Preach Christ impaled!

• JW version of Jesus hung on the pole.
  His wrists are nailed with a single nail. This does not match the biblical description.
  The sign of the charge is posted above both hands, which is not consistent with the biblical description.


• Jesus was impaled on the stake.
  Jesus was nailed from back of hands with 2 nails.
  His wrists were probably bound with ropes to support his weight.
  The sign of the charge was posted above his head.


• Christendom version of Jesus on the cross.
  The word "cross" is not used in the Bible.
  “Stauros” just means a pole.
  The Greek word "stauros" for cross began with the Roman Catholic faith.

Did Jesus died on a cross or a stake?

Due to a lack of historical evidence and false interpretations of the Bible, there is no consensus among Christians on the answer.

So, each one should be convinced in his own mind based on the surrounding facts.

Greek Word "Stauros" in the Bible

First, the Bible uses two Greek words to describe the instrument of Jesus' execution, "xulon" and "stauros".

Xulon just means a piece of wood. It may mean something as large as a tree trunk (e.g. the tree of life in Revelation is a xulon), or as small as a wooden club (e.g. the men who came to arrest Jesus were armed with xulon, or clubs). See Strong’s Concordance for more information.

Stauros just means a pole or a piece of lumber, but especially a pointed stake. This was the usage of other ancient Greek writers, including Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. See Strong’s Concordance for more information.

Translating these words as ‘cross’ is merely a tradition that appeared in later times. As stated above, the Bible does not contain a description of a pole with a cross piece (making a cross), it’s only inferred from the context, tradition, and Roman sources.

Most Bible scholars today use the 1940 version of Liddel & Scott's translation based on Koine Greek from the 5th century.

Liddel & Scotte's Greek Lexicon added a second definition of the word stauros as "cross" based on an already accepted Roman Catholic dominated viewpoint.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

What is in dispute is which Koine Greek lexicon was used. Most modern biblical scholars use 5th century-based Greek for their translations, but this does not answer anything. This is because a second definition has been inserted, which has been the accepted Roman view since Constantine in the 4th century.

The actual word stauros in the 3rd century and earlier Greek Stauros characters used at the time of Jesus is “σταυροσ” and is translated as “upright pale or stake”. No other definition was known or given with exception to the simple word “Tree”in the original Greek Septuagint and Hebrew Bibles.

stauros
In older Greek texts, stauros means "pole" and in Homer's works is always used in the plural number, never in the singular. "Homer (c.750 BC) - The Odyssey: Book XIV"

From stauros was derived the verb σταυρόω, stauróō, 'I fence with pales' or 'I crucify'; this verb was used by Polybius to describe execution of prisoners by the general Hannibal at the siege of Tunis. Also from stauros was the verb for impalement: anastaurizo (Ancient Greek: ἀνασταυρίζω, romanized: anastaurízō, lit. 'I impale')

As described by Herodotus in the fifth century BC and by Xenophon of Ephesus in the second century AD, anastaurosis referred to impalement.

According to the authoritative A Greek–English Lexicon, the verbs for "impale" and "crucify" (Ancient Greek: ἀνασταυρόω, romanized: anastauroó, lit. 'I affix to a cross' or 'I crucify', or: ἀνασκολοπίζω, anaskolopizō, 'fix on a pole or stake' or 'impale') are ambiguous. Plato refers to the punishment, in his dialogue Gorgias, using anastauroó. Plutarch, at the beginning of the second century AD, described the execution on three stakes of the eunuch Masabates as anastaurosis in his Life of Artaxerxes. Usually, Plutarch referred to stauroi in the context of pointed poles standing upright.

Nineteenth-century Anglican theologian E. W. Bullinger's Companion Bible glossed stauros as "an upright pale or stake", interpreting crucifixion as "hung upon a stake ... stauros was not two pieces of wood at any angle".

In 1877 Bullinger wrote:
The σταυρός (stauros) was simply an upright pale or stake to which Romans nailed those who were thus said to be crucified, σταυρόω, merely means to drive stakes. It never means two pieces of wood joining at any angle. — A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to The English and Greek New Testament, 1877

In the 20th century, William Edwy Vine also reasoned that the stauros as an item for execution was different to the Christian cross. Vine's Expository Dictionary's definition states that stauros denotes, primarily, "an upright pale or stake." On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, "to fasten to a stake or pale," are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed "cross." The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the "cross" of Christ. — William Edwy Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, 1940

Instrument of Jesus' crucifixion

The Koine Greek terms used in the New Testament of the structure on which Jesus died are stauros (σταυρός) and xylon (ξύλον). Those words, which can refer to many different things, do not indicate the precise shape of the structure. Scholars have long known that the Greek word stauros and the Latin word crux did not uniquely mean a cross.

