![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Joshua-Schachterle-Bart-Ehrman-Author-1-1.png\" "\\"Joshua")
<\/span><\/p>\nWritten by <\/a>Joshua Schachterle, Ph.D<\/a><\/p>\n Author | Professor | Scholar<\/p>\n Author | Professor | BE Contributor<\/p>\n Verified! See our editorial guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n Verified! See our guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n\nDate written: July 27th, 2024\n \nDate written: July 27th, 2024<\/p>\n Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p>\n The <\/strong>crucifixion of Jesus<\/strong><\/a> is among the most significant events in Christian history<\/strong>, symbolizing sacrifice, redemption, and the foundation of faith for many. In this article I\u2019ll examine the events leading to Jesus on the cross as told in the New Testament, as well as the cultural, religious, and political factors that converged to bring it about.<\/p>\n Starting with an examination of when Jesus was executed and by whom, I\u2019ll next detail the events included in the Gospels\u2019 crucifixion narratives. Finally, I\u2019ll address why Jesus was executed, including the opinions of several scholars on the matter.<\/p>\n According to Mark<\/a>, Jesus ate his Last Supper as a Passover meal on a Thursday night. In fact, if we assume, as most scholars do, that Jesus was then killed during the week of Passover<\/a>, it\u2019s logical to assume he died during the month of Nisan. In Jesus’ time, that would likely have put his death in our month of April.<\/p>\n In their article \u201cDating the Crucifixion,\u201d<\/a> physicists Colin Humphreys and W.G. Waddington say that by making astronomical calculations to reconstruct the Jewish calendar in the 1st century CE, they can prove the crucifixion happened on April 3. This depends, of course, on information from the Gospels which may or may not be historically accurate, so take the date with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n Specifically, Mark 25 says Jesus was crucified \u201cat the third hour\u201d which was 9:00 AM in the time-keeping system used then. John 19, on the other hand, says it happened at noon.<\/p>\n What year did the crucifixion of Jesus happen? Scholars say there are two possibilities: 30 CE or 33 CE. While either of these years is certainly plausible, most scholars think 30 CE is a more likely year since, according to Bart Ehrman<\/a>, Paul\u2019s conversion occurred around 32-33 CE.<\/p>\n If this is accurate, and if we believe Paul\u2019s claim that he had been persecuting Christians for a while before converting, we can work backwards to an approximate year of 30 CE for Jesus\u2019 crucifixion<\/a>. I should point out, though, that this is highly speculative.<\/p>\n The scholarly consensus says Jesus was born around 4 BCE. If he was crucified in 30, that would make him 34 at his crucifixion.<\/p>\n For centuries, people used the belief that Jesus was killed by Jews<\/a> to justify antisemitism. Ironically, this assumption is based on a complete misunderstanding of our evidence.<\/p>\n First, Jews did not and could not use crucifixion as a means of execution. The Jewish council, for example, accuses Jesus in the New Testament of blasphemy. If that were Jesus\u2019 only crime, Jewish writings like the Mishnah, a massive, written collection of Jewish oral traditions, say that Jesus should have been stoned to death. Only the Romans used crucifixion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n As Kaufman Kohler and Emil Hirsch<\/a> write, \u201cThe mode and manner of Jesus’ death undoubtedly point to Roman customs and laws as the directive power.\u201d Later on, I\u2019ll talk about why the Romans executed Jesus.<\/p>\n TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE of the Historical Jesus!<\/p>\n Think you know the Jesus of the Bible? Uncover the historical figure behind the texts!<\/p>\n __CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“name”:”Main Accent”,”parent”:-1}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default”,”value”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(255, 133, 34)”}},”gradients”:[]},”original”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(19, 114, 211)”,”hsl”:{“h”:210,”s”:0.83,”l”:0.45,”a”:1}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ <\/span> sTART QUIZ<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n It’s free!<\/em><\/p>\n In the Gospels, a series of events lead up to the stories of Jesus on the cross. Here I\u2019ll examine the most significant ones.<\/p>\n All four Gospels<\/a> say the Roman guards who took Jesus away to be crucified first mocked him. Mark 15:17-19 describes it like this:<\/p>\n And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on him. And they began saluting him, \u201cHail, King of the Jews!