Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Corinthians 1:23

"but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;" — 1 Corinthians 1:23 (ASV)

But we. We who are Christian preachers make Christ crucified the grand subject of our instructions and our aims, in contrast to the Jew and the Greek. They seek, the one miracles, the other wisdom; we glory only in the cross.

Christ crucified. The word Christ, the Anointed, is the same as the Hebrew name Messiah. The emphasis in this expression is on the word crucified.

The Jews would make the Messiah whom they expected no less an object of glorifying than the apostles did, but they spurned the doctrine that he was to be crucified. Yet in that the apostles boasted, proclaiming him crucified, or having been crucified, as the only hope of humanity.

This must mean more than that Christ was distinguished for moral worth or that he died as a martyr. If that were all, no reason could be given why the cross should be made so prominent an object. It must mean that Christ was crucified for the sins of men, as an atoning sacrifice in the place of sinners. "We proclaim a crucified Messiah as the only Redeemer of lost men."

To the Jews a stumbling-block. The word stumbling-block (Greek: skandalon) properly means anything in the way over which one may fall. It then refers to anything that gives offense or causes one to fall into sin.

Here it means that, for the Jews, the doctrine of the Messiah's crucifixion was a great offense. It excited, irritated, and exasperated them; they could not endure this teaching and treated it with scorn. (1 Peter 2:8).

It is well known that for the Jews, no doctrine was more offensive than this: that the Messiah was to be put to death, and that salvation was to be found in no other way. This was true in the apostles' time and has remained so. Therefore, they have usually called the Lord Jesus, by way of derision, tolvi (Hebrew: the man that was hanged, that is, on a cross). For the same reason, they have usually denominated Christians abdai tolvi (Hebrew: servants of the man that was hanged). The reasons for this feeling are obvious:

1. They had looked for a magnificent temporal prince, but the doctrine that their Messiah was crucified dashed all their expectations. They regarded it with contempt and scorn, proportionate to how highly their hopes had been elevated and these expectations cherished.
2. They had the common feelings of all people—the native feelings of pride and self-righteousness—by which they rejected the doctrine that we are dependent for salvation on one who was crucified.
3. They regarded Jesus as one given over by God for an enormous attempt at imposition, as having been justly put to death, and as the object of the Almighty's curse (Isaiah 53:4, We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God?). They endeavored to convince themselves that he was the object of Divine dereliction and abhorrence, and therefore, they rejected the doctrine of the cross with the deepest feelings of detestation.

To the Greeks. To the Gentiles in general. So the Syriac, the Vulgate, the Arabic, and the Ethiopic versions all read it. The term Greek denotes all who were not Jews; thus the phrase, "the Jews and the Greeks," comprehended the whole human family (1 Corinthians 1:22).

Foolishness. (See 1 Corinthians 1:18).

They regarded it as folly for the following reasons:

1. Because they esteemed the whole account a fable and an imposition.
2. It did not accord with their own views of the way to elevate the human condition.
3. They saw no efficacy in the doctrine, no tendency in the statement that a man of humble birth was put to death in an ignominious manner in Judea, to make people better or to enable them to receive pardon.
4. They had the common feelings of unrenewed human nature: blind to the beauty of Christ's character and blind to the design of his death. Therefore, they regarded the whole statement as folly.

We may remark here that the feelings of the Jews and of the Greeks on this subject are the common feelings of humanity. Everywhere, sinners have the same views of the cross; and everywhere the human heart, if left to itself, rejects it as either a stumbling-block or as folly.

But the doctrine should be preached, even though it is an offense and though it appears to be folly. It is the only hope for humanity, and by the preaching of the cross alone can sinners be saved.