The Big Questions About Jesus Sýnishorn

Did Jesus Actually Die on the Cross?

It is not unusual to ask: Did Jesus actually die on the cross?

Some years ago, I was in the Middle East and enjoyed several conversations with a non-Christian I met there. He believed Jesus couldn't possibly be God because God would never have let himself be crucified. It was just too inappropriate and, well, humiliating. He also told me that Jesus didn't die on the cross but that God rescued him and took him to heaven.

I've heard this view before. Some people also use it to explain the resurrection. They have to explain that people saw Jesus alive after his death. The theory is that Jesus fainted, he became unconscious on the cross, and they thought he was dead, so they took him down. However, he wasn't dead.

Let's look at some facts.

• Roman soldiers killed people for a living. They certainly knew whether someone was dead.
• There is no record in all of ancient history of anyone surviving crucifixion. The historian Josephus records how he tried to save the lives of three crucified men, but they died anyway. It's no surprise, given the blood loss and inevitable infections.
• Jesus was found to be already dead by the Roman soldiers, but to make sure, they thrust a spear up into his chest cavity and his heart. Everyone at the scene knew he was dead.
• His grief-stricken followers buried him.

That is ample proof Jesus died on the cross. We also have the evidence of non-Christian historians such as the Roman Tacitus, who confirmed that Jesus was executed under Pontius Pilate.

So, why has there been such a huge effort to deny his death at the cross? Because if you deny Jesus died, you don't have to explain the resurrection, for which there is abundant evidence.

Let's return to my friend in the Middle East. What did I tell him when he told me Jesus couldn't be God because God would never have allowed himself to be crucified? I agreed with him that God must be, by definition, the most merciful and the most loving being in the universe, and so he must also be the greatest "sacrificer" because love always means sacrifice. My friend and I agreed on that point. Then I suggested to him that because God is the greatest sacrificer, it fits that he would be willing to die on the cross as the greatest sacrifice to save men and women.

We disagreed on that point. What do you think?

– Eliezer Gonzalez