\u201d They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Luke<\/a> 22:63-65 adds a detail to this depiction. In Luke, the guards blindfold Jesus, strike him, and then say \u201cProphesy! Who is it who struck you?\u201d In other words, they mock both the royal role ascribed to Jesus and the prophetic one, tearing down his identity as both a political and religious leader.<\/p>\n In addition to this indignity, Jesus is flogged before being crucified. Flogging or scourging was a process wherein condemned criminals had their backs whipped by a \u201cflagellum,\u201d a short whip made of three or more leather straps connected by a handle. The leather straps were tied with weights at the end which were implanted with bits of metal, nails, or bone shards. These would pull out the victim\u2019s flesh.<\/p>\n Kohler and Hirsch note that people condemned to be crucified were normally forced to carry not the entire cross to the place of execution, but only the horizontal cross-beam. However, the Synoptic Gospels<\/a>, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all say another person was compelled to carry Jesus\u2019 cross. Mark 15:21 says the guards \u201ccompelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.\u201d<\/p>\n Only in the Gospel of John<\/a> is Jesus forced to carry his own cross. As John 19:16-17 puts it, \u201cSo they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.\u201d<\/p>\n Who was present at Jesus\u2019 crucifixion? Certainly the Roman soldiers who administered the punishment were. Additionally, the Gospels all agree there were some random passersby who came to see the crucifixion. Finally, the Synoptics all say the Jewish religious authorities were there. Mark 15:31-32, for instance, says:<\/p>\n In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, \u201cHe saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Only in John, however, are friends and family present with Jesus on the cross. Specifically, John 19:25-27 says that Jesus\u2019 mother and one of his aunts are there, along with a woman named Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple whom Jesus loved.<\/p>\n Kohler and Hirsch note that it was common to have the charge against the criminal \u2014 called a titulus in Latin \u2014 written and fixed to the cross, presumably to clarify to others that if they committed the same crime, they would receive the same punishment. All four Gospels, while they differ slightly, agree that the <\/strong>sign above Jesus\u2019 head said \u201cKing of the Jews.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> This will give us a clue to why Jesus was crucified, as I\u2019ll discuss later. <\/p>\n The Gospels also differ about the last words of Jesus on the cross before he passed away. Mark 15:34 says that Jesus cried out \u201cEloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?\u201d which means, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d Matthew<\/a> 27:46 says the same but has a slightly different spelling of the Aramaic phrase: \u201cEli, Eli, lema sabachthani?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note, by the way, that this phrase comes from Psalm 22:1 and, therefore, ties Jesus not only to God but to David who was believed to have written the Psalms.<\/p>\n Luke 23:46 omits the above phrase, instead saying that Jesus\u2019 last words were \u201cFather, into your hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Unlike Mark and Matthew\u2019s versions, Luke\u2019s Jesus doesn\u2019t feel abandoned by God, still calling him Father and apparently seeing his death as a homecoming. John 19:30 ends Jesus\u2019 life with the most succinct phrase, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d<\/p>\n The reason the Romans crucified Jesus has long been a matter of debate among scholars. As I mentioned earlier, if Jesus\u2019 principal crime had been blasphemy against the Jewish God, the Jews themselves would likely have stoned him to death. Instead, the Romans took charge. Let\u2019s look briefly at some scholarly opinions on why Jesus was killed.<\/p>\n In The Religion of Jesus the Jew<\/a>, Geza Vermes writes that Jesus\u2019 cleansing of the Temple, the scene portrayed in Mark 11:15-19, and others in which he drives the money changers out, sealed Jesus\u2019 fate. (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>) He writes that \u201cnervous authorities in charge of law and order\u201d were frightened by Jesus\u2019 violent outburst, especially during the time of Passover, when Jews celebrated liberation from an oppressor. By this reasoning, the Jews brought Jesus to the attention of Roman authorities to prevent the Romans from punishing the entire Jewish population of Jerusalem because of Jesus\u2019 troublesome actions.