“But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5 ESV
Christian organizations (denominations, universities, etc.) tend to degrade over time. I heard one pastor say that most do not last 100 years before they decline into non-Christian organizations (e.g., the Ivy League schools). The longer they exist, the more they tend to wander into the new and novel, leaving the old and faithful behind. It is as if standing for the old gospel truths loses its luster, so they start a move to the new, the exciting, the “relevant”, the popular. We see it in charismatic circles where the old, existing, and time-tested Bible as the Word of God is not enough, and we begin the search for something new and fresh in extra-biblical “experiences”.
And thus goes the organization known as “Christianity Today” led by Dr. Russell Moore who has been its Editor in Chief since 2022. I believe we’re seeing Christianity Today (CT) in this downward trend.
Case in point is that less than a week before Easter 2025, CT published this article:
Under Dr. Moore’s editor-in-chief role, CT has decided to publish this article four days before Good Friday that calls into question the inerrancy of Scripture as it pertains to the crucifixion of our Lord. The article begins with this sentence:
“The Bible doesn’t say Jesus was nailed to a cross.”
Why would CT publish this article? Because one college professor, Jeffrey P. Arroyo García of Gordon College, thinks maybe there weren’t any nails. He could have been tied to the cross with ropes.
Why am I making a big deal about this? It is indicative of the downward trend away from faithfulness to the “old gospel” towards new and novel ideas. In a word, clickbait. Why would an editor in chief decide to publish one man’s novel opinion that goes against what the church has believed for a few thousand years? That first sentence of the article is the big deal as it proclaims the Bible does not say Jesus was nailed to a cross, and CT decided to air this professor’s opinion. But does the Bible say Jesus was roped or tied to a cross?
After stating that nails are not mentioned in any of the four gospels, much later in the article the author contradicts himself when he mentions John 20:25.
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
John 20:25 ESV
The next two verses state that eight days later, Jesus appeared and told Thomas to put his fingers in those wounds, and you can’t do that if he was tied to the cross. But notice how this professor, even after he mentions the above verse, sows seeds of doubt about the inerrancy of God’s word with this quote:
“Maybe that’s proof that Christ was crucified with nails, García said. But he isn’t completely convinced. Jesus doesn’t explicitly say “nails,” and the Bible does not say Thomas touches Christ’s hands or his feet. Many scholars think John was written later—perhaps after crucifixion with nails had become more common, García said.“
So, there we have it – the inspired gospel written by John is called into question – it may not be actually true in regard to Jesus’ crucifixion even though John was an eyewitness at the very foot of the cross. It was actually written later when nails were more common. Jesus was hung on the cross with ropes and John failed to notice that and later, when writing the gospel, he stretched this truth a bit and changed it to nails. For more dramatic effect I guess. Can you see how this is wedging doubt into the reader’s mind?
So this modern day bible scholar scoured the gospels and found only this one mention of nails. But a quick search to terms related to “nails” and “pierce” as directly related to the Messiah upholds that Christ was indeed nailed to a cross, both OT prophecies and NT fulfillment.
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:14 ESV
When was the record of our debt “nailed” to a cross? When our Saviour was nailed to one.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet
Psalm 22:16 ESV
I’m sorry, but ropes do not pierce your hands and feet. Nails do and create wounds.
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Acts 2:23 NASB
This is Peter’s first sermon. The NASB uses “nailed” and the ESV uses “crucified”, but Strong’s dictionary says the word for crucified is prospēgnymi which means to fasten or impale (on a cross). Ropes don’t “impale”.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10 ESV
This is God’s OT prophecy of the nation of Israel, at some point in the future, realizing Jesus as their Messiah, the one they pierced. Not roped to a cross.
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
Revelation 1:7 ESV
And of course there’s the Isaiah verse at the start of this article. He was pierced for our transgressions. By his wounds we are healed. Ropes don’t leave wounds, but nails do. God stacks verse after verse about the Messiah being nailed and pierced, not roped to a cross.
See the deception here? See the seeds of doubt that “Christianity Today” is sowing in believer’s minds? Maybe the word of God isn’t really infallible and inerrant. Maybe details like this were changed to match much later practices of using nails when the gospel was written. Maybe the Bible doesn’t actually represent the actual historic truth and reality of the most important event in all of world history.
If the BIble is false in any one piece, it can’t be trusted in any. See how it undermines all of Scripture?
No thank you CT. I’ll stick with what the Bible and the church have taught and believed since the time of the crucifixion as prophesied hundreds of years before. I’ll take that “old gospel” over the new and novel interpretations of a single college professor who admits he can’t find stories of the nails being found as “relics”. I see no reason at all for a “Christian” magazine to be sowing these small seeds of doubt about the veracity of God’s infallible word. I will continue to trust it implicitly.