Christian symbols

The Crown in Christianity

Christ the King

The crown is the symbol of Christ the King, and it carries two crowns in one. At his trial the soldiers pressed a crown of thorns onto his head to mock him as a king, not knowing they spoke the truth. In the Book of Revelation the risen Christ appears with many crowns upon his head, King of kings and Lord of lords. Between these two crowns, the thorns and the glory, lies the whole Christian confession: that the one who was mocked as a king is the true King, and that his throne was a cross.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.Revelation 19:12 (KJV)

The crown of thorns

Before he was crucified, Jesus was handed over to the soldiers, who dressed him in a purple robe, put a reed in his hand for a scepter, and plaited a crown of thorns and set it on his head, bowing before him in mockery and crying, Hail, King of the Jews. It was cruel theater, meant to shame a man who had been called a king.

Yet Christians have always seen a deeper truth in the scene. Jesus really was a king, and here he wore the only crown this world would give him, a crown of thorns. The thorns recall the curse that fell on the ground after the fall of humanity, and so the King took the very sign of the curse upon his own brow. He was crowned with our thorns that he might crown us with his glory.

The crown of glory

The mockery was not the end. The New Testament looks beyond the thorns to the true crowning of Christ. In Revelation the apostle John sees him riding in triumph with eyes like a flame of fire and on his head many crowns, a name written that no one knows but himself, and on his robe the title King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Scripture also promises crowns to his people, not of gold and jewels but of life, of righteousness, and of glory, given by grace to those who love him and are faithful. These are not earned as wages but received as gifts, and in the end, an old vision holds, the saints cast their crowns before the throne, for every crown they wear comes from him.

How the crown has been used

The crown appears throughout Christian art and worship as the sign of Christ's kingship. It is shown above the cross in the cross and crown, joining his suffering to his reign. The crown of thorns is a beloved emblem of his passion, kept before the eyes in Lent and Holy Week.

Many churches keep a feast of Christ the King, and hymns hail him as the King of glory and crown him with many crowns. On banners, seals, and stained glass the crown declares that whatever earthly powers rise and fall, there is one whose kingdom has no end.

The King who serves

The crown of Christ is unlike every earthly crown, because the King who wears it defined greatness by service. When his own disciples argued about who would be greatest, Jesus told them that the rulers of the nations lord it over their people, but it would not be so among his followers. Whoever would be great must be a servant, for even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

So his kingship is a throne of self-giving. On the night before he died, the King knelt and washed his disciples' feet, doing the work of the lowest servant, and told them to do the same for one another. The crown of thorns was not a detour from his majesty but its truest expression, for he reigns by love that stoops and serves and sacrifices.

This turns the meaning of the crown inside out. To crown Christ as King is not to enthrone raw power but to bow before a love that gave everything. And to belong to his kingdom is to take up the same way, to seek not to be served but to serve, to count others better than ourselves. The subjects of this King are known by their towels and their crosses, not by their thrones.

The promise held out to them is astonishing. Scripture says that if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him, and that he has made his people kings and priests unto God. The crowns they will receive are gifts of grace, and in the end, an old vision holds, they cast them down before the throne, for they know that every crown they wear was won for them by the King who wore the thorns.

The two crowns and the one Lord

The genius of the crown as a Christian symbol is that it holds two crowns in a single image, and insists they belong to the same Lord. The crown of thorns and the crown of glory are not worn by two different figures, a suffering victim and a triumphant king, but by one Christ, whose glory is precisely the glory of self-giving love. The thorns are not erased by the glory; they are the reason for it.

This guards the church against two errors. One is to dwell so on the suffering Christ that his victory is forgotten, leaving only a tragic figure and no risen Lord. The other is to leap so quickly to the triumphant King that the cost of the crown is lost, and his kingship is imagined as mere power. The two crowns held together keep the whole truth: a King who reigns by love, and a love that has truly conquered.

The pattern shapes the hope of his people as well. The New Testament is honest that following this King means sharing his thorns before his crown; if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. The crowns promised to believers, of life, of righteousness, of glory, are reached along the same road their Lord walked, through the cross to the resurrection.

And those crowns are never a cause for pride, because they are gifts. In the vision of heaven the redeemed cast their crowns before the throne, confessing that every honor they wear was won for them by the King who wore the thorns. The crown, in the end, points away from the one who wears it and back to Christ, the King who was crowned with our thorns that he might share with us his glory.

How the crown points to Christ

The crown points to Christ as the true King, but a King unlike any other. He did not seize a throne by force; he was crowned with thorns and lifted up on a cross, and reigned by laying down his life. His kingship is measured not by how many he can command but by how much he was willing to give.

So the crown calls for a certain kind of allegiance. To own Christ as King is not to bow to raw power but to trust a love that wore thorns for our sake. The King who was mocked is the King who saves, and the crown of thorns he wore is the reason his people will one day wear crowns of life.

A note across traditions: these symbols are shared by Christians everywhere as ways to point to Christ, never as objects of worship, for worship belongs to God alone. Where a symbol grew out of a later tradition or legend rather than the Bible, this page says so plainly. In every tradition there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, and every sign the church uses is meant to lead the heart to him.

Related: The empty tomb and the cross and crown · Alpha and Omega · Who is Jesus? · All Christian symbols