<\/p>\n In his book The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant<\/a>, John Dominic Crossan agrees that the cleansing of the Temple was the impetus for Jesus\u2019 arrest given \u201cthe confined and tinder-box atmosphere of the temple at Passover,\u201d suggesting that this \u201ccould easily have led to arrest and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n However, in a blog post, Larry Hurtado<\/a> notes the following:<\/p>\n Jesus didn\u2019t simply die, he was killed, and not simply killed but executed, and not simply executed, he was crucified. We know from other incidents (as, e.g., reported by Josephus) how the Temple authorities and Roman administration treated people who simply caused a disturbance in the Temple, and it wasn\u2019t crucifixion. Flogging, maybe but not crucifixion. The point of crucifixion wasn\u2019t simply to end a person\u2019s life but, much more, to humiliate and degrade to the extreme, to say \u201cSee what this guy got? This is what anyone gets who raises his hand against Rome!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hurtado\u2019s point is well taken. For Rome to get involved, there had to be a perceived political threat from Jesus, which leads me to Bart Ehrman\u2019s<\/a> opinion.<\/p>\n Ehrman notes, first of all, that there is no evidence the Romans would have cared at all about Jesus committing blasphemy or any other internal Jewish disputes. Given that, Jesus must have been executed on political charges, made clear on the titulus hanging on his cross: he called himself King of the Jews<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Even if Jesus hadn\u2019t explicitly called himself King of the Jews, scholars know much of the content of Jesus\u2019 teachings centered on the Kingdom of God. Anyone publicly espousing a coming Kingdom while his own land was occupied by Rome could have been planning a coup, something Rome would never stand for.<\/p>\n Zohler and Hirsch note that crucifixion was primarily a political punishment for sedition against the empire. Jesus\u2019 rhetoric about the Kingdom of God must have reached the ears of Rome, and Rome had a standard punishment for political insurgents (or even potential ones) . Remember, for example, that there were two others crucified with Jesus. The Greek word used to designate those other two is \u201clestas,\u201d a word which can mean \u201cbandit\u201d but was more often used to mean one who had rebelled against Rome. Jesus was put in that same category and thus received the same punishment.<\/p>\n The details of the story of Jesus\u2019 crucifixion are horrible in their brutality. However, according to ancient Roman sources, most of them fit with what scholars know of the crucifixion process in Jesus\u2019 time.<\/p>\n Convicted political prisoners were first beaten, then forced to carry the cross-beam of their own instrument of death to a place of execution, usually high on a hill for greater visibility and deterrence. They were then nailed to the cross and hung there, anywhere from twelve hours to three days, until they finally died.<\/p>\n The fact that Jesus was crucified and not stoned to death makes it abundantly clear that it was Romans, not the Jews, who executed him. Furthermore, Rome generally only meted out such punishments to those perceived as potential or real threats to the empire. Whether true or not, Jesus was seen as a potential political threat which Rome had to crush.<\/p>\n TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE of the Historical Jesus!<\/p>\n Think you know the Jesus of the Bible? Uncover the historical figure behind the texts!<\/p>\n __CONFIG_colors_palette__{“active_palette”:0,”config”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“name”:”Main Accent”,”parent”:-1}},”gradients”:[]},”palettes”:[{“name”:”Default”,”value”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(255, 133, 34)”}},”gradients”:[]},”original”:{“colors”:{“10c55”:{“val”:”rgb(19, 114, 211)”,”hsl”:{“h”:210,”s”:0.83,”l”:0.45,”a”:1}}},”gradients”:[]}}]}__CONFIG_colors_palette__ <\/span> sTART QUIZ<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/a> <\/p>\n It’s free!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jesus on the Cross: Events and Reason for Crucifixion Written by Joshua Schachterle, Ph.D Author | Professor | Scholar Author | Professor | BE Contributor Verified! See our editorial guidelines Verified! See our guidelines Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":14649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":" Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman<\/p><\/div> The <\/strong>crucifixion of Jesus<\/strong><\/a> is among the most significant events in Christian history<\/strong>, symbolizing sacrifice, redemption, and the foundation of faith for many. In this article I\u2019ll examine the events leading to Jesus on the cross as told in the New Testament, as well as the cultural, religious, and political factors that converged to bring it about.