Dr Paul Allen

Christianity is a religion irreducibly and uniquely fixated on the death of its Saviour. Every Sunday, in every corner of the globe, Christians partake of the Lord’s Supper and in so doing proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again (1 Cor. 11:26). We often think of Christ’s death as an atonement for sin, but it is also worth reflecting here that Christ suffered on the cross not just for our sin but for our shame. We tend to focus on the physical pain of crucifixion, and it was horrendous. It was an unbelievably cruel way to kill someone. It was a gruesome ordeal where naked criminals died in excruciating pain. Even many of the Romans spoke out against crucifixion as a hideous and barbaric instrument. But the Gospels don’t focus on any of that. Yes, Jesus suffered physical torment. But so did two other men on that hill, and so did hundreds of criminals who were crucified by Rome. In fact, what’s physically remarkable about Jesus’s death on the cross is that he died so quickly (Mark ...

It had been over three hours by now. Three hours with the crown of thorns pressed into His head. Three hours with the nails piercing His hands and His feet. Three hours with His raw and bleeding back pressed against a rough, wooden cross. Three hours of anguish and suffering. Now, though, at about three in the afternoon, it was coming to an end.  Those who stood within shouting distance of the cross heard the first scream: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” They thought He was calling for divine intervention, a miracle of salvation from God to deliver Him from imminent death. Jesus had one last word to say, but His throat was parched, so He called for a drink, fulfilling the words of the prophets. Then, onlookers heard a second and final scream: “Tetelestai!” It is finished. With that utterance, Jesus bowed His head and delivered over His Spirit. The Apostle John was close enough to hear what Jesus had cried aloud seconds before He died. What must have been going through J...

Why do some historians like Tallus and Phlegon mention unusual events like eclipses during Jesus' crucifixion, and what do these accounts add to the narrative? We do not have any actual writings from Thallus, although some of his work was quoted by later writers. One such writer was Sextus Julius Africanus, a Christian who lived in the early third century. He said that Thallus reported darkness at about the time of the crucifixion but dismissed it as a solar eclipse.  As Africanus points out, solar eclipses never occur at the time of the full moon. Origen reported, in Against Celsus 2.xiv, that Phlegon wrote about "the greatest eclipse of the sun" at the sixth hour.  William Lane Craig, a theologian and Christian apologist, has written a lengthy article (Thallus on the Darkness at Noon) in which he accepts that Thallus wrote the account attributed to him and demonstrates that there was, in fact, a darkness at the time Jesus was crucified. As we only have references to wha...

“If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” (Matt 27:40) There’s Mary, standing near the base of the blood-stained heath, hearing this taunt hurled at her son. If only they knew what she knew, their wagging heads would have bowed low. If only they had heard what she had heard, their mocking lips would have been shut in a terrible silence. If only they knew that he wasn’t Joseph’s son! The tradesman from Nazareth, descendent in the line of David, betrothed to the pious young Mary. Though totally pure and righteous in his conduct towards her, he found out she was pregnant (Matt 1:18-19).  Who knows what he said to her, what she said to him? Instead of legal retribution or a public scandal, he chose a quiet courthouse divorce to protect his reputation and her life. Until the angel told him in a dream that this child was “from the Holy Spirit” (1:20). Joseph knew that he wasn’t the father, but he had never imagined that God himself would be the Father. Why did it matter that...

In 1963, when Andy Williams released his song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” he had the Christmas season in mind. Despite the song not mentioning Jesus Christ or his birth—which I see as a departure from the “reason for the season”—I do agree with Him: Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. When rightly appropriated, it is a blessing that there is a time that is set apart for remembering a pivotal moment in history, the incarnation of our Savior. It’s the time when, as John says in John 1:14, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” There is such value in marveling at the weight and gravity of verses like Paul’s, where he writes, “Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.” Philippians 2:5–7 What a balm this is for our souls when we consider the cond...

  JOHN 13:4 Jesus’ call to his disciples in the Synoptic Gospels is clear. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24). We are called to “take up our crosses” and die to ourselves. It is less clear exactly what Jesus means when he asks us to “take up our cross.” Are we to imitate him in his death by literally dying on a cross, or literally dying on behalf of others? Are we all called to go to a closed country and be physically persecuted for Jesus’ sake? It is interesting that the gospel of John lacks this call to take up one’s cross. In fact, depending on the English version one uses, it can be difficult to see in John’s gospel anything at all that one is to “take up,” except for the healed paralytic’s taking up his “mat” (John 5:8). Reading the Greek text instead of relying on English translations, however, presents a different picture. John 13:4 gives us great insight into the meaning of “taking up the cross.” The Eng...

