Was Jesus Crucified or Hung?
Christian theology claims that he was crucified. But the parts of the Bible contradict this claim. Some claim the Jews killed him, others claim the Romans. Clearly it cannot be all of the above. While the Gospels tell of his death by crucifixion by the Romans, other New Testament books describe it differently. Apparently, we cannot even be sure how he died, or who put him to death.
Acts 5
30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead–whom you
had killed by hanging him on a tree.
(Peter and the Apostles, speaking to the Jewish Sanhedrin)
Acts 10
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the
Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree,"
Acts 13
29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took
him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
Galatians 3
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse
for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on
a tree.”[
1 Peter 2
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might
die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been
healed.
Some Christians try to argue, rather lamely, that a tree is a cross. The word typically used to refer to a cross in the New Testament is staurus, which means "stake". The word used for tree in the New Testament is xylon or xulon, which is translated as tree. And hanging is not nailing. Also, the curse that is referred to in Galations did not apply to those who were crucified, only to those who were hung. This curse is stated in Deuteronomy 21.
Deuteronomy 21
23 you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury
him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's
curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you
as an inheritance.
