A Publication of the
"Heralding the Good News of Jesus Christ"
REFORMED HERALD
November 1992
Reformed Church
in the United States
The Sacraments, Symbols of the Cross;
The Cross, A Symbol of Paganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Howard Hart
IN RECENT YEARS I HAVE noticed an increasing tendency to make use of the cross as a symbol. It is seen in Reformed churches on the walls, on baptismal founts, etched into pews and around the necks of some of the pious. The Reformed faith has always regarded the use of the cross as ritualism and a Romanist practice, a practice that is out of conformity with the Scriptural doctrines of the purity of worship and the regulatory practice of worship. We should take note of this return to "the sign of the cross" in Reformed Churches and be concerned.
Most people do not know the history of the "sign of the cross." A generation of Reformed people has come upon the scene that has never thought of the cross as being a pagan and heathen sign, much less a Popish sign. In fact, people are taught to admire piously the cross-symbol as being a nice symbol to represent Christianity. This fetish is found in ears, around necks, pinned on clothing or carried about in some other way. I was at a meeting in our community where a few Protestant clergy were present. Each seemed to try to outdo the other by the size of cross each carried around his neck.
Let me state categorically that the use of the cross is a Romish idolatry. The Romanists symbolize their faith by a crucifix - faith in a dead Christ. Many Protestants use the symbol of the empty cross - symbolic that Christ has already suffered and is now risen. So Protestant ladies wear crosses hanging on chains as charms and carry books and Bibles stamped with a cross. The cross has become dear to some churchgoers and to some believers. But what are some facts about the sign of the cross?
The Shape of the Cross
There are seven traditional forms of the cross:
1. The St. Andrew's Cross (Crux Decussata) shaped like the letter "X".
2. The Greek cross, shaped upright, with the arms equally long.
3. The St. Anthony's Cross (Crux Commissa), shaped like the letter "T".
4. The Crux Immissa, in which the upright beam is projected over the shorter crosspieces. This cross makes it possible to place a superscription over the head of the victim (Matt 27:37). This is the most commonly used cross.
5. The Maltese Cross with the circle of the crown of thorns on the arm beam is used by Roman bishops to show their dignity.
6. The straight vertical beam cross, where the hands and feet would be placed together.
7. People were also crucified together on a rack-like device. If we do not know what the shape was, how can we use one today?
The Sign of the Cross in Pagan Cultures
That which some use now as the Christian cross was not originally a Christian symbol. It was used by Chaldeans, Egyptians, Etruriabs, Coptics, and others many years before Christ.
The form of the cross used among early Christians was "X" (abbreviation for "Christos"). There are people who wear an "X" on their caps in our country, however, this is a modern symbol of an assassinated militant black leader of a few years ago named Malcolm.
When multitudes of heathens joined the standard of Constantine, they brought with them their well-known symbol T (representing the god "Tammuz") which soon supplanted th so called Christian "X". To identify Tammuz with the sun, the pagan cross was sometimes joined to a circle of the sun - and inserted in the circle. It looks like the "Maltese Cross" we mentioned above.
The Vestal Virgins of pagan Rome wore a cross suspended from their necklaces just as do the Roman Catholic nuns of our day. The Egyptians did the same, as well as many other barbarous nations. The cross was in use as early as 1500 years before the birth of Jesus.
The heathen Celts wore crosses. The Druids, long before Jesus' birth, formed living trees into huge crosses by trimming them into the symbol "T". The "T" was also found carved into the bark of trees in that time.
When the Spaniards arrived in the Western Hemisphere they found the cross already well known as a symbol by the Mexican and Peruvian Indians.
The cross was widely worshiped as the unequivocal symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian Messiah. Later the Romans used Bacchus and his symbol to worship drunkenness. Buddhist worship in Asia used the cross of the Babylonian Messiah and called it the "divine tree of life."
The Roman crucifix came into use in the 10th century. It became one of the items of the Romish bag of charms and fetishes. In the Papal system the sign of the cross and the image of the cross are all-in-all. No prayer can be said, no worship engaged in, almost no step taken (even the batting of a ball) without the use of the sign of the cross. The cross is looked upon as a grand charm, a refuge in danger, a guardian against temptation and a sign of good luck. They adore the cross with the honor that is due only to God Himself. To Papists, if anyone would use the term "the cursed tree" (Galatians 3:13); Acts 5:30; 10:39) it would be a mortal offense.
The Use of the Cross in History
There is no evidence of any use of the cross in Christian churches before the 4th century A.D. There was some use of the "X" letter as an abbreviation of the word "Christ" (X is the first letter of the word "Christ" in Greek) early in Christian church history.
