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THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (Galatians 3:13; cf. Deuteronomy 21:23; Acts 5:30; 13:29).
• “Christ crucified” – the “CURSED one” is the “ANOINTED One.” “Christ crucified” is a contradiction in terms (like “godly murderer”). Christ (Messiah) meant power, splendor, triumph; crucifixion meant weakness, humiliation, defeat.
• “Stumbling block” (skandalon) – offense, SCANDAL. “‘Scandal is in fact closer to the sense than ‘stumbling block,’ since the word does not so much mean something that one is tripped up by as something that offends to the point of arousing opposition” (Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 75). Skandalon is also found in Galatians 5:11: “the offense of the cross.” Many Jews viewed the crucifixion as the ultimate proof that Jesus had been cursed by God for some sin of His own.
• “Foolishness” (moria) – stupidity, MADNESS. “Gentiles wrote off the message of the cross not as eccentric, harmless folly, but as dangerous, almost deranged stupidity” (D. A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, p. 22).
“They say that our madness consists in the fact that we put a crucified man in second place after the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of the world.”—Justin Martyr (100-165), First Apology 13.4
“I discovered nothing but a perverse and extravagant superstition.”—Pliny the Younger (62-113), in a letter written to Emperor Trajan asking for advice on how to deal with Christians, Epistles 10.96
“Christus…suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition thus broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome…”—Tacitus (56-117), Annals 15.44
“Why do you embrace your cross, you fool?”—from The Passion of the Christ, spoken by one of the criminals to be crucified with Jesus
WHAT IS REDEMPTION?
1. Redemption is deliverance by payment of a PRICE.
Illustration: Bottle redemption
2. The price paid is the RANSOM.
Illustration: Ransom note
Examples of ancient redemption:
• SLAVERY
“If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien’s clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him” (Leviticus 25:47-48).
• PRISONERS OF WAR
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe (Psalm 107:1-2).
• DEATH SENTENCE
“If, however, the bull has had a habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull must be stoned and the owner also must be put to death. However, if payment is demanded of him, he may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded” (Exodus 21:29-30).
REDEMPTION AND THE CROSS
1. Our redemption was necessary because of our SINFUL condition.
a. We were under sin’s bondage.
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34).
b. We were under sin’s captivity.
And that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26).
c. We were under sin’s condemnation.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die… (Romans 8:13).
All you who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (Galatians 3:10; cf. v. 13; Deuteronomy 27:26).
It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
2. Our redemption was purchased by the BLOOD of Christ.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45; cf. Matthew 20:28).
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… (1 Timothy 2:5-6).
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood (Romans 3:24-25).
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7; cf. Colossians 1:14).
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:18-19).
And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9; cf. 14:3-4).
3. Our redemption stirs us to SERVE Christ.
You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; cf. 2 Peter 2:1; Titus 2:14).
For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men (1 Corinthians 7:22-23).
RESOURCES USED
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT)
Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
Martin Hengel, Crucifixion
Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross
Leon Morris, The Cross in the New Testament