John Pearson, Bishop of Chester (c. 1660) wrote in his commentary on the Apostles' Creed that the Greek word stauros originally signified "a straight standing Stake, Pale, or Palisador", but that, "when other transverse or prominent parts were added in a perfect Cross, it retained still the Original Name".

Justus Lipsius invented a specific terminology to distinguish different forms of what could be called a cross or crux. His basic twofold distinction was between the crux simplex (a simple stake) and the crux compacta (a composite of two pieces of wood).[8] The victim could be affixed to the crux simplex[9] or could be impaled on it. Lipsius then subdivided the crux compacta into three types: the crux decussata (X-shaped), crux commissa (T-shaped) and crux immissa (†-shaped).

W. E. Vine and E. W. Bullinger, as well as Henry Dana Ward, considered that the "cross" (Greek stauros, in its original sense literally an upright pale or stake) had no crossbar, and that the traditional picture of Jesus on a cross with a crossbar was incorrect.

Watchtower society's inaccurate image of Jesus on the stake

Watchtower society theaches that Christ died on a single stake. However, their depiction of Jesus hung on the stake is not in line with biblical description.

• Tomas' remark writen in John 20:25 shows that Jesus' hands had the print of the nails (plural).
  
  Joh 20:25
  25 Consequently the other disciples would say to him: “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe.”


• The inscription of the charge was posted above Jesus' head.
  
  Mt 27:37
  37 Also, they posted above his head the charge against him, in writing: “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”

Because of their inaccurate image, the controversy about the cross and pole of the "stauros" never ends.

A Matter of Personal Choice

It is not important issue for Christian if the Christ died on the cross or pole, since it doesn't affect the fact that Jesus was successful in making a sinless death as propitiatory sacrifice acceptable to God.

So, you can believe whichever execution method, the cross or the pole.
It doesn't affect your salvation.

If you use only the Bible to determine the answer, you would chose the pole.
Because, the Bible use the Greek word "Stauros" for Jesus' execution tool, and meaning of the word in Jesus' time was a pointed stake, pole, pale, and the like.

Then after the 3rd century, the 2nd meaning was added to the "Stauros" due to the influence of the Roman Catholic view of the matter.

The Roman's ways to execute criminals vary, they used the cross, the pole, and others, and the Roman's customs also vary, and their written records are few and not detailed, so you can't turn to archaeological findings to determine how Jesus was executed.

In addition to that, the term "Stauros" in modern Greek lexicon contains the additional meaning of "cross" in favor of Roman Catholic belief.

As a result, there is no consensus among scholars as to the instrument with which Jesus was executed.

Roman Crucifixion Methods
Carrying a patibulum
Crucifixion Practices

There are many points in the debate over the tools of Jesus' execution.

• Ancient Roman customs (Detailed descriptions of Roman customs are lacking. We don't know what the "patibulum" really is.)
• Archeological findings (There is no picture depicting Jesus hung on the cross before 2nd century.)
• Linguistic meaning (It can change with the times, the influence of religious authorities, and other factors.)
• Influence of apostasy (The influence of Roman Catholicism, Questionable beliefs and practices of Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries, including writings of the first Church Fathers)

The argument of instrument of Jesus' execution has become something around words and interpretation, and futile in building up faith.

The endless debate over the language and interpretation gets you nowhere.

1Ti 1:
4 nor to pay attention to false stories and to genealogies, which end up in nothing, but which furnish questions for research rather than a dispensing of anything by God in connection with faith.
4 or paying attention to myths and genealogies... Because there’s no end to these things, they only cause disputes, and they don’t build up Faith in God either!

2Tim 2:
14 Keep reminding them of these things, charging them before God as witness, not to fight about words, a thing of no usefulness at all because it overturns those listening.
14 I want you to keep on reminding [the brothers] about these things, and I want you to instruct them –in the sight of God– not to be arguing over words, for this is just a waste of time and it’s a snare to those who listen to it.

Do Christians need symbols?

In the first place, does Christianity need symbols, like the rest of the world, corporations, organizations, groups, and the like?

Symbol
a sign, shape, or object that is used to represent something else
something that is used to represent a quality or idea

Symbolism
an artistic movement in the late 19th century that tried to express abstract or mystical ideas through the symbolic use of images.

Religious symbol
A religious symbol is a pictorial sign or emblem that represents one or more religious beliefs or ideals. It is abstract (e.g., a geometric shape) and has an esoteric meaning assigned to it by a religious tradition.