<\/p> Starting with an examination of when Jesus was executed and by whom, I\u2019ll next detail the events included in the Gospels\u2019 crucifixion narratives. Finally, I\u2019ll address why Jesus was executed, including the opinions of several scholars on the matter.<\/p><\/div> According to Mark<\/a>, Jesus ate his Last Supper as a Passover meal on a Thursday night. In fact, if we assume, as most scholars do, that Jesus was then killed during the week of Passover<\/a>, it\u2019s logical to assume he died during the month of Nisan. In Jesus' time, that would likely have put his death in our month of April.<\/p> In their article \u201cDating the Crucifixion,\u201d<\/a> physicists Colin Humphreys and W.G. Waddington say that by making astronomical calculations to reconstruct the Jewish calendar in the 1st century CE, they can prove the crucifixion happened on April 3. This depends, of course, on information from the Gospels which may or may not be historically accurate, so take the date with a grain of salt.<\/p> Specifically, Mark 25 says Jesus was crucified \u201cat the third hour\u201d which was 9:00 AM in the time-keeping system used then. John 19, on the other hand, says it happened at noon.<\/p> What year did the crucifixion of Jesus happen? Scholars say there are two possibilities: 30 CE or 33 CE. While either of these years is certainly plausible, most scholars think 30 CE is a more likely year since, according to Bart Ehrman<\/a>, Paul\u2019s conversion occurred around 32-33 CE.<\/p> If this is accurate, and if we believe Paul\u2019s claim that he had been persecuting Christians for a while before converting, we can work backwards to an approximate year of 30 CE for Jesus\u2019 crucifixion<\/a>. I should point out, though, that this is highly speculative.<\/p> The scholarly consensus says Jesus was born around 4 BCE. If he was crucified in 30, that would make him 34 at his crucifixion.<\/p><\/div> For centuries, people used the belief that Jesus was killed by Jews<\/a> to justify antisemitism. Ironically, this assumption is based on a complete misunderstanding of our evidence.<\/p> First, Jews did not and could not use crucifixion as a means of execution. The Jewish council, for example, accuses Jesus in the New Testament of blasphemy. If that were Jesus\u2019 only crime, Jewish writings like the Mishnah, a massive, written collection of Jewish oral traditions, say that Jesus should have been stoned to death. Only the Romans used crucifixion<\/strong>.<\/p> As Kaufman Kohler and Emil Hirsch<\/a> write, \u201cThe mode and manner of Jesus' death undoubtedly point to Roman customs and laws as the directive power.\u201d Later on, I\u2019ll talk about why the Romans executed Jesus.<\/p><\/div> In the Gospels, a series of events lead up to the stories of Jesus on the cross. Here I\u2019ll examine the most significant ones.<\/p><\/div> All four Gospels<\/a> say the Roman guards who took Jesus away to be crucified first mocked him. Mark 15:17-19 describes it like this:<\/p><\/div> Luke<\/a> 22:63-65 adds a detail to this depiction. In Luke, the guards blindfold Jesus, strike him, and then say \u201cProphesy! Who is it who struck you?\u201d In other words, they mock both the royal role ascribed to Jesus and the prophetic one, tearing down his identity as both a political and religious leader.<\/p> In addition to this indignity, Jesus is flogged before being crucified. Flogging or scourging was a process wherein condemned criminals had their backs whipped by a \u201cflagellum,\u201d a short whip made of three or more leather straps connected by a handle. The leather straps were tied with weights at the end which were implanted with bits of metal, nails, or bone shards. These would pull out the victim\u2019s flesh.<\/p><\/div> Kohler and Hirsch note that people condemned to be crucified were normally forced to carry not the entire cross to the place of execution, but only the horizontal cross-beam. However, the Synoptic Gospels<\/a>, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all say another person was compelled to carry Jesus\u2019 cross. Mark 15:21 says the guards \u201ccompelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.\u201d<\/p> Only in the Gospel of John<\/a> is Jesus forced to carry his own cross. As John 19:16-17 puts it, \u201cSo they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.