The Cross and Christian Discipleship

Matthew 16:24 Direct teaching

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mark 8:34 Direct teaching

And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Luke 9:23 Direct teaching

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 14:27 Direct teaching

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Mark 10:21 Direct teaching

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

Matthew 10:38 Direct teaching

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Tatian, The Diatessaron Direct teaching

...alled the crowds together with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross every day, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of my gospel, will save it. What does a man profit if he gains the whole world and destroys his own life, or loses it? Or what will a man give as a ransom for his life? Whoever denies me and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation, the Son of man also will deny him when he comes in the glory of his Father with his holy angels. For the Son of man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his holy angels, and then he will reward each man according to his works."

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book I Direct teaching

...ndicated these two abilities: first, the sustaining power, when He said, “Whoever does not bear his cross (Stauros) and follow me cannot be my disciple;” and again, “Taking up the cross, follow me;” but the separating power when He said, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, “The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean the floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” By this statement, He demonstrated the ability of Horos. For that fan, they explain, is the cross (Stauros), which surely consumes all material things, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all those who are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they say that the Apostle Paul himself mentioned this cross in the following words: “The doctrine of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, but to us who are saved, it is the power of God.” And again: “God forbid that I should boast in anything except the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Tertullian, On Idolatry Supporting witness

If you wish to be the Lord's disciple, it is necessary you take your cross, and follow the Lord: your cross;

Tertullian, De Fuga in Persecutione Direct teaching

and he who takes not up his cross and follows Me, cannot be My disciple.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

No hope, therefore, of gaining immortality is given to man, unless he shall believe in Him, and shall take up that cross to be borne and endured.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

and he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.

John 19:17 Direct teaching

and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.

Matthew 27:32 Direct teaching

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

...wever, He was not supposed to suffer but should escape from Jesus, why did He urge His disciples to take up the cross and follow Him—when these people claim He did not take up the cross but abandoned the path of suffering? He did not say this regarding the acknowledgment of the cross above, as some among them dare to interpret, but in reference to the suffering He would undergo Himself and that His disciples would face. He implies this when He says, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." He suggested His disciples must suffer for His sake when He said to the Jews, "Behold, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify." And to the disciples, He often said, "You will stand before governors and kings for My sake; and they will scourge some of you, and kill you, and persecute you from city to city." He knew those who would suffer persecution, and those who would be scourged and killed because of Him. He spoke of no other cross than the suffering He would undergo first, and His disciples afterward. He gave them this exhortation: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill t

Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Direct teaching

... the Lord Jesus both wore our flesh and became man, and by the divine arrangement was nailed to the cross. His purpose was that, by the very flesh in which the demons had proudly and falsely pretended to be gods, after they had carried our souls captive to death by deceitful tricks, by this same flesh they might be overthrown and shown to be no gods. For He stopped their arrogance from rising higher by becoming man. His purpose was that, by the body in which the rational race had become estranged from the worship of the true God and had been harmed, by that same body receiving in an ineffable way the Word of Wisdom, the enemy might be shown to be the destroyers and not the benefactors of our souls. For it would not have been remarkable if Christ, by the terror of His divinity and the greatness of His unconquerable power, had weakened the opposing nature of the demons. But since this would have caused them greater grief and torment, because they would have preferred to be overcome by one stronger than themselves, therefore He brought salvation to the race by a man. His purpose was that, after Life and Truth itself had entered men in bodily form, they might be able to return to th

