乔治·班纳德（George Bennard）. Explore “The Old Rugged Cross”: song information and official sources.
Redeeming grace · The cross and substitutionary atonement
Bennard was passing through a spiritually difficult period when he wrote this hymn. He said he repeatedly meditated on “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). Its old, rough cross is an instrument of execution rather than a beautified ornament. That contrast gives the poem its tension: believers treasure what the world considers shameful. The final stanza expresses a resolve to bear the cross until death, leading worship towards a demanding response. Admiring the cross and taking it up are different things. Widely sung in Chinese churches, it is often used during Holy Week and Communion. It also reminds us of something beyond its content: sounding old does not mean a song is in the public domain.
Holy Week, Communion and remembering the Lord's death; teaching on the meaning of the cross.