How Long Was Jesus on the Cross? (TIMELINE)

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

The crucifixion of Jesus is one of the most significant and debated events in history. Beyond its profound theological and historical implications, questions about the physical details of Jesus’ death continue to intrigue scholars and believers alike. One of the most commonly asked questions is: How long was Jesus on the cross?

By examining the specifics of crucifixion and cross-referencing the Gospel accounts, we can piece together a clearer picture of how long Jesus endured this agonizing fate. In this article I’ll explore the typical duration of crucifixion, the details provided in the Gospels, and the historical and physical factors that may explain the timing of Jesus' death on the cross.

How Long Did a Typical Crucifixion Last?

Before we can answer the question of how long Jesus was on the cross, there are some things we need to understand about crucifixion in general.

Crucifixion was a method of capital punishment favored by the Romans, although the Carthaginians and Persians used it as well, according to John Granger Cook writing in the Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. It involved nailing and/or tying a person to a cross or a stake and letting them hang there until they died.

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While popular depictions of crucifixion show the victim being nailed to the cross by the hands and feet, archeological evidence has demonstrated some of the difficulties inherent in this method. In 1968, archeologists discovered the 1st-century CE remains of a crucified man in Jerusalem, the only such example of crucified remains found so far. The bones of the man, who was named Jehohanan according to his ossuary, gave scholars a lot of information about how crucifixion worked, according to Hershel Shanks.

Specifically, while it was initially imagined that the victim’s feet were nailed to the cross by one nail through the top of the feet, Jehohannan’s heel bone shows something different. His heel bone has a large nail still embedded in it. However, the nail didn’t go through the top of the foot but sideways through the heel. In Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion, David Chapman writes that the most likely scenario is that the victim’s feet were placed to either side of the upright beam of the cross and nailed sideways.

In addition, although translations of John 20:25 mention wounds from the nails in Jesus’ hands, the Greek word translated as hand — cheír — can mean anything from the hand to the entire forearm up to the elbow. Since the soft tissue of the hand could not have supported a victim’s weight, some have proposed that either their arms were tied to the cross instead or that they were nailed to the wood through the wrists or forearms.

What was the ultimate cause of death for a crucified person? As usual with such historical questions, it’s complicated.

In their article “The History and Pathology of Crucifixion”, F.P. Retief and L. Cilliers write that there are many factors involved in the death of a crucified person. For example, the scourging of the victim before they were hung on the cross, a common practice according to many sources, would have caused severe bleeding and dehydration. However, Retief and Cilliers detail that the main factor leading to death would have been “progressive asphyxia caused by impairment of respiratory movement.”

Hanging by the arms for a long period of time would make breathing progressively more difficult. Eventually, the person would die from a lack of oxygen. Retief and Cillliers write that if the attending Roman soldiers thought this was taking too long, they would speed things along by various methods.

These included the “breaking of the tibia and/or fibula, spear stab wounds into the heart, sharp blows to the front of the chest, or a smoking fire built at the foot of the cross to asphyxiate the victim.” Readers of the Gospels will recognize two of these methods — breaking the legs and stabbing with a spear — although Jesus was speared in the side rather than the heart because he was already dead.

How long did death on a cross generally take? Retief and Cilliers write that it could have taken anywhere from six hours to four days. 

How Long Was Jesus on the Cross Before He Died?

The Gospels tell us some of Jesus’ treatment, but how many days was he on the cross? Before I answer that,  take a look at this comparison chart of how all four canonical Gospels tell the story.

Gospel Timelines of Jesus’ Crucifixion

All four Gospels write that after Jesus was sentenced by Pilate, he had to make his way from Jerusalem where he had been tried, to Golgotha where his crucifixion would take place. Kaufman Kohler and Emil Hirsch write that people condemned to be crucified were normally forced to carry not the entire cross, but only the horizontal cross-beam to the place of execution.

However, the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all say that another person was compelled to carry Jesus’ cross. Mark 15:21 says the guards “compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.” The stories in Matthew and Luke agree.

Jesus was forced to carry his own cross-beam only in the Gospel of John. As John 19:16-17 puts it, “So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross by himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.”

Once they arrived at Golgotha, Jesus was nailed to the cross by the Roman soldiers who were there. Moreover, all four Gospels agree there were some random passersby who came to see the crucifixion. Only in John, however, are friends and family present, watching Jesus on the cross. Specifically, John 19:25-27 says Jesus’ mother and one of his aunts are there, along with a woman named Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple whom Jesus loved. Finally, the Synoptics all say the Jewish religious authorities were present. Mark 15:31-32, for instance, says:

How long was Jesus on the cross? Matthew and Luke don’t mention any time of day when the crucifixion began, but Mark says it was at “the third hour” or nine o’clock in the morning. John, however, says Jesus was sentenced around noon, so his actual crucifixion would have begun sometime after that.

All three Synoptic Gospels say that at noon, a 3-hour period of darkness fell over the land. Since Jesus had been on the cross since 9:00 AM, he had been hanging on the cross for three hours. At the end of this period of darkness, Jesus dies at 3:00 PM. This fits with the lower end of the range of time it generally took for someone to die on the cross, according to Retief and Cilliers. Since John doesn’t indicate when Jesus finally died, we’ll have to take the Synoptics’ word for it. How long did Jesus hang on the cross? He was on the cross for six hours before he died.

Conclusion

Crucifixion was a horrible way to die. Death on the cross was far from instantaneous. After being mercilessly whipped, the condemned person was forced to carry the crossbeam of their own instrument of torture to the place where they would be killed. After being nailed and/or tied to the cross, the victim would hang there, slowly asphyxiating over a period of hours or even days.

Jesus’ crucifixion, as described in the Gospels, certainly fits this pattern in most ways. After he was scourged, the Synoptics say he was given a reprieve from the arduous task of lugging the instrument of his death when someone else was forced to carry his cross-beam, although John disagrees, saying Jesus carried it himself.

How long was Jesus on the cross? Mark’s Gospel says he was nailed to the cross at 9:00 in the morning. Three hours later, according to all three Synoptics, a darkness lasting three hours fell over the entire land, after which Jesus gave up the ghost. Since John doesn’t tell us when Jesus died — he merely says Jesus’ crucifixion began after noon — we have only the Synoptics to tell us: Jesus hung on the cross for six hours before dying.