The word cross in the New Testament comes from the Greek word stauros, which studies of word origins reveal simply means stake or pole. This term was used in literature to describe pieces of wood of various shapes, including those with crosspieces. There is no description in the Bible of the specific stauros on which Christ died. If it were important for us to know its shape, God would have provided us with additional information.

The New Testament employs the Greek word stauros (G4716), meaning a stake, to describe the instrument of Jesus' death. Used 28 times in Scripture, it is almost always translated as cross. According to Robert Young in his Analytical Concordance to the Bible, stauros signifies a stake, though it is consistently rendered as cross in each of its appearances. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words further clarifies that stauros primarily denotes an upright pale or stake, on which malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb form of stauros, meaning to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally distinct from the later ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed cross.

The English word "cross" in the Bible is translated from the Greek word stauros (G4716), which derives from the root sta, meaning to stand. As far as the word itself is concerned, there is no indication of any cross piece whatsoever. According to W.E. Vine's scholarly work, stauros means simply an upright stake and is distinct from the ecclesiastical form of the two-beamed cross, which originated in ancient Chaldea as a symbol of the god Tammuz. The New Testament does not specifically describe the instrument upon which Jesus died, though in Acts it is referred to as a tree, translated from the Greek word xulou, which can mean a tree, stake, or wood. Eyewitness accounts from the apostles, such as Peter and Paul, consistently describe Jesus as being hung on a tree, emphasizing the instrument of His death as such.