WHAT DOES THE CROSS OF CHRIST REPRESENT?
The New Testament places great emphasis upon the cross of Christ. Whenever Paul went into a city the first thing he did was to preach Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:1-5). He told the saints at Corinth that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18). Christians in the first century suffered "persecution for the cross of Christ" (Gal. 6:12), while others were freely willing to bear "the offense of the cross" (Gal. 5:11). The Law of Moses, the "handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us" was "taken out of the way" and "nailed to the cross" (Col. 2:14). Paul spoke of some who were "enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18).
After reading these passages which deal with the "cross of Christ," we need to ask, did Paul preach about a piece of lumber? Did he suffer for timber? No! Paul was using a figure of speech known as synecdoche which is "a figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole or a whole for a part" (Doubleday Dictionary). If you ask a friend what he had for lunch, he might say, "I stopped at McDonald's for a sandwich," but what he meant was a sandwich, fries, Coke, and a hot apple pie. Whether he is aware of it or not, he used a figure of speech—a synecdoche.
New Testament writers often used "the cross of Christ" as a figure of speech, a synecdoche, to represent many other things—in this article we want to look at a few of them.
God's Hatred Of Sin
People often ask, "Why did Christ have to die on the cross anyway?" The answer is that sin had separated man from God (Ezek. 18:20; Isa. 59:1-2) and the penalty for sin is death (Rom. 3:23; Rom. 6:23). In order for sins to be removed, blood had to be shed (Heb. 9:22). But, instead of man dying, God allowed an animal to die (Heb. 10:4).
Christ came to this earth as "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Paul said, "we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9).
"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter 2:21-24).
Onward Rejoicing, John B. Daniels, Associate Minister
