There are two Greek words used for the executional instrument on which Christ died​—staurós and xýlon. The authoritative Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible gives as the primary meaning for staurós “a stake or post,” and for xýlon “timber,” “tree” or “wood.” The New Bible Dictionary says: “The Gk. word for ‘cross’ (staurós, verb stauróo) means primarily an upright stake or beam, and secondarily a stake used as an instrument for punishment and execution.”

In confirmation of this, appendix No. 162 of The Companion Bible states concerning staurós that it “denotes an upright pale or stake, to which the criminals were nailed for execution. . . . It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone.” (Italics theirs.) The appendix concludes: “The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle.”