The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, “Appendix 3C: “Torture Stake””
“There is no evidence that the Greek word stau·rosʹ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ. … The inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures wrote in the common (koi·neʹ) Greek and used the word stau·rosʹ to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle. There is no proof to the contrary.”
The organisation's appendix on the cross. It cites W. E. Vine's Expository Dictionary, Lewis and Short's Latin dictionary, Hermann Fulda (1878), Paul Wilhelm Schmidt (1904) and an illustration of the crux simplex taken from Justus Lipsius, De cruce libri tres (Antwerp, 1629, p. 19).
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Provenance and verification note for The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, Appendix 3C: “Torture Stake”
Confidence note. Appendix opened in full on wol.jw.org on 19 September 2026; page markers 1149, 1150 and 1151 read from the page-number spans. I have not opened Vine, Fulda, Schmidt or Lipsius to check those citations against the printed originals.
Corroborated by. src-nwtv-lsj-stauros
Notes. The appendix concludes: 'Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles.'
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-nwtv-int-app3c