How Did Crucifixion Kill Jesus?

The Bible gives many agonizing details about the crucifixion of Jesus, but what else do we know about what happens to a body as it is being crucified? More specifically, how does crucifixion kill you?

Well, crucifixion was a gruesome mode of execution that was commonly used by the Romans in Jesus’ day. Roman authorities used execution as a method of control and intimidation to rid their cities of slaves, heinous criminals, and insurgents. The Romans adopted the practice of crucifixion and brought it to a higher level that was unprecedented. In fact, at one point they were crucifying 500 people a day. This was practiced from the 6th century BC until the 4th century AD until the Roman emperor Constantine I banned the practice in 337 AD.

Crucifixion maximized the suffering of those being executed and prolonged their death in a painful way. The process began when the one being crucified was stripped of his clothing and then beaten with a flagrum, which is a short-handled whip made up of leather that had bone and iron balls woven into the strips. The person was then beaten savagely with the whip, a process that weakened the victim through blood loss and shock. And while the aim of this whipping was to inflict maximum injury, that part of the process was not intended to kill.

Then, after the beating, the victim would be forced to pick up a cross carry it to the place where they would die. Crucifixions were held just outside of a city. The crossbar if the wood, called the patibulum, had to be transported to the execution site. The patibulum usually weighed between 75 and 100 pounds. Oftentimes we see images of Jesus Christ nailed to a cross that is high above the ground. However, it likely isn’t a true representation of Roman crucifixions.

There are many beliefs as to what actually killed a person as they hang on a cross. Some believe it is the blood loss from being beaten severely, others think it’s due to shock and dehydration, and still, it could be any combination of the factors. In 2006 The Royal Society of Medicine published an article that centered on Jesus’ crucifixion, explaining nine possible causes of his death. And while suffocation from the weight of one’s body dangling from a cross has long been believed to be the cause of death during a crucifixion, others still think the process is a more complicated chain reaction of events. The researchers from the RSM study believed death came to those crucified by one or more of the body’s failing processes.

The study also suggested that as the person who is suspended on a cross struggles to breath, and that lack of oxygen can trigger damage to tissue and veins, thus causing blood to leak into the lungs and the heart. After that, the lungs would stiffen and the heart will become constricted from the pressure, hence making it difficult to pump blood throughout the body. The lack of oxygenated blood would eventually cause each body system to fail and death would soon follow. It could take hours or even days for someone to die from crucifixion, but it was only a matter of time before death would come. We can see in the biblical accounts of Jesus’ death that the process took six hours for him to die. And, in the end, he cried out to God. Matthew 27:50-51 says: “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.…”

[Source/WSB News]

Share this story and remember to thank Jesus for all he did for us on the cross!

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