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Katididaustralia 66F
49 posts
7/3/2015 6:12 pm
Torture Stake


An instrument such as that on which Jesus Christ met death by impalement.
Matthew 27:32-40 As they were going out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon. This man they compelled into service to carry his torture stake. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, that is, Skull Place, they gave him wine mixed with gall to drink; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had nailed him to the stake, they distributed his outer garments by casting lots, and they sat there keeping watch over him. They also posted above his head the charge against him, in writing: “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were put on stakes alongside him, one on his right and one on his left. And those passing by spoke abusively of him, shaking their heads and saying: “You who would throw down the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are a of God, come down off the torture stake!”
Mark 15:21-30 Also, they compelled into service a passerby, a certain Simon of Cyrene, coming from the countryside, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his torture stake
Luke 23:2626 Now as they led him away, they seized a certain Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the countryside, and they placed the torture stake on him to carry it behind Jesus.
John 19:17-20,25 Bearing the torture stake for himself, he went out to the so-called Skull Place, which is called Golgotha in Hebrew. There they nailed him to the stake alongside two other men, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the torture stake. It was written: “Jesus the Nazarene′ the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this title, because the place where Jesus was nailed to the stake was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. - By the torture stake of Jesus, however, there were standing his mother and his mother’s sister; Mary the wife of Clo′pas and Mary Magdalene.

In classical Greek the word 'stauros' rendered 'torture stake in the New World Translation of the Bible primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.

The book The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons, London, 1896, pp 23+24, states: "There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, n the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross...it is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as 'cross' when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting 'cross' in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros without carefully explaining that that was at any rate not the primary meaning of the word in the days of the Apostles, did not become its primary signification till long afterwards, and became so then, if at all, only because, despite the absence of corroborative evidence, it was for some reason or other assumed that the particular stauros upon which Jesus was executed had that particular shape"

Why Did Jesus Have to Die on a Stake
At the time Jehovah God gave His Law to the Israelites, they obligated themselves to abide by its terms.
Exodus 24:3 Then Moses came and related to the people all the words of Jehovah and all the judicial decisions, and all the people answered with one voice: “All the words that Jehovah has spoken, we are willing to do.

However, as descendants of sinner Adam, they were unable to do so perfectly. For this reason they came under the curse of the Law. To remove this special curse from them, Jesus had to be hanged on a stake like an accursed criminal. Concerning this the apostle Paul wrote:
Galatians 3:10-13 All those who depend on works of law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not remain in all the things written in the scroll of the Law by doing them.” Moreover, it is evident that by law no one is declared righteous with God, because “the righteous one will live by reason of faith.” Now the Law is not based on faith. Rather, “anyone who does these things will live by means of them.” Christ purchased us, releasing us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: “Accursed is every man hung upon a stake.

Figurative Use
"torture Stake" sometimes stands for the sufferings, shame or torture experienced because of being a follower of Jesus Christ. As Jesus said:
Matthew 10:38 "Whoever does not accept his torture stake and follow after me is not worthy of me".
Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and keep following me
Mark 8:34 He now called the crowd to him with his disciples and said to them: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and keep following me.
Luke 9:23 Then he went on to say to all: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake day after day and keep following me.
Luke 14:27 Whoever does not carry his torture stake and come after me cannot be my disciple.

The expression "torture stake" is also used in such a way as to represent Jesus' death upon the stake, which made possible redemption from sin and reconciliation with God.
1Corinthians 1:17+18 For Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to declare the good news; and not with wisdom of speech, so that the torture stake of the Christ should not be made useless.

Jesus' death on the torture stake was the basis for removing the Law, which had separated the Jews from the non-Jews. Therefore, by accepting the reconciliation made possible by Jesus' death, both Jews and non-Jews could become "one body to God through the torture stake:
Ephesians 2:11-16 Therefore, remember that at one time you, people of the nations by fleshly descent, were the ones called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision,” which is made in the flesh by human hands. At that time you were without Christ, alienated from the state of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the promise; you had no hope and were without God in the world. But now in union with Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have come to be near by the blood of the Christ. For he is our peace, the one who made the two groups one and destroyed the wall in between that fenced them off. By means of his flesh he abolished the enmity, the Law of commandments consisting in decrees, in order to make the two groups in union with himself into one new man and to make peace, and to reconcile fully both peoples in one body to God through the torture stake
Colossians 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.
Colossians 2:13+14 Furthermore, though you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcised state of your flesh, God made you alive together with him. He kindly forgave us all our trespasses and erased the handwritten document that consisted of decrees and was in opposition to us. He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake

This proved to be a stumbling block for many Jews, since they insisted that circumcision and adherence to the Mosaic Law were essential for gaining God's approval. That is why the apostle Paul wrote:
Galatians 5:11 As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the stumbling block of the torture stake has been eliminated.
Galatians 6:12, 14 All those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who try to compel you to get circumcised, doing so only to avoid being persecuted for the torture stake of the Christ. - But may I never boast, except in the torture stake of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been put to death with regard to me and I with regard to the world

For confessing Jesus' death on the torture stake as the sole basis for gaining salvation, Paul was persecuted by the Jews. As a consequence of this confession, to the apostle the world was as something impaled, condemned, or dead, whereas the world viewed him with hatred, as a criminal impaled on a stake.

Persons who embraced Christianity but who afterward turned to an immoral way of life proved themselves to be "enemies of the torture stake of the Christ">
Philippians 3:18+19 For there are many—I used to mention them often but now I mention them also with weeping—who are walking as enemies of the torture stake of the Christ. Their end is destruction, and their god is their belly, and their glory is really their shame, and they have their minds on earthly things.

Their actions demonstrated that hey had no appreciation for the benefits resulting from Jesus' death on the torture stake.
Hebrews 10:29 How much greater punishment do you think a person will deserve who has trampled on the of God and who has regarded as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt?

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These last three articles are all from the books Insight On The Scriptures

As always I wish to help in your understanding.

Love,
Katidid.