“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock , and unto the Greeks foolishness;”
My Notes
What Does 1 Corinthians 1:23 Mean?
Paul names the gospel's offense — and it offends two groups in opposite ways. "But we preach Christ crucified" — the content of the message is a person and an event: Christ (the promised Messiah) crucified (executed on a Roman cross). The verb "preach" (kerussomen) means to herald, to proclaim publicly, to announce as a town crier. Paul isn't whispering the gospel. He's announcing it. And the announcement is deliberately scandalous.
"Unto the Jews a stumblingblock" — the Greek word for stumblingblock is skandalon — the trigger of a trap, the thing you trip over. For Jews, a crucified Messiah was a theological impossibility. The Messiah was supposed to conquer, reign, and deliver. Deuteronomy 21:23 declared that anyone hung on a tree was cursed by God. A crucified Christ meant a cursed Christ — the opposite of everything Israel expected from its deliverer. The cross wasn't just wrong. It was offensive to the very framework of Jewish hope.
"And unto the Greeks foolishness" — for the Greek mind, shaped by philosophy and reason, a god dying on a cross was absurd. The Greeks valued wisdom, logic, and transcendence. A crucified deity was the negation of everything divine. Gods don't die. Gods certainly don't die the death of a slave. The cross wasn't offensive to the Greeks the way it was to the Jews. It was just stupid.
Paul preaches the scandal anyway. He doesn't soften the crucifixion for Jewish sensibilities or intellectualize it for Greek ones. He preaches Christ crucified — the message that trips one group and embarrasses the other — because (v. 24) to those who are called, it's the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Which reaction do you encounter more — people stumbling at the cross (like the Jews) or dismissing it as foolishness (like the Greeks)?
- 2.Have you softened the message of the cross to make it more acceptable? What did you leave out, and what was lost?
- 3.The cross offends both religious expectation and intellectual pride. Which one does it offend most in you?
- 4.Paul preaches the scandal deliberately. What would it look like for you to lead with the cross rather than hiding it behind something more palatable?
Devotional
The cross trips the religious and embarrasses the intellectual. Paul preaches it anyway.
Two audiences. Two objections. Same cross. The Jews heard "crucified Messiah" and stumbled — because their Bible said anyone on a tree was cursed, and their hope said the Messiah would reign. A crucified Christ was a theological scandal. It contradicted everything they'd been taught to expect. The cross wasn't just disappointing. It was disqualifying.
The Greeks heard "crucified God" and laughed — because their philosophy said the divine was transcendent, impassible, above suffering. A god who dies is a contradiction in terms. A god who dies the death of a criminal is beyond absurd. The cross wasn't just wrong. It was beneath consideration.
"But we preach Christ crucified." Paul doesn't adjust the message for either audience. He doesn't minimize the crucifixion for the Jews or philosophize it for the Greeks. He announces it. Christ. Crucified. Full stop. The very thing that creates the offense is the thing he leads with — because the offense is the gospel. Remove the cross and you've removed the power.
This verse is permission to stop apologizing for the parts of the gospel that make people uncomfortable. The cross is a stumbling block. It's supposed to be. It trips up every system of self-salvation. It embarrasses every attempt to reach God through human wisdom. And it does both on purpose — because the God who designed the cross designed it to destroy every alternative path to Him. The scandal is the strategy.
If you've been tempted to smooth the edges of the gospel — to make the cross palatable, to lead with something less offensive — Paul says: we preach Christ crucified. The stumbling block and the foolishness are the point. Don't apologize for the thing that saves.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
But we preach Christ crucified,.... Regardless of the sentiments and opinions of Jews and Gentiles, of what the one…
But we - We who are Christian preachers make Christ crucified the grand subject of our instructions and our aims in…
But we - Apostles, differing widely from these Gentile philosophers: -
Preach Christ crucified - Call on men, both Jews…
We have here,
I. The manner in which Paul preached the gospel, and the cross of Christ: Not with the wisdom of words…
but we preach Christ crucified The Christian doctrine was the very reverse of what Jews and Greeks demanded. Instead of…
Cross References
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