The Offence of the Cross
By T. Austin-Sparks
It is a perfectly obvious fact that wherever
the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ has been most faithfully preached and presented
– while bringing 
hope
and new life to many – it has almost invariably been the cause of trouble.
Wherever it has gone it has aroused antagonism.
As it was a stumbling-block to the Jews and an absurdity to the Greeks in
the first days, so, ever since, it has been unacceptable, not only to the
men of the world as such, but to the religious communities also. This we unhesitatingly
affirm to be as true today as ever, in spite of the fact that it is the most
popular symbol in the world. There is hardly a city in Christendom where the
architecture, galleries of art, collections of literature and conservatoires
of music and religious institutions do not declare to the world a certain
regard and honor for this sacred sign. This may be a tribute to something
deeper but it is that deeper thing which is absolutely unacceptable to the
greater part of Christendom and the world.
It is found necessary even in certain phases
of some missionary enterprise today to eliminate from the text-books and hymn
books the mention of the Cross lest it offend.
Much of the preaching and teaching in the Christian
Church is either confined to the ‘Historic Jesus,’ which presents a Crossless
Christ, or gives a very modified meaning to His death. And yet it is surely
necessary to get rid of the Bible
before we can get rid of the fact that it unites in all its parts to declare
that the Cross is God’s Way of salvation, God’s sufficient and God’s ONLY
way.
It is, further, surely very clear that the
Cross has proved to be the means upon which God has made to rest the full
weight of His mighty saving power. It was dominant in New Testament days. The recovery of, or re-emphasis upon some vital
and essential phase of that Cross gave rise to such movements as are signified
by the names of Luther, Moody, Finney, Jonathan Edwards, Whitfield, the Wesleys,
Spurgeon and many other especially God-honored men.
Now we ask why has the Cross always been such
a maker of trouble and such a cause of offence? And why is it that it is today
behind much of the upheaval even in many of our professedly evangelical institutions
and denominations, Christian homes, local churches and individual Christian
lives?
This we will seek to answer, but first let
us discriminate. It is not the heroics of the Cross or the aesthetics that
cause the trouble. Sacrifice, suffering, unselfish devotion, self-effacing
service for the good of others, enduring the penalty of setting oneself against
the evil current of the times, etc.; these are romantic elements and are seized
upon as the themes by which multitudes are captured and captivated. It is
the deeper meaning which the Bible
gives to the Cross which causes the aggravation; this can be seen in one or
two clearly defined applications.
1. The Cross Condemns the World
In His Cross Christ created a great divide
between the old world and the new, a divide which cannot be bridged. Two distinctly
different systems, scales of value, standards of judgment, sets of laws, prevail
on the two sides of the Cross, the system of each is not only entirely different,
but irreconcilable and forever antagonistic to the other.
The Cross demands an absolute distinctiveness
of interests and objectives, relationships and resources. It draws the final
distinction between the saved and the unsaved, between the living and the
dead.
The apostle Paul said that by the Cross he
had “been crucified to the world”
and the world crucified to him. The Word of God emphatically declares that
the age is evil and that “the whole
world lieth in the wicked one” and that its ways, motives, purposes, ideas
and imaginations are all the opposite of God’s and that it is utterly incapacitated
from either receiving the revelation of the divine mind, growing of itself
into the divine image, enjoying and appreciating real fellowship with God,
or being entrusted with the privilege of co-operation with God.
These are alone the consciousness, capacities,
relationships of the newly-born or regenerated soul. It is this verdict, condemnation,
and demand of the Cross which is unacceptable and irritating to a very great
number of professing Christians. Further, it is the presence of much that
is called “worldliness” both in the individual Christian life and in the Church
which absolutely neutralizes their effectiveness in the realization of the
essential purposes of the Cross.
2. The Cross Crucifies the Flesh
By it the Word of God declares that “our old man has been crucified with Christ”
(Romans 6:6). “One died for all, therefore all died in 
Him,
that they which live should henceforth live no longer unto themselves, but
unto Him” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We have tried to
bring some of the old creation life into the new creation and God won’t have
it. The history of the fallen race was concluded so far as God was concerned
at
It is always the assertion of some human element,
some like or dislike, some fad or fancy, some ambition or some personal interest,
which paralyses the real spiritual work of God. To regard not only our sins
but ourselves as having been taken to the Cross by Christ is the only way
by which those purposes of God can be wrought out through our lives. It is
strange that while we ourselves are the bane of our own existence, the trouble
of our own lives, we are so slow to accept our crucification with Christ,
to have the Cross wrought out to our death in order that the life of Christ
might be made manifest in us. Herein lies the offence of the Cross, not only
for the worldling but also for the Christian.
3. The Cross Casts Out the Devil
Here we touch, perhaps, the deepest cause of
the offence, for the world and the flesh are only the instruments and weapons
by which the great hierarchy of Satan maintains its hold and its existence
as the controlling force. Christ said as He approached the Cross, “Now is the prince of this world cast out” (John
It is perfectly natural, then, that the great
hierarchy of evil should by every means and resource seek to make the Cross
of none effect. By the ‘pale cast of thought’ it will dilute the message of
the Cross; by pushing in the world’s methods, its means, its spirit, it will
sap the spiritual vitality of the Church; by stirring up the flesh, the self
and the old Adam it will cause schism, strain and disintegration; or by making
much of the human element in its artistic, aesthetic, heroic, humanitarian
side, it will be blind to the need of regeneration. Reputation, popularity,
bigness, the world standard of success, are all contrary to the spirit of
Christ, but they are the toys with which the enemy engrosses the minds of
many, even Christian ministers.
If, therefore, the Cross is preached in the
full victory over and emancipation from the world, the flesh and the devil,
it is to be expected that by hook or by crook the intelligent forces of evil
will leave no stone unturned to stop it, and will stir up every cause of offence
to lay to the account of the Cross.
In conclusion let us not forget that the enjoyment
of the full life of God, the experience of victory, and executive co-operation
with Him that sitteth upon the throne in the sure realization that His eternal
purposes are ours just in so far as we are one with the full and essential
meaning of the Cross as set forth in the Word of God. “I have been crucified with Christ, henceforth…
no longer I but Christ.” “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb,
and because of the word of their testimony, and they counted not their lives
dear unto the death” (Revelation
Theodore Austin-Sparks was born in London,
