1 Corinthians 1:23

Christ crucified. See on ch. 2:2. Stumblingblock. Gr. skandalon, “the trigger of a trap,” or “the baited stick on a trap,” placed in such a way that when an animal stepped on it the trap was sprung and the animal was caught. Metaphorically, skandalon means that which causes sin, error, or offense. To the nation of Israel according to the flesh, who clung to the expectation of a Messiah who would rule as an earthly king and make them the supreme kingdom in the world, the message of the crucified Saviour gave offense. The gospel was directly contrary to their conception of the Messiah, and was therefore rejected by them, to their ruin. Compare Gal. 5:11, where skandalon is translated “offence.” The attitude of the Jews toward the idea that someone crucified might be the Messiah is illustrated in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue With Trypho, in which Trypho says, “But this so-called Christ of yours was dishonourable and inglorious, so much so that the last curse contained in the law of God fell on him, for he was crucified” (32; ANF, Vol. 1, p. 210). Unto the Greeks. To those who relied on philosophy, logic, science, and intellectual discoveries, the idea that one who was put to death by the most humiliating form of punishment used by the Romans — crucifixion — could save them, was sheer nonsense (see AA 245). The difficulty the philosophical mind experiences in accepting a crucified man as the Son of God is reflected in the following passage from Justin Martyr: “For with what reason should we believe of a crucified man that He is the first-born of the unbegotten God, and Himself will pass judgment on the whole human race, unless we had found testimonies concerning Him published before He came and was born as man, and unless we saw that things had happened accordingly” (The First Apology 53; ANF, vol. 1, p. 180). In ch. 13 the apologist declares, “For they proclaim our madness to consist in this, that we give to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God” {ibid., p. 167).