CROSS — in older Greek simply an upright stake or pale, and by Roman times the instrument of crucifixion, a punishment reserved principally for slaves, rebels and provincials. ⚠ Modern readers meet it as jewellery, which makes the New Testament's sentences about it nearly unhearable: Cicero called crucifixion 'the most cruel and disgusting penalty' and wrote that the very word should be kept far from a Roman citizen's ears. 'The word of the cross' was therefore an obscenity to announce as good news, and Paul says so outright rather than softening it. → first discussed at 1 Corinthians 1:17