Some versions of the Apostles’ Creed say Jesus descended into hell. Did he? For centuries, Christians have proclaimed, “. . . he [Jesus] descended into hell . . .” Other versions of the creed say “the grave.” Why do we say those words at all, and what are the implications of one versus the other?   Bible verses about Jesus’ descent into hell The main texts are Acts 2:31, Romans 10:6–7, and Ephesians 4:9. Acts 2:31 [The patriarch David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Romans 10:6–7 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Ephesians 4:7–9 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to m...

The above graffiti found in Rome (A.D. 200–250) shows a man kneeling before a crucified figure with a donkey’s head. This is an example of the contempt shown toward the importance placed by Christians on Christ’s crucifixion. The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth is the central event of the New Testament. The term “Cross of Christ” has come to stand for all that went into and flows out from that event. The cross of Christ points to the violent death of Jesus by means of a heinous Roman method of execution reserved for slaves and enemies of the state. This central event, therefore, is at the same time the “scandal” (Gal 5:11) of the Christian faith.  Torturous executions of the ancient world had found their worst form in crucifixion. Josephus called it “the most wretched of deaths.” Already in Jesus’ own ministry “bearing your cross” was a mark of discipleship (Mark 8:34; Matt 10:38; 16:24; Luke 9:23; 14:27) and seemed to mark a readiness to follow even unto death for C...

He hath made Him to be sin for us,…that we might be made the righteousness of God.… 2 CORINTHIANS 5:.21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sin not by sympathy, but by identification. He was made to be sin. Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Fatherhood of God, the loving-kindness of God; the New Testament says He came to bear away the sin of the world (RV mg). The revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Saviour: Jesus Christ never spoke of Himself to the world as one Who revealed the Father, but as a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 was spoke...

The story of Abraham and his “one and only son” Isaac actually foreshadows God the Father’s offering the redemptive sacrifice of the “second Isaac”—his “one and only Son” (John 3:16 NET). Rather than this being forced upon the Son—divine “child abuse,” as Richard Dawkins calls it—the Father is not pitted against the Son. Christ willingly laid down his life and then took it up again (John 10:15, 17–18). God sent his Son into the world (John 3:17) to bear Israel’s and humanity’s curse and alienation on the cross. Yet, God the Son himself came into the world (John 9:39) to save it. With three wills of Father, Son, and Spirit united as one, the Triune God gave his very self to rescue and redeem humankind: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). Abraham’s unquestioning yet difficult obedience to the covenant God not only helped shape and confirm Israel’s identity in Abraham but also provided a context for understanding God’s immense self-giving love in the...

If we look at the intricacy of the drama of the events of Jesus’ crucifixion , we see that some amazing things took place so that Old Testament prophetic utterances were fulfilled to the minutest detail.  In the first instance, the Old Testament said that the Messiah would be delivered to the Gentile s (“dogs” or “congregation of the wicked”) for judgment (Ps. 22:16). It just so happened in the course of history that Jesus was put on trial during a time of Roman occupation of Palestine .  The Romans allowed a certain amount of home rule by their conquered vassals, but they did not permit the death penalty to be imposed by the local rulers, so the Jews did not have the authority to put Christ to death. The only thing they could do was to meet in council and take Jesus to Pontius Pilate , the Roman governor, asking him to carry out the execution. So Jesus was delivered from His own people to the Gentiles—those who were “outside the camp.” He was delivered into the ...

Young Isaac Watts found the music in his church sadly lacking, and his father challenged him to create something better. Isaac did. His hymn “ When I Survey the Wondrous Cross ” has been called the greatest in the English language and has been translated into many other languages. Watts’s worshipful third verse ushers us into the presence of Christ at the crucifixion . See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet Or thorns compose so rich a crown? The crucifixion Watts describes so elegantly stands as history’s most awful moment. We do well to pause and stand with those around the cross. The Son of God strains for breath, held by crude spikes driven through His flesh. After tortured hours, a supernatural darkness descends. Finally, mercifully, the Lord of the universe dismisses His anguished spirit. An earthquake rattles the landscape. Back in the city the thick temple curtain rips in half. Graves open, and dead bo...

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” ( Luke 9:23 ) This same conversation and challenge is also recorded in Matthew 16:24 and Mark 8:34 , except that only Luke included the term “daily.” Except for one brief reference in Matthew 10:38 , this conversation marks the first explicit reference in the Bible to the practice of crucifixion, and it apparently assumes that the disciples were already well aware of this typically Roman method of execution. “Taking up the cross” referred to the usual requirement that each condemned man haul his own cross to the place of execution. Jesus knew that He would soon have to be doing this Himself ( John 19:16-17 ). Christians sometimes use this phrase without appreciation of its true meaning, thinking of some burden (such as sickness or poverty) as “the cross” they must bear. Such things can be serious problems, but they are not instruments of execution, such as a c...