By Nab B.
August 10, 2025
Updated Apr 2026
Wouldn't you agree that a symbol is not greater than what it symbolizes? A wedding ring is not greater than the marriage itself. The picture of a child cannot replace the child. Similarly, the cross can never be equal to or greater than Christ's death!
Please recognize that whenever the cross is mentioned in the scriptures, it hardly refers to the object (a wooden cross), but rather to the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
The word 'cross' comes from the Greek word stauros, which, according to (https://biblehub.com/greek/4716.htm), "can mean ‘a pole or cross’. The base word for stauros is histémi, which means ‘to stand, establish, hold up.’
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 meaning of the cross is figurative, representing the following:
Enduring trials and tribulations
Standing in truth
Dying to self
Bearing persecution or even death
To show you the shades of meanings for the word “cross” (Gk., stauros), check the scriptures below. In most cases, they either refer to the death of Christ or the suffering of believers, but not 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)
While believers are free to use symbols or objects, caution should be exercised to avoid idolizing or venerating them. The cross is no exception, for one can easily risk 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 good to consider the above questions, since the human heart can deceive us into focusing on the object rather than on the subject, who is 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.
In the Old Testament, God forbade the Israelites from making images or objects of Him to be worshipped or idolized. In the New Testament, you will be hard-pressed to find any depictions or descriptions of Jesus' physical appearance or objects he used. For this reason, there are no records of first-century Christians using objects or symbols in their worship depicting Jesus or his death and resurrection! It was later that many symbols and objects began to be Christianized and venerated, gradually becoming part of church worship. But it was not so from the beginning.
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 by the venomous serpents 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 (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 bronze serpent on the pole, Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” (John 3:14)
If Israel idolized and made offerings to the object of the "Bronze serpent," which foreshadowed Christ on the cross, could not a believer do the same to the cross itself (and other objects), knowingly or unknowingly? Let each one be 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) It isn't at all radical to say that CHRIST'S DEATH is the “Message” of the cross and not the physical cross! His death is "the power of God” which is able to permanently save us from sin and death.
Each time you read, hear, or see a cross, remember that the power lies, not in the object or by simply gazing at it. We remember and gaze at 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)
For a related subject, please see the article, Did Jesus Die on a Cross, Stake, or Tree?
