For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. [3] I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. [4] My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, [5] so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV
Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection are the ultimate inspiration and motivation for choosing to walk with God and imitate the life of Jesus. It is the way we understand God’s love, mercy, power, and vision for our lives.
For those who are new to Christianity, or for those who need to renew their faith and passion about the meaning of the crucifixion, we have compiled a few of our favorite resources to better understand what happened on the cross.
You can use these videos and passages to deepen your own understanding of the cross of Jesus or share them with others who want to learn!
Passages of the Bible that tell the story of the cross
The best way to understand what happened on the cross is to read about it for ourselves in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament.
Here are the key passages of the Bible that tell us the story of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection:
God highlights slightly different details in each account, so it’s a great idea to read through all of them eventually, but you don’t have to do it in one sitting. Starting with Matthew will give you a great description of what happened on the cross.
The STORY overview videos
The STORY Bible is an abridged version of the Bible that uses excerpts of Scripture to help readers understand the overall story.
These two videos use the STORY Bible to narrate a visual overview of Jesus’s death and resurrection. While these videos shouldn’t take the place of reading Scripture for yourself, they can be helpful tools to supplement your Bible reading—especially if you are a visual learner.
The BibleProject video summaries
Another supplemental resource is this video from The Bible Project, a nonprofit organization that makes videos to teach the Bible in an approachable way.
These videos explain the events in Luke 19-24 in a brief, illustrated way. Once again, they shouldn’t substitute for Scripture itself, but they are a great supplemental tool for understanding the Bible more deeply or explaining the cross to others.
We hope these tools help you in your understanding of the cross! If you come across other resources that are helpful in learning or teaching about the cross, drop us a line and let us know. We’d love to hear about them!