Tatian, The Diatessaron Direct teaching

The Jews took Jesus and led him away to crucify him. When he had carried his cross and gone out, they stripped off the purple and scarlet clothes he had been wearing and put his own clothes on him. As they were going with him, they found a man from Cyrene coming in from the country, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus; and they forced this man to carry the cross of Jesus. They took the cross and laid it on him, so that he might carry it and come after Jesus. And Jesus went on, with his cross behind him.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...h he testified that Jesus was innocent, he still handed Him over as guilty to the punishment of the cross, even though the Romans had made laws that no man should be put to death without conviction. But the executioners took the Lord of glory and nailed Him to the cross, crucifying Him at the sixth hour, though they had received the sentence of His condemnation at the third hour. After this they gave Him vinegar to drink mixed with gall. Then they divided His garments by lot. Then they crucified two evildoers with Him, one on each side, so that what was written might be fulfilled: "They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink." And again, "They divided my garment among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And in another place, "And I was counted with the transgressors," Isaiah 53:12. Then there was darkness for three hours, from the sixth to the ninth hour, and then light again in the evening, as it is written: "It shall not be day nor night, and at evening there shall be light." When the criminals crucified with Him saw all this, one of them insulted Him, as if He were weak and unable to deliver Himself. But the other rebuked his co

Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians (LongVersion) Direct teaching

...as not planted be uprooted.” If they were branches of the Father, they would not be “enemies of the cross of Christ” but rather would be against those who “killed the Lord of glory.” But now, by denying the cross and being ashamed of the passion, they cover the transgression of the Jews, fighters against God, and murderers of the Lord; for calling them merely murderers of the prophets would be insufficient. But Christ invites you to share in His immortality through His passion and resurrection, since you are His members.

Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching

...een put to death, and who as a man had died, might also as a man be buried. But even if it had been related in the Gospels, according to the view of Celsus, that Jesus had immediately disappeared from the cross, he and other unbelievers would have found fault with the narrative, and would have brought against it some such objection as this: Why, pray, did he disappear after he had been put upon the cross, and not disappear before he suffered? If, then, after learning from the Gospels that He did not at once disappear from the cross, they imagine that they can find fault with the narrative because it did not invent, as they consider it ought to have done, any such immediate disappearance, but gave a true account of the matter, is it not reasonable that they should also give their faith to His resurrection, and should believe that He, according to His pleasure, on one occasion, when the doors were shut, stood in the midst of His disciples, and on another, after distributing bread to two of His acquaintances, immediately disappeared from view after He had spoken to them certain words?

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

...eforehand about His passion, that He had the power, whenever He willed, to lay down His life and to take it again. Therefore, because He had laid down His life while fastened to the cross, His executioners did not think it necessary to break His bones, as was their usual custom. Instead, they only pierced His side. So His body, still unbroken, was taken down from the cross and carefully placed in a tomb. Now all these things were done so that His body, if injured and broken, would not be made unfit for rising again. This was also a main reason why God chose the cross, because it was necessary for Him to be lifted up on it, and for the passion of God to become known to all nations. For since a man hanging on a cross is seen by everyone and is raised higher than others, the cross was especially chosen to show that He would be so visible and so lifted up on high that all nations from the whole world would come together at once to know and worship Him. Finally, no nation is so uncivilized, and no region so remote, that either His passion or the height of His majesty would be unknown there. Therefore, in His suffering He stretched out His hands and measured out the world, so that eve

Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching

... within His own household and not openly point him out, nor refuse the traitor's kiss. Moreover, in bearing with the Jews, how great was His calmness and how great His patience: in persuading the unbelieving to faith, in soothing the unthankful by yielding, in answering the contradictors gently, in bearing with the proud in clemency, in giving way with humility to the persecutors, and in wishing to gather together the killers of the prophets, and those who were always rebellious against God, even to the very hour of His cross and passion!

