The scandal of the gospel
The Gospel, when properly preached and proclaimed has always been scandalous. Indeed the Scriptures describe Jesus as the stone that would make men stumble and the rock that would make men fall. The word stumble in the Greek text is scandelon. Truth is hard, and Jesus, as the living truth, and His message were hard, as scandalous then as today. So we note with interest Paul’s comment in 2 Corinthians 6 where he says that he put no stumbling block in anyone’s path. Far from compromising the Gospel, Paul was making the point that our lives and actions should not cause others to stumble. This would bring attention to ourselves and take it away from the Gospel. The Gospel will bring men down of its own power if we simply serve as the vessel.