Stumbling blocks are necessarily present in a fallen world, yet the person who is a stumbling block is responsible before God, and Christ pronounces a solemn "Woe" upon him (Mt. 18:7). This issue actually surfaces quite often in the New Testament. Yet it is not all one-way traffic. There are some stumbling blocks that are God-given and necessary; there are other stumbling blocks which are the result of sin; and there are yet others where considerable wisdom is required in dealing with them.

The person of Christ is said to be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8). Jesus tells us: "Blessed is the one who is not offended by me" (Mt. 11:6). These days people have discovered a right not to be offended, but the claims of Christ will necessarily offend the unregenerate sinner. After all, He claims to be the way, the truth, and the life, with no one coming to the Father except through Him (Jn 14:6). He claims to be the judge of the whole world (Jn 5:28-29).

If this is not true, we have to face J. Gresham Machen's question: "What shall be thought of a human being who lapsed so far from the path of humility and sanity as to believe that the eternal destinies of the world were committed into His hands?" That Christ will decide the eternal destiny of every one of us on this earth is offensive in the extreme to the unbeliever, but foundational to the believer.

Related to this is the offence of the cross. Christ crucified, says Paul, is a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). Here is the opinion of Cicero:

How grievous a thing it is to be disgraced by a public court; how grievous to suffer a fine; how grievous to suffer banishment; and yet in the midst of any such disaster we retain some degree of liberty. Even if we are threatened with death, we may die free men. But the executioner, the veiling of the head and the very word "cross" should be far removed not only from the person of a Roman citizen but his thoughts, his eyes and his ears. For it is not only the actual occurrence of these things but the very mention of them, that is unworthy of a Roman citizen and a free man.

So contrary was the idea of a crucified Messiah to the mind of the apostle Peter that he vigorously declared that such a thing could never happen. Hence Christ called him "Satan", and said that he was a stumbling block to Him (Mt. 16:21-23). The scandal or stumbling block of the cross is inherent in the Christian message (Gal. 5:11).

Yet Christians are to do everything possible not to be stumbling blocks to others (Mt. 18:7; Rom. 16:17). On mat­ters of idolatry and sexual immorality, it goes without saying that we are not to be a stumbling block to those around us (Rev. 2:14). For nine years the great Augustine was a deluded member of the dualistic Manichaean cult. As a powerful orator, he proved to be a convincing advocate for a bad cause. After he became a Christian in A.D. 386 one of his most grievous afflictions was to do with the fact that he could not undo all the damage he had done as a Manichaean. As a Manichaean, he had convinced one particular colleague of its truth; and, as a Christian, he failed to convince that same colleague of its falsehood.

However, says Paul, there are issues on which we are not to pass judg­ment on one another, but rather to decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother (Rom. 14:13). Charles Simeon had to deal with the Duchess of Beaufort who was suffer­ing in her conscience from having to go to balls, the theatre and the races with the Duke. Simeon's comment was;

what would be wrong in one person, would not be so in another; and what would be wrong under some circumstances, would not be so under other circum­stances. What would be wrong if done from choice might not be wrong if done for fear of offending others, or of casting a stumbling-block before them, or with a view to win them.

The Duchess decided not to go to the theatre and the races, but to go to balls if the Duke so wished it.

The Christian life is a paradoxical one, often lived on a tightrope. The Christian is not to offend Jews, Greeks, or fellow Christians, but to seek to please every­one in everything (1 Cor. 10:32-33). Yet the servant of Christ dare not live to please man (Gal. 1:10)! While seeking not to be personally offensive in any way, we are to proclaim and live out a message which will offend all who know nothing of the new birth.