For Christians living at such a far remove from the first century the depth of this scandal may be hard to grasp, but the crucifixion of your hero would be the last thing a Jew or a Roman living in antiquity would boast about. And yet the early Christians did boast about it. Paul readily admitted that this was foolishness to Romans and offensive to Jews. But Paul also said it was the power and wisdom of God, contending that “God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”[5] Paul doesn’t mean that when God is weak, God is still stronger than humans. That wouldn’t be scandalous but just a
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