The Cross of Christ: 33 Stellar Quotes

Jesus not only died ‘for’ us; He died ‘as’ us. It is through the deep working of the cross in our lives, that we really discover who we are, who we’re meant to be …

“Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us — a crucified God — must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world.”   — John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life

“… the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity … the old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them.”   — A.W. Tozer, The Divine Conquest

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”   — God the Father to Satan

“The cross is the center of the world’s history; the incarnation of Christ and the crucifixion of our Lord are the pivot round which all the events of the ages revolve. The testimony of Christ was the spirit of prophecy, and the growing power of Jesus is the spirit of history.”   — Alexander MacLaren

“All of heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, hell afraid of it, while men are the only ones to ignore its meaning.”   — Oswald Chambers

“Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to—because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice.”   — Philip Yancey

“There is so much more that the Cross has accomplished than our forgiveness, but the constant barrage of the Enemy’s lies wears us down over time, and we forget what is true. By entering into the work of Christ daily, we appropriate in a fresh way all he has already done for us.”   — John Eldredge, Waking the Dead

“Just as Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, and began to tumble down the hill, and so it continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre. There it fell in, and I saw it no more!”   — John Bunyan

“You’re not likely to err by practicing too much of the cross.”   — Alexander Whyte, Bunyan characters in the Pilgrim’s progress

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well- being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.”   — The Prophet Isaiah

“The most obscene symbol in human history is the Cross; yet in its ugliness it remains the most eloquent testimony to human dignity.”   — R.C. Sproul

“Jesus has borne the death penalty on our behalf. Behold the wonder! There He hangs upon the cross! This is the greatest sight you will ever see. Son of God and Son of Man, there He hangs, bearing pains unutterable, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Oh, the glory of that sight!”   — Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace 

“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”   — Hans Urs von Balthasar, Unless You Become Like This Child

“The cross, therefore, is always ready; it awaits you everywhere. No matter where you may go, you cannot escape it, for wherever you go you take yourself with you and shall always find yourself. Turn where you will—above, below, without, or within—you will find a cross in everything, and everywhere you must have patience if you would have peace within and merit an eternal crown.”   — Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s shall save it.”   — Jesus Christ

“No cross, no crown.”   — William Penn

“Love, not anger, brought Jesus to the cross … Jesus knew that by his vicarious suffering he could actually absorb all the evil of humanity and so heal it, forgive it, redeem it.”   — Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

“The family tree of earthly ancestors was really not important; what was important was the family tree of the children of God He planted on Calvary.”   — Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ

“The personal desolation Christ is experiencing on the cross is what you and I should be experiencing–but instead, Jesus is bearing it, and bearing it all alone. Why alone? He’s alone so that we might never be alone.”   — C.J. Mahaney, Living the Cross Centered Life

“The Cross of Christ is to be a reality to me not only once for all at my conversion, but all through my life as a Christian. True spirituality does not stop at the negative (death), but without the negative—in comprehension and in practice—we are not ready to go on.”   — Francis August Schaeffer, True Spirituality: How to Live for Jesus Moment by Moment

“To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.”   — Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

“All God’s plans have the mark of the cross on them, and all His plans have death to self in them.”   — E. M Bounds

“Our cross is the point of our unlikeness to the image of Christ, where we must die to self in order to be raised by God into wholeness of life in the image of Christ right there at that point.”   — M. Robert Mulholland Jr., Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation

“For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”   — Apostle Paul

“God grades on the Cross not on the curve.” — Adrian Rogers

“He creates the universe, already foreseeing—or should we say “seeing”? There are no tenses in God—the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves …”   — C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

“The Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin.”   — Watchman Nee

“Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him, and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have become what you were not so that I might become what I was not.’”   — Martin Luther

“The cross stands high above the opinions of men and to that cross all opinions must come at last for judgment.”   — A.W. Tozer

“The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that I ever bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbor.”   — Samuel Rutherford

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”   — Apostle Paul

“Whenever anything disagreeable or displeasing happens to you remember Christ crucified and be silent.”   — John of the Cross

“At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!”   — Isaac Watts, ‘At the Cross’