Scriptural
Studies
What is the Real Meaning
of the Cross?
What comes to mind when you read, hear,
or see Jesus Christ on the cross?
By Nab B.
August 10, 2025
A symbol is not greater than what it symbolizes. A wedding ring is not greater than marriage itself. The picture of a child cannot replace the child. Similarly, the cross can never be equal to or greater than the death of Christ.
Often, when the cross is mentioned, it does not refer to a wooden cross as much as to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
The Meaning of the Word!
The word cross comes from the NT Greek word stauros, and it means the following:
The Greek word stauros can mean ‘a pole or cross’.
The base word for stauros is histémi, which means ‘to stand, establish, hold up’.
Thus, stauros can mean a cross, pole, or stake,
and it can also mean ( literally or figuratively )
to stand or standing.
https://biblehub.com/greek/4716.htm
[ study source ]
Notice when Jesus mentioned the “cross” (stauros) a few times before his death, he certainly didn't meant for his followers to carry a wooden cross or stake! The cross Jesus meant is figurative. It represents the following:
Enduring trials and tribulations
Standing in truth
Dying to self
Bearing persecution or even death
Stauros: Cross or stake, can mean enduring, standing, dying, or standing up. It can be a physical cross or figurative one, such as standing upright in he faith.
To show you the shades of meanings for the “cross” (Gk., stauros), examine these scriptures. They mostly refer to the death of Christ or the suffering of believers rather than the instrument of suffering:
The phrases in red point to the meaning of the cross:
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matt 10:38) NKJV
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12:25)
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and yes, even his life, he is not able to be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26) BLB
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.” (Matt 24:9)
“And they (true believers) overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Rev 12:11)
“In me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation.” (John 16:33)
“Looking to Jesus…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb 12:2) ESV
“And might reconcile us…through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” (Eph 2:16) ESV
A Word of Caution
Do I idolize the Cross?
Is it okay?
Believers who are free to use symbols or objects, also need to be cautious not to idolize or venerate them. The cross is no exception, for one can easily run the risk of idolizing it.
Crosses are used ubiquitously in churches, cemeteries, jewelry, arts, fashion, and tattoos. When used as such, a believer should ask:
Do I use it as a symbol and nothing more?
Does it shift the focus away from Christ?
Do I use it as some sort of charm or magic to be trusted more than Christ?
Consider these questions, since the human heart can deceive us into focusing on the object rather than the subject (i.e. the person of Christ). (See Jeremiah 17:9)
What if some feel that a physical cross helps them? If so, examine the heart to be sure your eyes are fixed on Jesus and not on the object. We are urged to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). If religious objects, including crosses, cause you to walk "by sight" rather than "by faith", then something needs to be changed.
For obvious reasons, God forbade His people to make images or objects of Him to be idolized. Also, there are hardly any descriptions of Jesus' appearance in the New Testament. For this reason, we find no records of first-century Christians using objects or symbols in their worship, depicting Jesus, His death or resurrection!
It was later that many symbols and objects began to be Christianized and venerated. Slowly and deceptively, these objects became part of church worship. But it wasn’t so among first-century believers!
Israel Worshipped the
"Bronze Serpent"
A type of the Cross!
During their apostasy, Israel worshipped and idolized scores of pagan objects and symbols. They did so in total disregard for God’s commandments in the Law. The list is definitely long!
Once, God instructed Moses to make a “Bronze serpent on a pole” ( Num 21:8 ), so that anyone bitten could look at it and live. Apparently, that object was preserved, and later idolized and worshipped during Israel’s apostasy, as recorded in 2 Kings 18:4,
“He (King Hezekiah) removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).”
The “Bronze serpent” was, in fact, a type of Christ on the cross. Speaking of the same raised bronze serpent on the pole, Jesus said,
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)
Now, if Israel idolized and made offerings to the "Bronze serpent" which foreshadowed Christ on the cross, couldn't a believer do the same to the cross itself (or other objects), knowingly or unknowingly?
Look around, and you be the judge!
The Message of the Cross!
In a Nutshell
“The Message (Gk., logos) of the cross is...to us who are being saved it is the Power of God,” (1 Cor 1:18) NKJV
Please note that it is the “message” of the cross, and not the cross itself, which is "the power of God.” The “message of the cross” is God's plan or blueprint, which originated with Him, and was realized only through the death of His Son.
Christ's death is the message! It possesses the power of God to save us from the bonds of sin and death—forever!
So, each time you read, hear, or see the cross, remember that its power resides, not in the object, but in the person of the living Christ.
“For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who looks on the Son
and believes in him should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.”
( John 6:40 ) ESV
Related article:
❮ Did Jesus Die on a Cross, Stake, or Tree?
Others: