A tree of the Bible
The Cross, Called a Tree
The apostles gave the cross an older name. They called it a tree, deliberately reaching back to the law that pronounced a curse on everyone hanged on a tree. On that tree Jesus bore our sins in His own body, that we, dead to sin, might live to righteousness, and be healed.
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”1 Peter 2:24
The tree
Peter, writing to scattered believers, described the crucifixion in the plainest and most loaded terms, saying Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Paul used the same word, and so did the early preaching in Acts, which repeatedly spoke of Jesus slain and hanged on a tree. The choice was not accidental. The law of Moses declared that a man hanged on a tree was under God's curse, his body a sign of judgment to be taken down before nightfall. By calling the cross a tree, the apostles set the crucifixion inside that ancient verdict. The rough Roman timber became the cursed tree of Deuteronomy, and the sinless One was hung upon it as though He were the guilty one condemned.
What it means
Naming the cross a tree tells us what happened there beneath the surface of the execution. Jesus was not merely a victim of injustice; He was standing under the curse the law pronounced, the curse due to sinners. He carried our sins up onto that tree so that the judgment falling on Him would not fall on us. Peter's aim is intensely practical. Because our sins were borne away, we are cut off from their dominion, dead to sin and alive to righteousness, and by His wounds we are healed. The tree of shame becomes the place where guilt is answered and a new, obedient life is set free to begin.
How it points to Christ
The whole meaning gathers on Christ, for it is His body that hung on the tree. Galatians says He became a curse for us, redeeming us from the curse of the law by being hanged, taking into Himself the sentence written against us. And the tree image reaches further back still, to Eden, where a tree stood at the center of humanity's ruin. What was lost by a tree is won back by a tree; the disobedience taken from one is answered by the obedience offered on another. The cursed tree of Calvary becomes, for all who trust Him, the tree of life, its fruit our forgiveness, its shade our shelter, its wood the throne from which He reigns.
Questions people ask
Why is the cross called a tree in the Bible
Peter, Paul, and the preaching in Acts deliberately called the cross a tree to connect it with the law of Moses, which declared that anyone hanged on a tree was under God's curse. By this name they showed that Jesus, dying on the cross, stood under the curse due to sinners, bearing our sins and the judgment against us in our place.
What does it mean that Jesus bore our sins on the tree
It means Jesus carried the guilt and penalty of our sins in His own body when He was crucified, taking upon Himself the curse the law pronounced on the guilty. Peter says this so that, freed from sin's power, we might be dead to sin and alive to righteousness. His wounds bring healing, and the judgment He absorbed leaves us forgiven and free.