This Is Scandalous!

As a member of the media, I love a good scandal. That explosive story that shocks the public. 

Here Galatians 5:11, Paul talks about a scandal. But this isn't on the front page of the paper or on the cover of a magazine at the checkout line.  This scandal happened at a bloody Roman execution outside Jerusalem. The scandal of the cross.

Remember the context of this letter and this verse. Paul has just finished his first missionary expedition with Barnabas to what is now the south central part of modern day Turkey. 

Jesus uses them to proclaim God's amazing Good News. Christ has thrown the doors of salvation open to the entire world, not just Jews. This is radical and revolutionary. 

Once he gets back to his church in Antioch in Syria, he hears that the network of churches he planted in Galatia (in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe) have already turned from simply trusting Jesus to a self-salvation project. 

A group of false teachers called the Judaizers have infiltrated the churches and sold them a counterfeit gospel of works that is all centered on being Jewish, specifically circumcision (Gal 1:6; 2:4 3:1; 5:2-4). In hearing this horrible news, the apostle fires off a quick letter to set them straight.

One quick aside. This certainly makes me wonder about Paul's desire to make a quick return trip to these churches not long after he and Barnabas had unpacked their suitcases. 

"Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are" (Acts 15:36). Was the unfolding disaster caused by the Judaizers in Galatia the reason? Probably so.

Paul would like to ask his Galatian readers a question. "But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?" (v11). These false teachers had clearly said that the apostle agrees with what they are teaching. 

For some reason, they said he left out a little detail called circumcision. They lied and claimed that Paul's one of their boys.

Well, if that's the case, why is the man from Tarsus the target of persecution by Jews who believe in circumcision? He's probably talking about what happened when he was in Galatia. 

When Paul was there, he really stirred the pot with this radical new message that Gentiles could come to faith in Messiah Jesus AS GENTILES. His opponents burned with hatred. 

They ran Paul and Barney out of town in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:50). A large group of people plotted to kill them in Iconium (Acts 14:5). And his opposition actually tried to murder him in Lystra but he somehow survived (Acts 14:19-20).

So Paul wants to know if he is so pro-circumcision, why in the wide world of sports is the pro-circumcision crowd trying to kill him? That doesn't make any sense. 

In essence, he says the Judaizers are liars. He doesn't preach circumcision. That couldn't be any further from the truth.

If that lie were indeed true, the apostle says "the offense of the cross has been removed" (v11). The word here is the Greek noun σκανδαλον/skandalon. This term does mean scandal but also carries the idea of a trap that uses a trip wire. 

Anytime we set the focus of salvation on what we do and not on what Jesus has done, we have disarmed the explosive nature of the cross of Christ. The bloody Roman cross Jesus is truly scandalous. 

But it's more than gory and gruesome (and we should NEVER forget it!), but it humbles us to realize that we are absolutely powerless to do anything to save ourselves. 

I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. The one and only way we can ever be made right is by admitting that we can never do it ourselves and trust what Jesus does for us. That's absolutely scandalous.

Paul uses the very same idea and the very same Greek word in his first letter to the Corinthians. "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block (Gr. σκανδαλον/skandalon) to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1Cor 1:23). 

The cross is scandalous to Jews because it tells them that they have completely missed the boat when it comes to the law. 

The law of Moses with its sacrifices and circumcision doesn't save them. Its only purpose was to make them realize how badly they need a Savior. As Matt Chandler says, the law is a diagnostic tool, not a remedy.

The scandal of the cross tells me that nothing I do can save me. My best effort on my best day apart from Jesus is utterly disgusting in the eyes of God (Is 64:6). 

As William Temple said, the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that makes it necessary. 

When we place our faith in Jesus' perfect life, brutal death and glorious resurrection on our behalf, Christ is our representative and our substitute. 

It's the Great Exchange. Our sin for His righteousness (2Cor 5:21).

That's the scandal of the cross.

©2012

Jay Jennings