A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian PoliticsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
View also the places where the word scandal is used. Matt. xiii. 41,
Πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα, All scandals, translated, "All things that
offend," doth not signify All that is displeasing; but all temptations
to sin, and hinderances or stumblingblocks that would have stopped men
in the ways to heaven. So in Matt. xvi. 23, (a text as like as any to
be near the denied sense; yet indeed,) "Thou art a scandal to me,"
(translated an offence,) doth not only signify, Thou displeasest me,
but, Thou goest about to hinder me in my undertaken office, from
suffering for the redemption of the world; it was an aptitudinal
scandal, though not effectual. So Matt. xvii. 7, "It must be that
scandals come," (translated offences,) that is, that there be many
stumblingblocks set before men in their way to heaven. So Luke xvii. 1,
to the same sense. And Rom. ix. 33, "I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone,
and a rock of scandal," (translated offence,) that is, such as will
not only be displeasing, but an occasion of utter ruin to the
unbelieving, persecuting Jews; according to that of Simeon, Luke ii. 34,
"This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel."
Rom. xi. 9, "Let their table be made a snare, a trap, and a
stumblingblock." The Greek word εἰς σκὰνδαλον doth not signify a
displeasure only, but an occasion of ruin. So Rom. xiv. 13, expoundeth
itself, "That no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall into
his brother's way." The Greek word is, or a scandal. This is the just
exposition of the word in its ordinary use in the New Testament.[136]
So Rom. xvi. 17, "Mark them which cause divisions and scandals,"
(translated offences,) that is, which lay stumblingblocks in the way
of christians, and would trouble them in it, or turn them from it. So
1 Cor. i. 23, "To the Jews a stumblingblock," that is, a scandal, (as
the Greek word is,) as before expounded. So Gal. v. 11, "The scandal
of the cross," translated the offence, doth signify not the bare
reproach, but the reproach as it is the trial and stumblingblock of
the world, that maketh believing difficult. So 1 John ii. 10, "There
is no scandal in him," translated, no occasion of stumbling. These are
all the places that I remember where the word is used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account