A line drawing of a fish represented an acrostic for the Greek words Jesus Christ God's Son Savior early in Christian history. "Icthus" is the Greek word for fish, and is the root of words like "ichthyologist." The fish was used as a secret communication between Christians - to escape persecution. However, there was no use of the symbol of cross or fish in worship services. There was no religious significance whatever of the cross used until the 4th century. In his Apology, in 220 A.D., Felix said, "We neither worship crosses nor desire them." However, by 430 A.D. the pagan emperor Julian accused Christians of worshipping the cross and St. Cyril of Alexandria admitted the existence of "such superstition."
The Cross in Reformed Churches
It is good for us to remind ourselves repeatedly that our Lord has given us three plain symbols and the Word of God to represent to us perfectly the benefits of His suffering and death. He has given us water, wine and bread. The sign or sacrament of the Lord's Supper is given to show his death on the cross. The image of the cross does not represent the suffering of Christ any more than it does the two malefactors who were crucified with Him and of the untold numbers crucified in the same way by the Romans.
Paul said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." Obviously, he was not speaking of a wooden cross, but the whole body of Christ's suffering in which He suffered for the salvation of believers. Certainly a polished metal cross hanging on a silver chain, or a handsome carved cross behind a pulpit or attached to a magnificent church building can in no way represent the wonder of Galatians 6:14 where the Apostle says, "But may it never be that I should boat, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
The cross of Christ is not a cross that bore Christ but the cross which Christ bore!
The cross is the burden of the elect's sin on His sinless soul as He died in their stead. This cross cannot be symbolized except in the oath of communion. How many people are there with crosses around their necks or in their homes, that would not hesitate to miss the Lord's Supper in order to have dinner at Aunt Tesse's?
Our Heidelberg Catechism in questions and answers 30, 95-98 and the Bible in Deuteronomy 4:23,24 show us the vanity of cross use.
The cross as a symbol is out of harmony with the purity of worship that God demands. The use of a cross is out of harmony with the regulatory principle of worship. The use of a cross is out of conformity to the regulatory practice of worship. The use of a cross is sinful.
The "Discovery" of the Cross
The Roman Catholic Church has a tradition that Helena, mother of Constantine, discovered the true cross of Jesus in 325 A.D. in an excavation near Jerusalem. She is said to have deposited the main part of the cross in a church erected over the spot. Of the remained, a portion was inserted into the head of a statue of Constantine, and the balance placed in a new church built especially for the portions at Rome. Other fragments were sold, encrusted with gold and jewels. Since so many wealthy people desired such priceless relics, the church worked a miracle of the "multiplication of the cross." This device helped the church sell an astounding number of cross-fragments. They are now found in many Romish churches of many countries all over the world, and each so called fragment is thought to have religious grace. John Calvin once remarked that if you gathered all the fragments of the cross from the Europe of his day, you could build a large house with them.
The Apocryphal book Doctrina Addaei, written many years ago (even before Helena's time) tells a story about the discovery of the true cross. The discovery was made by the wife of Emperor Claudius who was said to have been converted to Christianity by the preaching of Peter. Both of the above stories have no real proof.
The Reformed Creeds and the Relic of the Cross
The Westminster Confession of Faith states "...the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, of the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture." (XXI,1).
This fine Reformed creed says that worship has been authorized, commanded, required and instituted by God as to its elements and practice. He appoints what objects are to be used in worship. In the Old Testament He used the Ark of the Covenant for His worship. In the New Testament He uses water, wine and bread. These New Testament objects are the only physical apparatus we may use. We may not use a cross. When men try to worship God by a way that He has not appointed, it is called vain worship (Mark 7:7). Israel built "high places" and made sacrifice to Baal. God said they did that "which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind" (Jeremiah 19:5). Nadab and Abihu were burned to a crisp by the Lord because they "offered strange fire...which He commanded them not." (Numbers 3:2-4)
What God wants us to use in worship is limited by Scripture (His revealed will). God has commanded only certain implements in His worship. Roman Catholicism uses a great number of ceremonies, symbols and activities which are not allowed by the New Testament. Their worship is "vain" (Matt 15:9). They have a false worship (Colossians 2:23). To worship by the use of a cross is vain. "What God has commanded is legitimate, and what God has not commanded is excluded." This is the Reformed position. This is the view of our beloved Heidelberg Catechism as well.
When our catechism was written, the Roman Church used mysterious formulas, consecrated host, holy water, altars, crucifixes, crosses, candles, bells and other church utensils of special sanctity by making the sign of the cross over them. The Church of the Gospel must keep itself free from these practices, even in their modern form (Deuteronomy 4:15,16; Acts 17:19; Malachi 1:7,8,14; Deuteronomy 4:2; Psalm 106:39; I Peter 1:18; Isaiah 63:3-5).
Do you have crosses in your home, on your person, or in your church? What should you do?