first century. To understand the Jehovah's Witness view that Jesus was not crucified on a cross, one must recall that the Greek word "stauros" (the original Greek underlying the rendering as "cross") can, at least in pre-Koine Greek, be translated as "stake". However, in Koine Greek, the form of Greek spoken at the time of Christ, the word was in fact used of a cross, as by the writers quoted in Liddell and Scott, a standard lexicographical work of the ancient Greek language.[2]
Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers, and the evidence of Roman crucifixion indicates that the use of a patibulum (crossbeam) was normal.[3][4]
During the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus in AD 70, Josephus reported seeing hundreds of victims that were crucified simultaneously. However, despite the horrific account, no report was given that executions were carried out on a single stake of wood. In effect, this was seemingly not the popular Roman method. Pontius Pilate's decision to 'wash his hands' of Jesus' execution suggests[citation needed] that the manner of execution would have been under Jewish law rather than Roman law; but the Gospels accounts indicate that the execution was carried out by Roman soldiers, not by Jews. Whilst the Romans tended toward crucifixion, the Jews tended toward impaling (or nailing to) a single beam, or stake.[citation needed] When the Apostle Paul wrote: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13, King James Version), he used the Greek word "xylon", which means timber in general, most often not that of a live tree.[5]
The earliest writings that speak specifically of the shape of the cross on which Jesus died describe it like the letter T (the Greek letter tau).[6] Second-century writers report the shape of the cross as consisting of an upright and a transverse beam, together with a small ledge in the upright.[7]
Christians generally accept the description of the shape of the cross of Christ given by these early Christian writers. Regardless of what these early writers said, Jehovah's Witnesses interpret the original texts[clarification needed] to say that Jesus was executed on a stake, rather than a cross.
- According to Jehovah's Witnesses, the Greek word "stauros" does not refer to a cross.[8] The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott, the major reference work on the Greek language from Homeric to early Christian times, reports that the meaning of the word "σταυρός" in the early Homeric form of Greek, possibly of the 8th to 6th century B.C., and also in the writings of the 5th-century B.C. writers Herodotus and Thucydides and the early-4th century B.C. Xenophon, is that of a stake; but that in the writings of the first-century B.C. Diodorus Siculus and in later writers, such as Plutarch and Lucian, it refers to a cross.[9]
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the cross was a pagan symbol later adopted by the churches.[8] This claim has been criticized as a non sequitur.[10]
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim that archaeology shows that Jesus died on a stake, not a cross.[8] The "only archaeological case of crucifixion yet found (from Giv'at ha-Mivtar)"[11][12][13] is of a man crucified in first-century Palestine; this one example has been interpreted as that of a man whose arms were attached in some manner to a crossbeam, however no conclusive evidence of arm position is provided by the evidence in that case...[14]
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the Bible does not say that Jesus died on a cross.[8] In speaking of Jesus' death on a stauros, the Bible uses a word that at that time, as shown above, could mean a cross.
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim that the torture stake (or cross) was insignificant and should not be used in worship.[8] Commentators see Galatians 6:14, one of the earliest Christian writings, as saying that the gibbet on which Christ died is something of which to boast.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
References
- ^ Epistle of Barnabas (Chapter 9), etc. See below.
- ^ stauros
- ^ Mayo Clinic Report
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Crucifixion
- ^ Xylon
- ^ Epistle of BarnabasChapter 9. Historians have collectively dated the document to around the end of the first century.[1]
- ^ "The very form of the cross, too, has five extremities, two in length, two in breadth, and one in the middle, on which [last] the person rests who is fixed by the nails" (Irenaeus (c. 130–202), Adversus Haereses II, xxiv, 4[2].
- ^ a b c d e The Cross—Symbol of Christianity?, The Watchtower, November 15, 1992, p.7.
- ^ Liddell and Scott: σταυρός
- ^ Cross or Stake
- ^ ([www.jrsm.org/cgi/content/full/99/4/185 Matthew W Maslen and Piers D Mitchell: Medical theories on the cause of death in crucifixion, in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 99, Number 4 (2006)]
- ^ Ancient Jewish Man's Remains Give Clues on Crucifixion
- ^ Timothy K. Beal. Jesus & Judaism in Archaeology, Volume 59 Number 5, September/October 2006
- ^ See drawings in the three studies Crucifixion in Antiquity - The Evidence, Physical Evidence Unearthed for First Century Crucifixion, and Jesus and Jehonan: An Archaeological Note on Crucifixion.
- ^ John Calvin: On Glorying Only in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ
- ^ Barnes New Testament Notes
- ^ Kim Riddlebarger: "May I Never Boast"
- ^ Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
- ^ Verse by verse commentary by Dr Grant C. Richison
- ^ C. H. Spurgeon:The Cross Our Glory
- ^ Cross or Stake
See also
Cross or stake as gibbet on which Jesus died – a fuller examination of the views of early Christian writers on the matter