Q5. The Offense of the Cross

[RD35]

 The Cross offended the Jews because Jesus was crucified on it and Jesus was the messiah prophesied in the scriptures.  Secondly because of the death of Jesus on the cross grace reigns and not law.  We are made right with God by Christ’s death and not obedience to the law.

[Thanking Joan]

The offense of the cross is Jesus is crucified and the death of Jesus on the cross saved mankind and not the law of the Jews.

The cross offends people in our day is one it points out the sin in us and secondly people still hold to law and not grace that we have attained by the death of Jesus on the cross.

Yes.. the proclanation of the cross is softened by law and wrong ideas of man.

[JoanG]

The offense of the cross was that Christ was put to death as a criminal for being the Messiah. Yes, he fulfilled the scriptures from the Old Testament by his death. But the Jews did not realize who he was. They allowed the leaders to corrupt their view points. They allowed their egos to destroy their faith and their beliefs in what is right and wrong.

 

People today only want to remember the pleasant aspects of Christ's life. They do not want to think about his death. They do not want to dwell on the facts that they are sinners. Some people want to take the easy way out in their faith. They find that they can manipulate the bible for their own purpose. They pick and choose what to believe. They refuse to live the faith, they make the faith fit into their own lives.

 

I feel that the true meaning of the message of the cross is being compromised and manipulated to fit into the soft world where we now live. People do not really want to have to work at faith. There are a lot of people that go to worship to be entertained. They forget that they are there to give glory and honor to God.

[lighthouse2014]

Q5. (Galatians 5:11) What is “the offense of the cross” that offended the Jews? How does the cross offend people in our day? Have you noticed Christians softening their proclamation of the cross? Does this help them communicate more clearly to our age or does it compromise the true message?

Galatians 5:11 "the offense of the cross" offended the Jews because the Jewish leaders had put Christ to death and he had turned out to be the Messiah according to scripture. Secondly Jesus atonement for sins had made sinners right with God, not by obedience to the law but by faith in Christ.

The only Christians I have noticed that soften or avoid the proclamation of the cross are those preachers who are prosperity pro claimers and preach not repentance from sins.

This type of prosperity preaching compromises the true message of Christ. They preach God is love, we should feel good about ourselves and the Lord will bless us.   

[Lionwolf]

Q5. (Galatians 5:11) What is "the offense of the cross" that offended the Jews? How does the cross offend people in our day? Have you noticed Christians softening their proclamation of the cross? Does this help them communicate more clearly to our age or does it compromise the true message?

The offense that offends is salvation through faith and not salvation through the law. Faith saves, law convicts. The cross offends the Jews because they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and it reminds them of his death. People in our day are offended by the cross because it tells them there is absolute truth. Tells them they are in need and do not want to accept this. Some Christians are placing Jesus and the resurrection in a secondary role. Whether it is to draw new membership into their church or to be politically correct some churches are trying to redefine Christianity. The salvation given by God's grace was through Jesus's death on the cross and his resurrection. Letting concern over communication with young people, concern over secular politically correct issues, and concern over offending others with the truth is only compromising the true message. Paul is very clear on this. Diluting the truth does no one any service. 

[Annie343]

OFFENDED BY THE CROSS: any offer of salvation that does not have the opportunity to earn credits; being a law-breaker as part of their culture (not willing to give things up); justification by faith is too easy and not necessary; that the Messiah would be crucified and therefore not accepting Jesus' atonement given by virtue of the cross

OFFEND PEOPLE TODAY: it is the barrier to salvation and not recognizing that all are sinners regardless of the good things they do; looking at lives showing hypocrisy in the church; burden of looking at life from a secular viewpoint; hearing the preaching that all needed Christ so they are discounting the value of Christ's sacrifice to turn away from idols (money, power, sex, etc.); wanting to do things their own way and not being judged

SOFTENING PROCLAMATION OF THE CROSS:making the gospel soft to have power with the world; seeing the way of Christ and the cross being the denial of efforts for righteousness (striving to be popular); seen churches being in turmoil, confusion, and accusations made to not judge; doctrinal integrity and lifestyle of leaders are needed to rest on the promises of God and not what people may think; in-house fighting for selfish purposes of gain; state of church members falling away and listening to teachers from various cults as one way to enlightenment; leaders turning away from the gospel and showing lack of character to stand for Christ; making the cross of no account