Lactantius, A Poem on the Passion of the Lord Direct teaching

... madness, dared to seek for me, though innocent, a cruel death by deadly punishment on the dreadful cross. And if you yourself wish to examine these things more fully, and if it pleases you to go through all my groans and to share griefs with me, then gather together the schemes and plots, the wicked price paid for my innocent blood, the false kisses of a disciple, and the insults and struggles of the cruel crowd; and also the blows and the tongues made ready for accusation. Picture in your mind both the witnesses and the cursed judgment of blinded Pilate, the huge cross pressing on my shoulders and tired back, and my painful steps toward a dreadful death. Now look at me from head to foot, abandoned as I am, and lifted up far from my beloved mother. Look and see my hair matted with blood, my neck stained with blood beneath my hair, my head torn by cruel thorns, and a stream of blood pouring down like rain from every side over my divine face. Look at my closed and sightless eyes and my afflicted cheeks. See my parched tongue made bitter with gall, and my face pale with death. Look at my hands pierced with nails, my arms stretched out, and the great wound in my side. See the blood

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

"And the part of the Psalm that follows—'But You, Lord, do not take away Your assistance from me; pay attention to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns'—was also information and prediction of the events that would happen to Him. For I have already shown that He was the only-begotten of the Father of all things, being uniquely begotten as Word and Power by Him, and later becoming man through the Virgin, as we have learned from the writings. Moreover, it is also predicted that He would die by crucifixion. For the passage, ‘Deliver my soul from the sword, and my only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,’ indicates the suffering by which He would die, namely, by crucifixion. I have already explained to you that the ‘horns of the unicorns’ are a representation of the cross. And the prayer that His soul should be saved from the sword, the lion’s mouth, and the hand of the dog, was a request that no one should take possession of His soul: so that, when we reach the end of life, we may m

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Background

And indeed, before the cross was set up, he (Satan) was eager for this to happen; and he worked towards this end in the children of disobedience. He worked in Judas, in the Pharisees, in the Sadducees, in the old, in the young, and in the priests. But when it was about to be set up, he was troubled, and instilled regret in the traitor, directing him to a rope to hang himself, and taught him to die by strangulation. He also terrified the foolish woman, disturbing her with dreams; and he, who had tried in every way to have the cross prepared, now tried to stop its erection; not because he felt repentance for his great crime (for then he would not be completely depraved), but because he saw his own destruction approaching. For the cross of Christ marked the beginning of his condemnation, the start of his demise, the onset of his destruction. Therefore, he also works in some to make them deny the cross, be ashamed of the passion, call the death an illusion, distort and dismiss the birth from the Virgin, and slander the human nature itself as being detestable. He fights with the Jews to deny the cross, and with the Gentiles to slander Mary, who are heretical in claiming that Christ had

Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Direct teaching

For when our Lord was suffering on the cross, the tombs were opened, the region below was uncovered, souls leapt out, the dead returned to life, and many of them were seen in Jerusalem, while the mystery of the cross was being completed. At that time our Lord trampled on death, ended the hostility, bound the strong man, and raised the trophy of the cross. His body was lifted up on it, so that the body might appear on high, and death might be pressed down under the foot of flesh. Then the powers of heaven wondered, the angels were astonished, the elements trembled, and every creature was shaken as they watched this new mystery and the fearful event taking place in the universe. Yet all the people, unaware of the mystery, rejoiced in mocking Christ, even though the earth was shaking, and the mountains, valleys, and sea were shaken, and every creature of God was struck with confusion. The lights of heaven were afraid. The sun fled away, the moon disappeared, the stars held back their shining, and the day came to an end. The angel, in astonishment, departed from the temple after the veil was torn, and darkness covered the earth on which its Lord had closed His eyes. Meanwhile hell was

Ignatius, Epistles of Ignatius Direct teaching

For the cross of Christ was the beginning of his condemnation, the beginning of his death, the beginning of his destruction.

Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Direct teaching

For the cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirmation of the victory, the way by which God to man descended, the trophy against material spirits, the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day;

Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Direct teaching

It was for this mainly that the cross was brought in, being erected as a trophy against iniquity, and a deterrent from it, that henceforth man might be no longer subject to wrath, after that he had made up for the defeat which, by his disobedience, be had received, and had lawfully conquered the infernal powers, and by the gift of God had been set free from every debt.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

Now an account must be taken of the cross itself, and its meaning must be related.