Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Often when Christians talk about the cross of Jesus, we drive by at 80 miles an hour. “Jesus loves you, died on the cross for your sins, and wants to take you to heaven.” Sometimes it’s good to slow down and see the details. The Bible gives us only a few details about the crucifixion because the people who originally received the Bible witnessed it. Once you saw it, you would never forget it. Crucifixion was state-sponsored terror via execution to discourage people from following rebel leaders. It was a way of saying, “Don’t follow them, or you will endure their fate.” Now, the cross has become our faith's symbol, icon, and emblem. Starting with the early church father Tertullian, Christians adopted the cross as the symbol and sign of our faith. We started making the sign of the cross, wearing the cross and decorating homes with the cross. It reminds us of the propitiation of Jesus Christ in our place for our sins, diverting from us and to Him, the wrath of God.

When Jesus was only a little boy, He may have witnessed a mass crucifixion. There was an uprising of Jews against the Roman government in AD 4, followed by a massive public crucifixion. Crucifixion was done openly, publicly, and shamefully. They would crucify people most of the time at eye level, though when a woman was crucified, they would turn her around to hide her face. Crucifixion happened when people would go about their normal affairs and suddenly find someone bleeding, weeping, and dying for it to be most shocking. In 71 BC, the day that Spartacus fell in battle, 6,000 soldiers were crucified in a single day along a 120-mile stretch of highway.

Psalm 22 prophecies that Jesus would be crucified. That’s interesting for two reasons. First, it was written 1,000 years before Jesus Christ was born. Also, it was written 200 years before crucifixion was invented. The Bible not only predicts Jesus’ crucifixion but also predicts the invention of crucifixion.

Historians believe that crucifixion originated with the Persians and started with impaling. They would take a long log and carve the end to a point, run it through the midsection of a criminal, and then drop it in a hole. The criminal would be impaled, sometimes for days, and left suffering. The Romans then perfected it by adding the crossbar. Masters in torture and torment, and the entire point of crucifixion was to maximize and prolong suffering and pain. It was so horrifying that a word was created to explain the pain of crucifixion: excruciating. This word literally means “from the cross.” It could take days for someone to die. The criminals would slouch on the cross; oxygen would exit their lungs to be replaced with carbon monoxide. It was a painfully slow death by asphyxiation. The criminals would return to consciousness and push themselves up on their nail-filled feet to get air into their lungs. If the soldiers wanted to hasten someone’s death, they would break their legs so they couldn’t push themselves up. The soldiers didn’t break Jesus’ legs, though, because the Old Testament prophesied that none of His bones would be broken (see Psalm 34:20).

Deuteronomy 21:23 says God curses anyone who is sentenced to death and hanged on a tree. Paul quotes this in Galatians 3:13 about Jesus' death for our sins. The wrath of God was poured out on the Son of God. Jesus loves you. He was cursed so you could be blessed. He died so you could live. He took your place so He could put you in His place. Martin Luther called this the great exchange, which is the heart of the gospel.

Today’s Reflection

How does knowing more about crucifixion make you feel about Jesus’ sacrifice?