God's true worshipers are warned not to have any religious symbol.

Du 4:15-20
15 “And YOU must take good care of YOUR souls, because YOU did not see any form on the day of YHWH’s speaking to YOU in Ho′reb out of the middle of the fire, 16 that YOU may not act ruinously and may not really make for yourselves a carved image, the form of any symbol, the representation of male or female, 17 the representation of any beast that is in the earth, the representation of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, 18 the representation of anything moving on the ground, the representation of any fish that is in the waters under the earth; 19 and that you may not raise your eyes to the heavens and indeed see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of the heavens, and actually get seduced and bow down to them and serve them, which YHWH your God has apportioned to all the peoples under the whole heavens. 20 But YOU are the ones YHWH took that he might bring YOU out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become a people of private ownership to him as at this day.

Jesus' direct disciples did not have any symbol to represent their faith in Christ. Because such a visible symbol is religious idol.

The Apostle John warned early Christians about the idolatry that was prevalent in his day at the end of the first century.

1Joh 5:21
21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Then, the cross has become the symbole of apostate Christianity.

Note what W. E. Vine says on this subject: “STAUROS (σταυρός) denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.” Greek scholar Vine then mentions the Chaldean origin of the two-piece cross was adopted from the pagans by Christendom in the third century C.E. as a symbol of Christ’s impalement.—Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1981, Vol. 1, p. 256.

“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.”—The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art by G. S. Tyack, London, 1900, p. 1.

What does the original Greek reveal as to the instrument of Jesus' execution?

• Most Bible translations say Christ was “crucified” rather than “impaled.”
• This is because of the common belief that the torture instrument upon which he was hung was a “cross” made of two pieces of wood instead of a single pale, or stake.
• Tradition, not the Scriptures, also says that the condemned man carried only the crossbeam of the cross, called the patibulum, or antenna, instead of both parts. In this way some try to avoid the predicament of having too much weight for one man to drag or carry to Golgotha.

Yet, what did the Bible writers themselves say about these matters?
They used the Greek noun stau‧ros′ 27 times and the verbs stau‧ro′o 46 times, syn‧stau‧ro′o (the prefix syn, meaning “with”) 5 times, and a‧na‧stau‧ro′o (a‧na′, meaning “again”) once. They also used the Greek word xy′lon, meaning “wood,” 5 times to refer to the torture instrument upon which Jesus was nailed.

Stau‧ros′ in both the classical Greek and Koine carries no thought of a “cross” made of two timbers. It means only an upright stake, pale, pile, or pole, as might be used for a fence, stockade, or palisade. Says Douglas’ New Bible Dictionary of 1985 under “Cross,” page 253: “The Gk. word for ‘cross’ (stauros; verb stauroo . . . ) means primarily an upright stake or beam, and secondarily a stake used as an instrument for punishment and execution.”

The fact that Luke, Peter, and Paul also used xy′lon as a synonym for stau‧ros′ gives added evidence that Jesus was impaled on an upright stake without a crossbeam, for that is what xy′lon in this special sense means. (Ac 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Ga 3:13; 1Pe 2:24) Xy′lon also occurs in the Greek Septuagint at Ezra 6:11, where it speaks of a single beam or timber on which a lawbreaker was to be impaled.

The matter of one man like Simon of Cyrene bearing a execution stake, as the Scriptures say, is perfectly reasonable, for if it was 15 cm (6 in.) in diameter and 3.5 m (11 ft) long, it probably weighed little more than 45 kg (100 lb).—Mr 15:21.

The meaning of Christ's death on the stake

Christ's sinless death on the stake defeated Satan, and opned the door for Adam's family to have everything back. All lies, threats, violence, and injustice will end.

By means of his sinless death on the stake, Jesus became a victor, so it's impossible for him to be perished in death. YHWH God resurrected him and raised him higher than before in heaven.

Jesus' resurrection is a guarantee to end Satan's World.

For this reason, everybody can rejoice for the salvation stored in the future.

Christians proclaim the story of Christ impaled on a pole because they know this gospel of salvation made possible by His sinless death on the stake.

1Co 1:18, 22-24
18 For the speech about the torture stake is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is God’s power.

22 For both the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks look for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ impaled, to the Jews a cause for stumbling but to the nations foolishness; 24 however, to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The bright future of mankind as described in Revelation was made possible by Jesus Christ's conquest of Satan through his sinless death in the first century AD.

Re 5:5
5 But one of the elders says to me: "Stop weeping. Look! The Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so as to open the scroll and its seven seals."

Re 21:1-4
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. 2 I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: "Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. 4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away."