"A dozen ignorant peasants proclaiming a crucified Jew as the founder of a new faith; bearing as the symbol of their worship an instrument which was the sign of ignominy, slaver and crim; preaching what must have seemed an absurd doctrine of humility, patient suffering and love to enemies- graces undreamed of before; demanding what must have seemed an absurd worship for one who had died like a malefactor and a slave, and making what must have seemed an absurd promise of everlasting life through one who had himself died, and that between two thieves."
B.B. Warfield
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Because we have become so used to the concept of 'the cross', we lose the significance of what it meant to that 1st Century culture: to the Greeks it was "foolishness" [what? a god that dies?] and to the Jews a "stumblingblock" ["Cursed is him who hangs on a tree."]
Someone once pointed out that wearing a cross as a piece of jewelry is similar to the French wearing guillotine earrings. To a believer it is a sign of God's saving grace, but it was a shocking idea in the 1st Century. No human would could ever have thought up such a concept!
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