What is the symbolic meaning of the cross?

Answer

Curse. Definition of Curse - a penalty imposed for not keeping the law. The cross is a place of execution, torture, and pain until death. The cross was reserved for thieves, murderers, and the worst of criminals. It is the key and the symbol of the Christian faith; therefore, symbolically, understanding it, opens the door to eternal life. The cross of Jesus is the cross of self-sacrifice, devotion to truth without denying it even unto the last breath, and a foundation of strength, endurance, and suffering for what is right.

Biblical Reference:

See Deuteronomy 21:22-23.

Other Answers

• There was absolutely no meaning to the cross until Jesus was crucified on it. The Romans wanted to degrade this "strange man" and his beliefs (considered a troublemaker) and if you can remember he had to drag that cross to the place of his crucifixion (it was heavy and the fact he could endure the weight was a miracle in itself). It wasn't until our dear Jesus had nails driven into each palm of his each hand and his feet and suffered and his blood sewed along the cross for our sins that any meaning became of that cross. To wear a cross to signify you are a true Christian and believe in Jesus is to symbolize the fact that he died not in vain.

• The meaning of the cross is simple. In the Christian religion, (which I am), the cross represents what Jesus died upon in order to save all sinners from eternal damnation. Jesus is the way to Heaven and the only way to get to Heaven is to know that Jesus died upon that cross, confess that you are a sinner and accept Jesus into your heart and as your Lord and Savior.

• It is commonly believed that Jesus died on a cross, when in fact he died on a stake. The Greek word "stauros," as well as the common method of execution that would have taken place at the time and circumstance of Jesus' and the 2 unnamed criminals' executions, suggest that a stake was used and not a cross. The origins of the cross actually lie in ancient Babylon which was a center of false worship. The cross was used in worship of false gods. This symbol of false worship has been passed on through the ages to the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, on to modern day society.

• Yahshua the messiah never wore a cross ,and also said "don,t bring the word to the gentiles for they will trample on it and bring it to mean nothing" matt 11.The cross goes way back to ancient Sumeria (Iraq) where it was a pagan cult symbol.

• The cross represents a tree. Also it was written, cursed is he that hangs from a tree. YESHUA HA MOSHIACH became a curse so that we would not have to suffer the curse of our sins. In other words HE suffered our rightful punishment as full payment for our sins. One should not be concerned about the cross. For in itself it did nothing. It is he that was hanged on it that did all.

• The cross, throughout human history, generally is a symbolic representation of the sun. (the different lines of the cross representing the rays.) Christianity created their own meaning for this symbol, because it was already a largely accepted religious symbol, and it made it easier for people to switch to the new faith if it allowed them to keep doing things that were familiar. Most of the western world before Christianity became popular was involved in so-called Pagan religions. These religions had feast days celebrating the different seasons, and so the Catholic Church conveniently placed their own new holy days on the same day, to make it easier for converts to join.
  

• Well the whole Jesus theory is correct, but it can also mean to drive away evil forces.

• Putting aside all niceties, the "Cross" in telling the truth and nothing but the whole truth is an emblem of humiliation, agony and death. It represents a public execution.
  

• The origin of the cross yet again traditional custom not a religious purpose.
  

• A tradition of the Church which our fathers have inherited, was the adoption of the words "cross" and "crucify." These words are nowhere to be found in the Greek of the New Testament. These words are mistranslations, a "later rendering," of the Greek words stauros and stauroo. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "STAUROS denotes, primarily, an upright pole or stake...Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pole, 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 (Babylon), and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name)...By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the pretige 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..." Dr. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, appx. 162 states, "crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian Sun-god...It should be stated that Constantine was a Sun-god worshipper...The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon and upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle." Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 197-205, frankly calls the cross "this Pagan symbol...the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah...the mystic Tau of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians--the true original form of the letter T--the initial of the name of Tammus...the Babylonian cross was the recognized emblem of Tammuz." In the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol. 14, p. 273, we read, "In the Egyptian churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life borrowed by the Christians and interpreted in the pagan manner." Jacob Grimm, in his Deutsche Mythologie, says that the Teutonic (Germanic) tribes had their idol Thor, symbolised by a hammer, while the Roman Christians had their crux (cross). It was thus somewhat easier for the Teutons to accept the Roman cross. Greek dictionaries, lexicons and other study books also declare the primary meaning of stauros to be an upright pale, pole or stake. The secondary meaning of "cross" is admitted by them to be a "later" rendering. At least two of them do not even mention "cross," and only render the meaning as "pole or stake." In spite of this strong evidence and proof that the word stauos should have been translated "stake," and the verb stauroo to have been translated "impale," almost all the common versions of the Scriptures persist with the Latin Vulgate's crux (cross), a "later" rendering of the Greek stauros. While it is true that stauros means stake or pole, it does not rule out that a cross piece was not attached to it. Look at modern times for example. A post often has something else attached to it like a wire fence, a mail box, or even a sign. The Greek word "stauros" itself does not explain whether anything is, or is not attached to it. Even early Christian writers spoke of the cross as having four limbs pointing above, below, and to both sides. Irenaeus mentioned the cross as "two in length, and two in breadth." Justin Martyr spoke of the cross as having "one beam placed upright" and "the other beam fitted on to it." Historical evidence points to Constantine as the one who had the major share in uniting Sun-worship and the Messianic Belief. Constantine's famous vision of "the cross superimposed on the sun," in the year 312, is usually cited. Writers, ignorant of the fact that the cross was not to be found in the New Testament Scriptures, put much emphasis on this vision as the onset of the so-called "conversion" of Constantine. But, unless Constantine had been misguided by the Gnostic Manichean half-Christians, who indeed used the cross in their hybrid religion, this version of the cross superimposed on the sun could only be the same old solar cross, the symbol of the Sun-deity, the centre of cosmic religion, the astrological religion of Babylon. The fact remains: that which Constantine saw, is nowhere to be found in Scripture. We read in the book of Johannes Geffcken, The Last Days of Greco-Roman Paganism. p. 319, "that even after 314 A.D. the coins of Constantine show an even-armed cross as a symbol for the Sun-god."Many scholars have doubted the "conversion" of Constantine because of the wicked deeds that he did afterwards, and because of the fact that he only requested to be baptized on his death-bed many years later, in the year 337. So, if the vision of the cross impressed him, and was used as a rallying symbol, it could not have been in honour of our Saviour, because Constantine is attested of by his persistent use of images of the Sun-deity on his coins that were issued by him up to the year 323. Secondly, the fact of his motivation to issue his Sunday-keeping edict in the year 321, which was not done in honour of our Saviour, but was done because of the "venerable day of the Sun," as the edict read, is proof of his continued allegiance to Sol Invictus. We shall expand on this laster on.Where did the cross come from, then? J.C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, p.45, aptly summarizes it, "Cross--A universal symbol from the most remote times; it is the cosmic symbol par excellence." Other authorities also call it a sun-symbol, a Babylonian sun-symbol, an astrological Babylonian-Assyrian and heathen sun-symbol, also in the form of an encircled cross referred to as a "solar wheel," and many other varieties of crosses. Also, "the cross represents the Tree of Life, the age-old fertility symbol, combining the vertical male and horizontal female principles, especially in Egypt, either as an ordinary cross, or better known in the form of the crus ansata, the Egyptian ankh (sometimes called: the Tau cross), which had been carried over into our modern-day symbol of the female, well known in biology. As stated above, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the mystic Tau of the Babylonians and Egyptians, was brought into the Church chiefly because of Constantine, and has since been adored with all the homage due only to the Most Hight. The Protestants have for many years refrained from undue adoration of, or homage to, the cross, especially in England at the time of the Puritans in the 16th and 17th centuries. But lately this un-Scriptural symbol has been increasingly accepted in Protestantism. We have previously discussed "the weeping for Tammuz," and the similarity between the Easter resurrection and the return or rising of Tammuz. Tammuz was the young incarnate Sun, the Sun-divinity incarnate. This same Sun-deity, known amongst the Babylonians as Tammuz, was identified with the Greek Adonis and with the Phoenician Adoni, all of them Sun-deities, being slain in winter, then being "wept for," and their return being celebrated bu a festivity in spring, while some had it in summer--according to the myths of pagan idolarty. The evidence for its pagan origin is so convincing that The Catholic Encyclopedia admits that "the sign of the cross, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly antedates, in both East and the West, the introduction of Christianity. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization." It then continues and refers to the Tau cross of the pagan Egyptians, "In later times the Egyptian Christians (Copts), attracted by its form, and perhaps by its symbolism, adopted it as the emblem of the cross." Further proof of its pagan origin is the recorded evidence of the Vestal Virgins of pagan Rome having the cross hanging on a necklace, and the Egyptians doing it too, as early as the 15th century B.C.E. The Buddhists, and numerous other sects of India, also used the sign of the cross as a mark on their followers' heads. "The cross thus widely worshipped, or regarded as a 'sacred emblem,' was the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah, for he was represented with a head-band convered with crosses." After Constantine had the "vision of the cross," he ahd his army promoted another variety of the cross, the Chi-Rho or Labarum. This has subsequently been explained as representing the first letters of the name Christos, But again, this had a pagan origin. They were found as inscriptions on rock, dating from the year ca. 2500 B.C.E., being interpreted as "a combination of two Sun-symbols, known as the Ax- or Hammer-symbol of the Sun- or Sky-deity, and the + or X as the ancient symbol of the Sun, both of these signs having a sensual or fertility meaning as well. Another proof of its pagan origin is found on a coin of Ptolemeus III from the year 247-222 B.C.E. A well-known encyclopedia describes the Labarum (Chi-Rho) as, "The labarum was also an emblem of the Chaldean (Babylonian) sky-god and in Christianity it was adopted..." Emperor Constantine adopted this Labarum as the imperial ensign and thereby succeeded in "uniting both divisions of his troops, pagans and Christians, in a common worship... According to Suicer the word (labarum) came into use in the reign of Hadrian, and was probably adopted from one of the nations conquered by the Romans." It must be remembered that Hadrian reigned in the years 76-138 C.E., that he was a pagan emperor, worshipped the Sun-deity Serapis when he visited Alexandria, and was vehemently anti-Judaistic, beign responsible for the final near-destruction of Jerusalem in the year 130 C.E.Another dictionary relates the following about the Chi-Rho, "However, the symbol was in the use long before Christianity, and X (Chi) probably stood for Great Fire or Sun, and P (Rho) probably stood for Pater or Patah (Father). The word labarum (la-baar-um) yields everlasting Father Sun." Let me give you one last thing to dwell on. In Ezekial 9, it speaks of a mark that was placed upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof (Eze 9:4). The Pulpit Commentary says that According to the best interpretation of the text the mark seems to have been a cross. According to Harper's Bible Commentary the letter tau in Near Eastern languages could be written as "+" or "T" and so it was not unnatural for early Christian writers, such as Origen and Tertullian, to see in this a type of the cross of Christ. Now remember, it was the Lord who had commanded that the mark (or "T") be placed on the forehead of the righteous. If this was a symbol of Tammuz which God despised, then why would He have this mark put on the foreheads of those men? If the pagans who worshipped Tammuz whose symbol was a cross, as Hislop tells us, then placing this mark on the righteous would be inconsistent when looking at the context, for only eight verses earlier (Eze 8:14) Tammuz worshipped was condemned!
  