\u201d<\/p><\/div> Who was present at Jesus\u2019 crucifixion? Certainly the Roman soldiers who administered the punishment were. Additionally, the Gospels all agree there were some random passersby who came to see the crucifixion. Finally, the Synoptics all say the Jewish religious authorities were there. Mark 15:31-32, for instance, says:<\/p><\/div> Only in John, however, are friends and family present with Jesus on the cross. Specifically, John 19:25-27 says that Jesus\u2019 mother and one of his aunts are there, along with a woman named Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple whom Jesus loved.<\/p> Kohler and Hirsch note that it was common to have the charge against the criminal \u2014 called a titulus in Latin \u2014 written and fixed to the cross, presumably to clarify to others that if they committed the same crime, they would receive the same punishment. All four Gospels, while they differ slightly, agree that the <\/strong>sign above Jesus\u2019 head said \u201cKing of the Jews.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> This will give us a clue to why Jesus was crucified, as I\u2019ll discuss later. <\/p><\/div> The Gospels also differ about the last words of Jesus on the cross before he passed away. Mark 15:34 says that Jesus cried out \u201cEloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?\u201d which means, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d Matthew<\/a> 27:46 says the same but has a slightly different spelling of the Aramaic phrase: \u201cEli, Eli, lema sabachthani?\u201d<\/p> It\u2019s important to note, by the way, that this phrase comes from Psalm 22:1 and, therefore, ties Jesus not only to God but to David who was believed to have written the Psalms.<\/p> Luke 23:46 omits the above phrase, instead saying that Jesus\u2019 last words were \u201cFather, into your hands I commend my spirit.\u201d Unlike Mark and Matthew\u2019s versions, Luke\u2019s Jesus doesn\u2019t feel abandoned by God, still calling him Father and apparently seeing his death as a homecoming. John 19:30 ends Jesus\u2019 life with the most succinct phrase, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d<\/p><\/div> The reason the Romans crucified Jesus has long been a matter of debate among scholars. As I mentioned earlier, if Jesus\u2019 principal crime had been blasphemy against the Jewish God, the Jews themselves would likely have stoned him to death. Instead, the Romans took charge. Let\u2019s look briefly at some scholarly opinions on why Jesus was killed.<\/p> In The Religion of Jesus the Jew<\/a>, Geza Vermes writes that Jesus\u2019 cleansing of the Temple, the scene portrayed in Mark 11:15-19, and others in which he drives the money changers out, sealed Jesus\u2019 fate. (Affiliate Disclaimer: We may earn commissions on products you purchase through this page at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our site!<\/em>) He writes that \u201cnervous authorities in charge of law and order\u201d were frightened by Jesus\u2019 violent outburst, especially during the time of Passover, when Jews celebrated liberation from an oppressor. By this reasoning, the Jews brought Jesus to the attention of Roman authorities to prevent the Romans from punishing the entire Jewish population of Jerusalem because of Jesus\u2019 troublesome actions.<\/p>![\"Jesus](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Jesus-on-the-cross.png\" "\\"Jesus")
<\/span><\/p>\nWhen Did the Crucifixion of Jesus Happen?<\/h2>\n
Who Crucified Jesus?<\/h2>\n
What Happened at Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion?<\/h2>\n
Mocking and Beatings<\/h3>\n
Carrying the Cross<\/h3>\n
The Crucifixion, Witnesses, and the Sign Over the Cross<\/h3>\n
Jesus\u2019 Last Words<\/h3>\n
![\"crucifixion](\"https:\/\/www.bartehrman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/crucifixion-of-Jesus-1.png\" "\\"crucifixion")
<\/span><\/p>\nWhy Did the Romans Put Jesus on the Cross?<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Jesus on the Cross: Events and Reason for Crucifixion<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span><\/div>When Did the Crucifixion of Jesus Happen?<\/h2><\/div>
Who Crucified Jesus?<\/h2><\/div>
What Happened at Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion?<\/h2><\/div>
Mocking and Beatings<\/h3><\/div>
And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and after twisting some thorns into a crown they put it on him. And they began saluting him, \u201cHail, King of the Jews!\u201d They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.<\/blockquote><\/div>
Carrying the Cross<\/h3><\/div>
The Crucifixion, Witnesses, and the Sign Over the Cross<\/h3><\/div>
In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, \u201cHe saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.\u201d<\/blockquote><\/div>
Jesus\u2019 Last Words<\/h3><\/div>
<\/span><\/div>Why Did the Romans Put Jesus on the Cross?<\/h2><\/div>