By Nab B.
August 10, 2025
(Updated Oct 13, 25)
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 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’.
(Study source) https://biblehub.com/greek/4716.htm
When Jesus mentioned the “cross” (stauros) a few times before his death, he was not asking 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
To show you the shades of meanings of the “cross” (Gk., stauros), check these scriptures. They mostly refer to the death of Christ or the suffering of believers rather than the implement itself:
“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)
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal 2:20)
“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)
As believers are free to use symbols or objects, there is a 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 everywhere: churches, cemeteries, jewelry, arts, fashion, and tattoos. When used as such, a believer needs to ask:
Do I use it as a symbol and nothing more?
Does it shift the focus away from Christ?
Is it used, perhaps, as a charm or magic to be trusted more than Christ?
It's advantageous to consider these questions, since the human heart can deceive us to focus on the object rather than the subject—Christ himself. (See Jeremiah 17:9)
We are urged to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). If religious objects, including crosses, cause one to walk "by sight" rather than "by faith", then a change is needed.
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' physical appearance. For this reason, there hardly any 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. Gradually, they became part of church worship. But it was not so among first-century believers!
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.
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, could not a believer do the same to the cross itself (or other objects), knowingly or unknowingly?
Of course, this is a rhetorical question; each one is his or her own judge!
“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)
Christ's death is the “message” of the cross, not the physical cross. His death on a cross is "the power of God” that is able to permanently save us from sin and death.
So, each time we read, hear, or see the cross, we remember that the power lies, 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)