• There are a number of interesting things I could point to about the so-called history of these pagan origins. The sad truth is that most pagan origin claims come from the work of an Alexander Hislop. For those who have taken the time to check out Hislop, they will discover that his research on the pagan origins is often contradictory. Read what The Saturday Review dated September 17, 1859, p. 340. had to say about Hislop's work: In the first place, his whole superstructure is raised upon nothing. Our earliest authority for the history of Semiramis wrote about the commencement of the Christian era, and the historian from whom he drew his information lived from fifteen hundred to two thousand years after the date which Mr. Hislop assigns to the great Assyrian Queen. The most lying legend which the Vatican has ever endorsed stands on better authority than the history which is now made the ground of a charge against it."Secondly, the whole argument proceeds upon the assumption that all heathenism has a common origin. Resemblances in mythological details are taken as evidence of this, and nothing is allowed for the natural working of the human mind. Thirdly, Mr. Hislop's method of reasoning would make anything of anything. By the aid of obscure passages in third-rate historians, groundless assumptions of identity, and etymological torturing of roots, all that we know, and all that we believe, may be converted�into something totally different. Fourthly, Mr. Hislop's argument proves too much. He finds not only the corruptions of Popery, but the fundamental articles of the Christian Faith, in his hypothetical Babylonian system. We take leave of Mr. Hislop and his work with the remark that we never before quite knew the folly of which ignorant or half-learned bigotry is capable. Now about C.J. Koster's book "Come Out Of Her, My People", Roy Ingle, a Christian book reviewer, had the following to say: "C.J. Koster's COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE was given to me by a lady who left our church for the radical Messianic Jewish followers such as Koster and Michael Rood. I read the book with great doubts about the book since most serious Messianic Jewish Gentiles I have met were simply bizarre. This book did nothing more than confirm this view." Koster appears to have taken most of his information from a group known as the Assemblies of Yahweh. His insistance upon using the various Hebrew names for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit go from poor understandings of the Greek language to flat out denials. His writing style is poor and the structure of the book appears to not have been very well thought out. Koster appears mad throughout the book at the "established Church" and he seems mad enough to essentially condemn anyone who calls the holy Scriptures "the Bible" or calls Yahushua "Jesus" or has a cross up in their meetings or calls their assemblies "church" or who worship on Sunday (or some other day other than Saturday and dare not call the days or months by its Greek names!) than they are going to burn forever. Further, any follower of the Messiah not keeping the entire Law of Moses is lost! Ironically, few Jews have "converted" to Messianic Jewish roots despite Koster's belief that this will usher in a great harvest of Jews into the kingdom of Elohim. Could it be they see the error of the Sacred Name Movement as do many Gentiles such as I? For me, Koster and the rest of the radical Messianic follwers are nothing more than the Pharisees of Acts 15. They seek to add to the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ (Acts 15:9-11). They want us to keep the Law of Moses but not one person (including themselves) is capable of doing so (Galatians 3:11). How sad that these men have dived into a works salvation that focuses on rules rather than on Christ's atoning sacrifice (Colossians 2:11-23). I for one thank God that I am free from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13-14) and that Jesus brings no condemnation (Romans 8:1-4; Galatians 5:1-13). Given this show where cross originally come from and why true christians do not use it in there worship. The only thing which protect use is Jehovah God himself. For his name alone shakes of Satan and his demons.Further on why true Christians would not want to venerate the cross or any other symbol is found in the scriptures that tell us to "flee from idolatry."(1 Cor 10:14) as well as many other scriptures that condemn the use of idols. And consider this simple illustration: What if you had a friend that was falsely accused of wrongdoing, arrested, wrongly tried in a mock trial, and executed on false charges? Would you make a symbol of the excutionary device, and then wear it as a piece jewelry, put it up in your house, pray to it, or bow down to it? Dosen't make sense, does it? So the whole idea of worshiping the cross doesn't make sense at all. When Jesus said to 'pick up ones torture stake' (KJ "cross") he didn't mean to pick up an idol and worship it as a symbol of devotion. Read the whole account at Luke chapter 9. The context clearly shows that he simply meant that we, as Christians, would have to bear up under whatever trial or tribulation we may face as Christians, as that torture stake was to Jesus at that time. Jesus died on a upright stake, using 1 nail through both feet, and 1 nail through both hands or wrists and no cross piece. That was the Roman method of implalement. By the hands being nailed above the head, this forced the airways to become restricted. The victim would then have to push themself up by their feet, nailed below, each time they wanted a gasp of air. Ask anyone familiar with the human anatomy if this sounds reasonable. The person literally strangled to death as they became too weak to push themselves up to get each breath. They did not attach a cross piece, because if they did, a person could hang by their outstretched arms and breath indefinately. The REAL meaning of the cross? It is a pagan symbol of life and fertility. For some ancient religons, before Christ, it was literally a symbol of the male sex organ. Wouldn't it be a great victory for Satan to infiltrate the "Christian" religions with this unclean symbol? The answer is clear. True Christians will avoid venerating the cross.
  

