JOHN HAGEE KEEPING THE TRADITIONS OF MEN.NOT MAKING A DISTINCTION OF THE HOLY AND THE UNHOLY. Did the use of the cross come from the Bible? The use of the cross for Christians is never mentioned in the Bible. The apostles left no record of ever using or the endorsing the use of the cross. Jesus, likely was not even crucified on a cross, as the word normally translated as cross (stauros) in the New Testament means a stake (for more details see What is the Origin of the Cross as a Christian Symbol? and a related YouTube video would be Origin of the Cross). Here is what Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words reports on the meaning of stauros and the adoption of crosses amongst professors of Christ (bolding in electronic source): CROSS stauros (σταυρός, NT:4716) denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pale, 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, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3 rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige 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 to stand for the cross of Christ. (Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words), Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers. Note that σταυρός is defined as “ ‘upright, pointed stake’ or ‘pale’ ” in Bauer’s A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 941) So as the above indicates, pagan influence slowly introduced the cross as a symbol, which later became adopted by the Greco-Romans (for more details, please see What is the Origin of the Cross as a Christian Symbol? and a related YouTube video would be Origin of the Cross). In modern times, people tend to wear crosses as a fashion item or to make suggest that they believe in Jesus, yet the reality is that many seem to think that it is a lucky charm which is how pagans tended to view some of their items of adornment.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 20:32:26 +0000
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