Six Biblical Easter Facts You Should Know

1. The words ‘crucifixion’ and ‘excruciating’ are derived from the Latin crux = cross.
2. Crucifixion is primarily an extreme method of torture/punishment and is not necessarily synonymous with death. Death normally resulted from crucifixion, but in history there are cases where a crucified man survived on the cross for a few days.
3. The nails in Jesus’ ‘hands’ were actually driven through his wrists not his ‘palm’. ‘Hand’ in the first century covered the tips of the fingers through to the wrist. The weight of Jesus’ upper body could not easily or at all be supported by the muscle structure of his palms but by the superior muscle structure of his wrists.
4. It is well nigh certain that Jesus was crucified naked (according to standard Roman practice). By Roman custom the clothes of the executed were the spoils belonging to his executioners. John 19:23-24 is misleadingly translated in a few versions. The NIV’s “…with the undergarment remaining…” is both wrong and misleading for 20^th century readers. The soldiers took Jesus outer clothing/garment (Greek: himatia) and as well his inner clothing/garment (Greek: chitōna, worn next to one’s skin). It is just that they split up (divided) the outer clothing but not the inner. ‘Undergarment’ does not mean brief or boxer!  The King James Version is much closer to the Greek here, it says at v. 23 (John 19:23) “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.” (emphasis added).
5. Technically, only Jesus was really resurrected, all others who came back from the dead in the Bible were resuscitated because all died natural deaths later on.  As the Anglican Bishop and scholar N.T. Wright said, “The meaning of ‘resurrection’ as ‘life after “life after death”’ cannot be overemphasized, not the least because much modern writing continues to use ‘resurrection’ as a virtual synonym for ‘life after death’ in the popular sense…” (The Resurrection of the Son of God, p.31).
6. Paul’s treatment of the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 was the earliest published account in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians was written about AD 50 whereas the Gospels were written between AD 62 and 69 at the earliest.

© Rev. Clinton Chisholm, April 9, 2011

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