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When the Christians preach the truth of Christ crucified, it is the inward symbol of His sacrifice that is important, not the outward fact that He was crucified. Christ’s greatness does not depend upon His crucifixion, for He shares this distinction with thousands and thousands of others, many criminals of the worst sort. Crucifixion was not a unique punishment given only to Jesus. The Roman highways, in those days, were dotted with punished criminals who had been crucified. It was the most commonly accepted form of punishing serious offenders. It is interesting to note that some sources state that a tree and not a cross was used for such punishment. Victims of crucifixion were hanged or nailed to a tree, or a pole, with their hands above their heads. When the Galileans followed Judas the Gaulonite as the Messiah, during the rule of the procurator Quirinius, two thousand of them were crucified in one mass slaughter.
(107:8)
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