Two Symbols of Christianity: The cross

Catholics and Protestants is that many Catholic crosses have an image of Jesus hanging on them, while Protestant crosses are empty. (The cross with Christ on it is a crucifix.) One minor reason that Protestants use an empty cross is that some early Protestant reformers were very cautious about images of Christ. Crosses are frequent in places of worship, but these reformers believed that using images of God in worship was a violation of the second commandment. More important is that the cross and the crucifix represent two very different understandings of Christ's atonement for sin. Both Catholics and evangelical Protestants believe that Christ died to pay the penalty for sin. The difference is that Protestants believe that Christ's work was finished on the cross, and Catholics believe it continues. For Catholics, the appearance of Christ on the crucifix represents the fact that Christ's atoning work is still going on. For Protestants, the empty cross demonstrates that Christ's sacrificial work is completed, and there is no more sacrifice for sin.