• I assume that this question actually relates to the Christian use of the Cross. The cross, as the means of crucifixion, is and has always been symbolic of both Christ's suffering and death on our behalf and also His triumph over death with the promise of redemption and eternal life. It has nothing to do with borrowing symbols for convenience nor blending sun worship or any other pagan practice to aid conversion. Nor was the cross invented by Constantine - he simply adopted it. From the earliest Christian times the cross was used as an outward sign of inner faith - as Jesus Himself said, " And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." Matthew 10:38
  

• "The symbol of Phallic worship, the cross, has become the emblem of Christianity. To quote from one English authoress: "We find the cross in India, Egypt, Tibet, Japan, always as the sign of life-giving power, it was worn as an amulet by girls and women, and seems to have been specially worn by the women attached to the temples [sacred prostitutes], as a symbol of what was, to them, a religious calling. The cross is, in fact, nothing but the refined phallus, ....."
  

• The horizontal bar represents the physical existence and the vertical bar represents the accumulated understandings gathered from physical existence. Horizontal is measured by time, etc, wheras vertical is measured by understandings.. To hang on the cross is to have gained control of the use of all the understandings in order to no longer be limited by the physical. In language of mind, Jesus demonstrated how to rise above the physical while we are still in it. Much can be gained by ceasing to see Jesus as some sort of magician and to view him as the most valued teacher that he was and is. Fantasy only causes more speculation. Today anyone can know if they so desire.

First answer by ID2560844931. Last edit by Trojan horse. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 134 [recommend question]