The Crux of the Matter

By Dwight Haas The term crux of the matter has generally come to mean the critical point within a situation, but the history and meaning of the word crux is more involved than that. According to the Online Entymology dictionary - Crux is Latin for cross, which of course according to Strongs in Greek is stauros, which basically means stake. The Jehovahs Witness would argue that Jesus died on an upright pole because of this, but there are numerous historical and even internal evidences to counter this to which the writing This is Jesus King of the Jews would have been hard to write and see on a single pole. This definition of crux is synonymous with the concept of pain or torture as seen in the words crucify and crucifixion. Even the term excruciate, from the Latin excruciatus, means to torture, torment, cause pain or anguish. Another word that has its origin in crux is the word Crucial from L. crux (gen. crucis) "cross". The meaning "decisive, critical" (1830) is extended from a logical term, Instantias Crucis, adopted by Francis Bacon (1620); the notion is of cross fingerboard signposts at forking roads, thus a requirement to choose. It is no wonder that the word cross has so many meanings and applications. It always has. 1. Matt.10:37-39 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. It was obviously well known during that time that the one to be sacrificed was literally responsible for bearing their own cross to their own execution. There was no last meal. Here Jesus is using the word cross to intimate the condition of sacrifice. One must sacrifice not only his family, but himself if he is to follow Jesus, even to the point of death. We must sacrifice ourselves wholly and completely knowing that in losing our life we will find it. No one can force us to do it and no one can take our place. Rom.12:1 2. After Jesus had been beaten and mocked by the soldiers it is related in Mark 15:21-22 Then they compelled a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of the country and passing by to bear His cross. And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. John 19:17 says, And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, which implies that Jesus did carry His own cross, for at least awhile, but was probably too weak from the beatings to bear his own cross the rest of the way so they compelled a person passing by to bear it for him to the place of execution. Just like Simon was compelled by the soldiers to carry the cross of Jesus, we are compelled by the truth of the Gospel to figuratively take up His cross as well, follow Him to that very same place into death, burial and resurrection. Rom.6: 3-6 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

3. Col.2:11-14 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. What is the it that has been nailed to the cross? All obstacles to salvation! We who were once lost are now made alive with Jesus by being buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God. While our sins and everything that held us back were nailed to the cross, we with Christ moved on towards life. 4. I Cor.1:18 For 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. What is the message of the cross? Is it about Jesus suffering, His pain and His sacrifice? Yes, but it is about so much more. The message of the cross declares: Gods love for us (John 3:16); that Jesus was the only sacrifice that could do what all other sacrifices could not (Heb.10:12). The message is that those who place their faith on the one who died on the cross are saved, but those that reject the message also reject the cross. Many people carry a small cross on their necks to signify their belief in Jesus, but we must carry something bigger than that. We must carry even more than a large heavy piece of wood. We must carry an obligation to do what God says in respect of the one who gave His life for us. But it is not burdensome- I John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. We know that God loves us (John 3:16) and that Jesus loved us (John 15:13) and how can we not be moved by this great and matchless love to give back the love that they deserve. We owe our life to His death. It is why we remember His death until He comes (I Cor.11:26). So the next time we use the phrase the crux of the matter, let us think on the fact that when it comes right down to the crux of all that really matters it brings us up to the cross and the one who died on it Jesus, the Son of God.