COMMUNICATION OR COMPROMISE TRUE MESSAGE: believing that salvation is not by grace alone as well as being justified by faith (freedom to do anything that pleases them); the diluting or diminishing of Christ's work and salvation by faith (being old-fashioned) is a compromise; look to see if one bows and is loyal to Christ; not revealing Christ and what salvation means by lifestyle, however, this doesn't apply to all churches seeking to follow Christ with biblical standards as well as being Spirit-led

[Jonathan Edwards]

The Cross meant that the Mosaic Law was over, and that one cannot be saved by good works.  The Law of Moses never taught that a sinner was accepted by good works.  No merited of salvation. by good works.

Preaching of the Cross in a thorough fashion means to preach the FULL GOSPEL.  This is so important.   People need to realize that Christ's death, burial and Resurrection is central to our faith.  It entails admitting that one is a sinner in need of grace, and renouncing the world, the flesh and the devil.  Daily mortification of the flesh is also part of the equation.

Tragic that many churches have lapsed into seeker friendly preaching.   No mention about renouncing the devil, repentence, and living a separate Christian lifestyle.  These churches are heterdox.   Not preaching the FULL GOSPEL and all the ramifications of Christain discipleship.  This compromise is not helpful to poor souls who in many cases don't know their left hands from their right hands.

[Krissi]

Starting with the last part of Pastor Ralph's question ...

There is a fine and subtle line between wrongly softening the gospel message and rightly giving the gospel a shape, form and context another culture can understand. As the gap between secularists and Christians widens in Western countries, mutual understanding widens as well. Christians have to bridge that gap but do so in a way that doesn’t dilute the gospel and the significance of the cross. We have to understand that the cross offends those to whom we are witnessing, and pray for the Holy Spirit to overwhelm their feelings of revulsion, anger and rejection.

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The cross makes a claim that the Jews, religionists and secularists do NOT want to accept which is that Jesus is the only way. In a time of multi-culti, any exclusive claim is offensive. Secularists are offended by our claim that Christianity is not one religion among many, an option to be considered along with "non-religion," but the only way. Secularists who worship at the altar of tolerance, not truth, are greatly offended by the unique claims Christian make regarding the cross.

Agnostics and atheists have deeply imbibed the falsity that they did not reject Christ but religion in itself;  the message of the cross, which they deny, exposes this lie. In declaring themselves to be agnostic, atheists or "religion-open," they're denying the man Jesus who died on a cross. I find it difficult to explain this to them.

The law, in contrast, offends no one. Today's Orthodox Jews, for example, behave in quaint and harmless ways (until you know them well) which make no demands on anyone outside their cult. Circumcision is just one of hundreds of their obsolete rules. The cross forces the issue of salvation – to either accept Jesus or die. Even today, Jews will bend over backward to NOT face that issue.

The fact is that though Roman soldiers physically killed Jesus, the Jews caused the death of their own Messiah. The cross reminds them of their complicity and guilt which is why they claim that the cross, in particular, reflects Christian bigotry and persecution of "the other." It's truly amazing how they flip the truth.

Judaizers were rejected by Christ through the cross. Former Jews and gentiles in the early Christian church, a powerless Christian “cult,” rejected Judaism and it's laws. It's hard for us to understand how Jews, when you speak deeply to them, eventually reach the point where they admit they feel rejected. Few desire to be associated with losers, but in their emotional mind, there's nothing worse than rejection by the rejected.  Jesus was a dreg of society so powerless that even the socially déclassé Jews were able to get the Romans to crucify him. The cross symbolizes, then, their cultural/political/social powerlessness at the same time it proclaims victory over these things. People pursuing earthly power and status find the cross to be offensive, then, because it is the antithesis of their values as well as a reminder of how fearfully fragile are their accomplishments, how quickly they, too, could be crucified. 

Lastly, the cross keeps Christianity from devolving into a self-help or feel-good faith. In many churches, Christians rarely hear about hell, for example, or judgment, which are both associated with the cross. They'd rather hear that God is good and loving, infinitely patient and slow to condemn sin. Just as secularists would rather talk about religion generically, some Christians would rather talk about "the Lord" or other lofty euphemisms to avoid uttering the name Jesus. But Jesus was on the cross. A man died there.

His name was Jesus.

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Sorry about this long-winded response.