The Offense of the Cross

We see here from these verses that there is an offense of the cross which is on-going, throughout all generations of the Church age, to the end of the world. That offense was the reason that the Apostle Paul was persecuted, and it will also be the reason that you and I as disciples of Christ will be persecuted; to whatever degree that we are. Evidently the false teachers in the churches of Galatia had been saying to the members of those churches that the Apostle Paul himself was sometimes preaching circumcision, and was therefore inconsistent with himself. This charge Paul refutes here. But this evening we want to look more carefully at what the offense of the cross meant to Paul, here in the context, and what it may mean for us in our generation. 1st of all – We want to see that the offense of the cross leads to various kinds of persecution. And then 2nd – We want to see that the offense of the cross leads to a very particular kind of desire in the mind of the true believer in regard to false teachers.