[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
stauros/xulon
Gregory Jordon wrote,
>>I realize this has little to do with Greek, but while we're on the
>>subject, why does Paul refer to the cross as a tree? I don't have access
>>to the Greek word now, but maybe someone else knows. This had great
>>significance in Christian missionary tradition. For instance, the
>>Anglo-Saxons emphasized the tree (Dream of the Rood), and Scandinavian
>>religion already believed in a god who was hanged from a tree.
ingria@bbn.com (Bob?) commented,
>There are ancient Greek cults with divinities hanging in/on trees, as
>well. Pausanias, if I remember my sources correctly, speaks of a cult
>of Helen that depicted her hanging in the trees. (I believe this was
>a Spartan cult, but I might be wrong about that part.)
It seems that _stauros_ and _xulon_ conincide in meaning in certain
contexts simply because crosses were made of wood. Moulton and Geden show
_xulon_ as a synonym for _stauros_ in the following five verses in the NT:
Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Gal. 3:13; and I Pet. 2:24.
Certain implements made of wood could be called _xula_. In Mat. 26:47,
55; Mark 14:43, 48 and Luke 22:52 the culbs carried by those who came to
arrest Jesus are referred to as _xula_. In Acts 16:24, the stocks that held
Paul and Silas's feet are called a _xulon_. The use of _xulon_ in Revelation
in reference to the tree of life is probably not significant toward implying
identity with the cross (which can also be called _xulon_) since _xulon_ is
the word used by the LXX (Septuagint) in reference to the tree of life.
David L. Moore