cross
Definition
In biblical theology, the cross is twofold: the historical instrument of Christ’s death (Matt. 27; 1 Cor. 1:18) and the theological reality of sin’s removal through his sacrifice (Rom. 6:6). In pneumatic theology, the cross also becomes a type of the believer’s call to self-denial: the death of the old self and identification with Christ’s resurrection (Gal. 2:20). George Warnock argues that modern evangelism has emptied the cross of its power by presenting it as mere rhetoric without the reality of death to self.
Author Variants
George Warnock
Warnock contends that modern evangelism has reduced the cross to a tool of self-adjustment rather than an instrument of genuine death. He quotes A.W. Tozer at length:
“The old cross killed the sinner. The new cross merely frustrates him. The old cross was an instrument of execution. The new cross is an instrument of adjustment.” [b8, A.W. Tozer — cited by Warnock]
Warnock insists that the cross is more than Christ’s historical execution — it also means the death of the self. He cites Paul:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” [b8, Gal. 2:20]
This crucifixion-with-Christ is not metaphorical but actual — a death to self-rule and a resurrection in Christ’s life.