Why INRI?

Q: Older crucifixes have a scroll at the top, with INRI on it. Somewhere I read this was an acronym, meant ironically, “King of the Jews.” I also heard it was placed there by a wealthy Jew—connected with the story of the Wandering Jew. Most recent crucifixes do not seem to have it.

A: At the time of Jesus when a criminal was crucified, the reason or charge was placed on the cross. The Gospel of Matthew 27:37 tells us in the case of Jesus, “They placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Mark 15:26 reads, “The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’”

The author of John relates, “Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.’ Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek” (John 19:19-20).

In Latin the inscription would read, “Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judaeorum.” In Latin, the letter J can always be represented by I, so the letters INRI are the first letters of those words—a kind of abbreviation that is meant to remind us of the inscription and can fit the narrow confines of the crucifix.

John goes on to say that the Jews wanted Pilate to change the inscription to read, “He [Jesus] said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’ Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written” (verses 21-22).

So it was Pilate who had the sign attached to the cross, not “a wealthy Jew,” as you heard.