taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain", is immediately followed by,

"Whom God hath raised up. . . . He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne". Passing

to the Epistles and Apocalypse we find the references divide themselves into two sets.

Those which speak of the crucifixion of Christ, and those which speak of the crucifixion

(in the spiritual and doctrinal sense) of the believer.

The words that we shall consider are the renderings of stauroõ, to crucify;

anastauroõ, to crucify afresh; and sustauroõ, to crucify together. In I Cor. 1: 23 the

apostle says, "But we preach Christ crucified". The "But" compels us to look back.

Verse 18 speaks of the "preaching of the cross"; there such preaching is esteemed by

them that perish, foolishness.  In verse 23 the preaching of Christ crucified was a

stumblingblock to the Jew and foolishness to the Greek. I Cor. 2: 2 places the preaching

of "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" in a context that repudiates "excellency of speech or

enticing words of man's wisdom," but which does speak of true wisdom to such as are

"perfect" (the latter word brings this passage into line with the Epistle to the Hebrews).

In verse 8 the apostle tells us that had the princes of this age known the hidden mystery

previously marked out before the ages unto our glory--for, apparently, that crucifixion

was the straight and narrow path which led to the crown. II Cor. 13: 4 is the only

reference in that epistle, and it is in a context which emphasizes the shame, the weakness,

the humiliation of the death of the cross.  "For though He was crucified through

weakness, yet He liveth through the power of God".

Turning to the Epistle to the Galatians we find the word used more pointedly than in

any other epistle. In Gal. 3: 1, when the apostle would show the folly of being "made

perfect" (mark the word) by the flesh (verse 3), he uses the strong expression, "Before

whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you". His argument is that

to have seen Him thus, and then to consider that there was any possibility for good in the

flesh, could only be answered by concluding that they had been bewitched. In 5: 24 the

subject is still more decidedly referred to:--

In 6: 14, in contrast to "boasting in the flesh", the apostle says:--

What words are these! The flesh so denied, so repudiated, so utterly contemned and

loathed, that it is not merely neglected and kept under, but crucified. This is the only

thing to do with it, yet how many of us can claim to have reached this position? Or

again, the mutual crucifixion of the world and the believer to one another. The world

with its pleasures and its sins, its denial of the Lord and its religious pretensions, its

ambitions and its sorrows, the world and the believer too, are crucified in the crucifixion

of Christ. Yet how strong the so-called innocent and legitimate claims of the world! and

how utterly futile are half measures. Crucifixion is after all the only remedy, yet here

again arises a self-searching question. When the apostle Paul confronted the apostle