Justification and sanctification as the horizontal and vertical bars of the cross

One of the most solemn instructions Jesus gave was: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24) This instruction wasn’t given only to special people, nor expressed as something that would only rarely or intermittently apply, but as something for any believer, all of the time. One reason readers limit the scope and application of this instruction from the Lord is that they do not understand what it means to take up his cross and follow him.

The cross provides a two-dimensional metaphor for discipleship through alignment with God: justification and sanctification. Justification—the complete reconciliation of your character to how you believe God to be—is represented by the horizontal bar of the cross. Sanctification—the degree of your similitude to God—is represented by the vertical bar of the cross. In terms of the Lord’s instruction, justification answers the question of whether you have taken up his cross or not, and sanctification answers the question of how accurate your understanding of God’s character has become.

As you live what you understand about God, you will learn more about him. Living what you understand about God is akin to being stretched across and fixed to the horizontal bar of the cross. Learning more about God is akin to being raised higher on the cross, coinciding with a widening of the horizontal bar to which you must live up to in order to repeat the cycle. You move “up” the cross as you learn more about Jesus while remaining reconciled to all you know about him.

Several words are used ambiguously in the scriptures to refer to the horizontal and vertical bars of the cross, including staff, bar, rod, scepter, tree, arrow, and bow. The meanings and uses of each figure are overlapping. For example, the shepherd’s staff can be used both as a tool to lean upon vertically, or a tool for goading sheep horizontally. For clarity, each scriptural reference usually includes enough context to identify the horizontal and vertical components.

For example, when Balaam prophesies that “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel,”¹ “come” gives the “star out of Jacob” away as the horizontal component, as it is the same Hebrew verb used to describe shooting an arrow, and the scepter rising gives it away as the vertical component.

One of the most famous psalms is another example of the cross imagery:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

In addition to meaning what it does in English, the word translated here as “comfort” also means “to cause to repent.” The rod “comforts” horizontally as you are chastened for your known shortcomings until and unless you improve beyond them, while the staff “comforts” vertically in at least two ways: First, by reminding you how far you’ve come, and second, by revealing how you could be even better.