# ✝️ The Signing of the Cross in Early Christianity – Part 1

- Link: https://lordjesuschristreigns.blog/2025/08/13/%e2%9c%9d%ef%b8%8f-the-signing-of-the-cross-in-early-christianity/
- Published: 2025-08-13T06:40:02-07:00
- Author: LordJesusChristReigns

In this post, I’ll highlight an early source attesting to the Christian practice
of making the sign of the cross with the hand. The document in question is the _Odes
of Solomon_, a fascinating and poetic text from the early Christian era.

### 📜 Dating the _Odes of Solomon_

**Scholars generally date the _Odes_ to the early second century,** though some 
suggest a slightly later timeframe. Here’s a summary of scholarly views, as cited
by James H. Charlesworth in _The Anchor Bible Dictionary_ (vol. 6, p. 114):

 * H. J. Drijvers places the _Odes_ as late as the 3rd century.
 * L. Abramowski suggests the latter half of the 2nd century.
 * B. McNeil argues they are contemporaneous with _4 Ezra_, _The Shepherd of Hermas_,
   _Polycarp_, and _Valentinus_ (ca. 100 C.E.).
 * Most scholars favor a mid-2nd-century date.
 * If the _Odes_ are heavily influenced by Jewish apocalyptic thought and the Dead
   Sea Scrolls, a post-100 C.E. date becomes less likely.
 * Scholars such as H. Chadwick, Emerton, and Charlesworth reject the label “gnostic,”
   which would otherwise suggest a later date.

### 📚 Manuscript Evidence

Charlesworth also outlines the textual history of the _Odes_:

 * The 11th Ode appears in a 3rd-century Greek manuscript from the Bodmer Papyri(
   no. 11).
 * Five Odes (1, 5, 6, 22, and 25) were translated into Coptic in the 4th century
   and used in _Pistis Sophia_.
 * Ode 19 was quoted by Lactantius in the 4th century (_Divine Institutes_ 4.12.3).
 * A 10th-century Syriac manuscript preserves Odes 17:7–42:20 (British Museum ms.
   Add. 14538).
 * A 15th-century Syriac copy (John Rylands Library Cod. Syr. 9) contains Odes 3.1b–
   42:20, though the beginning is lost.

Source: [Early Christian Writings – Odes of Solomon](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/odes.html)**(
bold emphasis mine)**

### ✋ The Sign of the Cross in the _Odes_

Two passages in particular suggest an early Christian understanding of the sign 
of the cross as a physical gesture:

#### Ode 27

    ```
    1. I extended my hands and hallowed my Lord,
    2. For the expansion of my hands is His sign.
    3. And my extension is the upright cross.
    Hallelujah.
    ```

#### Ode 42

    ```
    1. I extended my hands and approached my Lord,
       For the expansion of my hands is His sign.
    2. And my extension is the upright cross,
       That was lifted up on the way of the Righteous One.
    ```

Translation by James Charlesworth: [Early Christian Writings – Text of the Odes](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/odes.html)

### 🧠 Scholarly Commentary

Brian J. Arnold, in _Justification in the Second Century_ (CPI Books, 2017, pp. 
149–150), underscores the significance of these verses:

> “Throughout the _Odes_, there is frequent reference to the Lord’s sign, and in
> most cases the ‘sign’ is explicitly connected to the cross. For instance, Ode 
> 27 reads:
>     ```
>     1. I extended my hands
>     And hallowed my Lord
> 
>     2. For the expansion of my hands
>     Is His sign.
> 
>     3. And my extension
>     Is the upright cross.
> 
>     Hallelujah.
>     ```
> 
> In this Ode, there is no doubt that the sign in verse 2 is the upright cross of
> verse 3, **with the sign of the cross being graphically portrayed as the extension
> of the hands.** Ode 42 likewise: ‘I extended my hands and approached my Lord, 
> for the expansion of my hands is His sign. And my extension is the common cross,
> that was lifted up on the way of the Righteous One’ (vv. 1–2). The vocabulary 
> is strikingly similar. **The sign is the expansion of the hands in the outstretched
> position of the cross.** Having just expressed his belief in the Messiah, it seems
> natural to take the ‘sign’ of Ode 29.7a as the cross of Christ, which is the instrument
> by which salvation came.”
> **(Bold emphasis mine)**

---

I’ll be sharing more evidence from the early Church Fathers in the next installment:
[**The Signing of the Cross in Early Christianity – Part 2**](https://lordjesuschristreigns.blog/2025/08/13/%e2%9c%9d%ef%b8%8f-the-signing-of-the-cross-in-early-christianity-part-2/)

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