Has two thousand years of pious Christian tradition made it difficult for Christians today to truly understand what crucifixion was really like? One who seems to believe so is Pastor Sam Storms, who describes himself as a charismatic Calvinist. So, he wrote an essay on the subject and provided us with some insights which may be new to us.

Storms maintains that crucifixion doesn’t mean the same for the modern Christian as it did for first century believers. The New Testament doesn’t go into a lot of detail about the practice. Storms feels this is because crucifixion was so common at that time details weren’t necessary, and also it was so repugnant and shameful, going into the bloody details may have been considered improper.

Crosses would commonly have come in one of three shapes—X, T, or . Usually, the feet of the criminal would be only 12 to 24 inches off the ground. This was to allow wild beasts and scavenger dogs, which were common, to feed on the corpse. Jesus was crucified higher off the ground, and Storms feels this wasn’t an act of mercy but an attempt to increase his humiliation so his shame could be more easily seen by any passersby.

Spikes were used as nails to impale the victim to a tree. We learned something about the practice of crucifixion through a study of the skeletal remains of a crucified man named “John” which were uncovered in a cemetery near Jerusalem in 1968. A single nail fixed the two feet of the man to the cross with the legs adjacent and the knees doubled. The upper limbs were stretched out, a nail in each forearm.

John’s lower right leg was brutally fractured, possibly to speed up his suffocation by making it almost impossible to lift himself up off the vertical beam, an act that would have been necessary to allow him to breathe.

Although the dead man John was nailed to the cross through the forearm, crucifixion is also possible through the palm of a hand in an area called the thenar, a space between three bones. The use of this technique would break no bones (John 19:36) and be able to support a weight of several hundred pounds. Often a small peg or block of wood was fixed to the vertical beam to offer something of a seat. This was actually to prevent premature collapse and extend the victim’s suffering.

It has been a matter of debate as to what actually caused a crucified person to die. The scourging, loss of blood, and shock of pain could have caused the agony to continue for days until suffocation, cardiac arrest, or loss of blood ended the ordeal. When necessary, soldiers could smash the victim’s legs, which would have meant almost immediate death due to shock or lack of breath.

The Romans commonly practiced crucifixion. The ancient historian Josephus described how Roman soldiers crucified Jewish prisoners when the city was destroyed in 70 A. D. Josephus said the Roman general Titus hoped this cruelty would hasten the surrender of those still in the besieged city. (Remind us of Ukraine?)

Storms says that crucifixion was used to humiliate as well as to harm. Victims were commonly crucified naked in public places, although Jewish sensitivities required they wear a loincloth. It is no wonder St. Paul in 1 Cor. 1:18-25 refers to the cross as foolishness and a stumbling block.

Comments: When we think of the miracles of Jesus, we usually first think of some of His dramatic acts such as turning water into wine, bringing the dead back to life, or walking on water. But isn’t what Jesus did to the symbol of a cross a miracle also?

Would we today consider putting an electric chair on top of a church steeple or place a hangman’s noose on a wall in our house or hang a bottle of poison on a chain around our neck, even if they were just images and not the real things? But that is essentially what we are doing with our beloved crosses. Jesus turned an extremely repugnant object into an absolutely beautiful symbol which reminds us of why He came to earth—to die for our sins and open heaven’s doors to us.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah had better foresight than perhaps some Christians today have hindsight when he prophesied in chapter 53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (KJV).                        

By Warren Krug

Reference: Sam Storms, “10 Powerful Facts About the Cross of Christ & His Crucifixion,” Crosswalk.com (March 14, 2018). (reprinted from the March 25, 2024 LSI Blog.)

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