Three times while reading the Bible and discussing it with different people last week I ran into the same Greek word, σκάνδαλον (pronounced scandalon), and realized that my understanding was incomplete (largely wrong) and that correctly understanding this word is critical to really grasp what Jesus was saying about Hell.
My buddy Craig and I were reading and discussing this bible passage:
- Luke 17:1-2 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble (σκάνδαλα – noun) are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble (σκανδαλίσῃ [1] – verb).
What is a “thing that causes people to stumble”, a skandala, and what does the verb form translated “to cause people stumble” really mean?
When I first read that phrase in English, I honestly thought of my grandchildren leaving toys splayed across my living room when they visited a couple weeks ago. I have to be super diligent to watch where I step all the time when I am with them, both to avoid stepping on them and to avoid tripping and hurting myself on their beloved toys. They are delightful sources of entropy, with no malicious intent at all.
My next thought went immediately to my mother-in-law who caught a toe on a cobblestone street in Jerez, Spain while we were on vacation last fall and fell catastrophically, losing two teeth and fracturing her jaw. Quite literally a cobblestone was a “stumbling stone” with devastating results. After 10 months her final dental implant surgery to finish the repairs is scheduled for next week.
From the literal to the figurative, I remembered trying to be discrete and sensitive about drinking alcohol while on vacation because it could be a “cause for stumbling” for a recovered alcoholic who was travelling with us.
Notice that all of my examples of “causing to stumble” are primarily accidental consequences of unthinking or careless behavior. There is a simple reason; stumble, in English, has a connotation of something that trips you, but does not cause you to actually fall. A stumble is an unfortunate event, but it is unintended, perhaps embarrassing, but typically a bumble, not a tragedy. Thus we generally think of a “stumbling block” as an obstacle in your way that if you fail to notice it may cause you some limited damage or inconvenience.
Let me say outright that “to cause someone to stumble” as I have described it above is a poor translation and falls woefully short of what the Greek the word σκάνδαλον (scandalon) means. The Biblical meaning of a “stumble” is more like what my mother-in-law endured.
A σκάνδαλον (skandalon) is a stick which is baited in a trap or a snare. It is designed to the lure the victim and is the trigger mechanism springing the deadly trap upon them.[2]
Look at the “bait stick” in this picture. This is a σκάνδαλον (skandalon). There is nothing “unintentional” about it. It is fiendishly designed to entice and either entrap or kill the prey!
At a moral level, calling someone a skandalon is an accusation that someone purposefully entices other people to sin. In fact this is where we derive the word scandal in English. A scandal, like a skandalon, results from some intentional evil act.
Looking back at Luke 17, above, we now can better understand what Jesus meant. Jesus says that anyone who purposefully entices children to sin will wish that they had been thrown into the ocean with a millstone around their neck. The implication is that the judgement from God that awaits this sort of malicious behavior is far worse than a swift death.
The second time I ran across this word was with my daughter Stephanie. In the parable of the weeds Jesus says explicitly what the Judgment of God is that awaits the skandalon:
- Matt 13: 36-43 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
- He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin (σκάνδαλα – skandala) and all who do evil (ἀνομίαν – anomeean). They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Jesus does not mince words about the fate of the skandalon. Their fate is hell, which is described as a blazing furnace of sorrow, pain and torment. Notice that the people headed to hell are those who intentionally lure others to sin (σκάνδαλα – skandala) and those who practice utter lawlessness (ἀνομίαν).[3] I like the English translation of σκάνδαλα in Matt 13:41: “cause to sin”, rather than “cause to stumble”. A sin is a more serious thing than a stumble in the ears of a modern listener.
For greater clarity about skandalon I looked up the word in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Repeatedly in Hebrew we find two distinct words used together to describe a trap:
פַ֭ח (kaph) which is “a bird trap or fowler’s snare”. This is consistently translated into Greek in the Septuagint as παγίδας (pagidas).
מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh) is “bait or lure, a snare”. This is translated into Greek in the Septuagint as σκανδάλα (skandala).[4]
Here are three examples:
- Joshua 23:13 then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares (פַ֭ח) and traps (מֹקְשִׁ֖ים) for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.
In this example the Septuagint has an alternate translation which gives great insight into the phrase I have bolded:
- LXX: Και έσονται υμίν εις παγίδας και εις σκάνδαλα και εις ήλους εν ταις πτέρναις υμών
- interlinear: And they will be to you for snares and for obstacles and for nails in your heels [5]
So the σκάνδαλα is more than simply an “obstacle”. It is described as a hidden nail in the ground, which would pierce the heel of a soldier crippling him. We would call that a caltrop. This is no mere “stone of stumbling” it is a deadly trap, the 1st century equivalent of a mine field!
- Psalm 140:5 The arrogant have hidden a snare (פַ֭ח) for me; they have spread out the cords of their net and have set traps (מֹקְשִׁ֖ים) for me along my path.
In the Greek LXX this verse literally describes lines that they extended across the path intended to trip the victim. This is what we would call a trip wire! Here the perpetrator is described as “prideful” or “arrogant”.
- Psalm 141:9 “Keep me safe from the traps (פַ֭ח) set by evildoers, from the snares (וּ֝מֹקְשׁ֗וֹת) they have laid for me.”
Here the eviddoer is a פֹּ֣עֲלֵי אָֽוֶן “a worker of iniquity”, translated in the Septuagint as ἀνομίαν meaning utterly lawless. In Luke 17, we see the same combination of a skandalon (a deadly trap) set by the anomian (the utterly lawless ones). God’s word gives a consistent description of a skandalon as the lure of an intentional trap and gives clear indication of those who use them and the fate that awaits them.
There is some additional clarity afforded in Romans 14:
- Romans 14:13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block (πρόσκομμα) or obstacle (σκάνδαλον) in the way of a brother.
Πρόσκομμα (proskomma) is a word that describes the literal obstacle that causes stumbling which I at first associated with skandalon. But Paul clearly delineates it from the baited trap stick, trip wire or caltrop (skandalon) in this verse.
What is the application for us of Romans 14? We must be careful that our words or actions do not create a temptation that causes others to sin. In Romans 14, Paul explains that if another believer does not have sufficient faith to understand or embrace their freedom in Christ, then you can lead them into actions which violate their own consciences, and for them are sinful, even though they are not for you. Paul gives many examples including eating foods sacrificed to idols, eating “unclean” food for Jewish Christians, or working on the Sabbath or on other “religious days”. Modern examples include drinking alcohol, gambling, or viewing forms of entertainment that may be violent or sexual in nature. We have all been set free in Christ. But that freedom is limited by our faith, just as our authority is limited by our faith.
- Romans 14:21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall (προσκόπτει ἢ σκανδαλίζεται ἢ ἀσθενεῖ).
Here the English translation “to fall” is summarizing three Greek words, which are actually much more explicit : “placing a stumbling block” (προσκόπτει) or “placing a lured trap/caltrop/trip wire” (σκανδαλίζεται) or “making him ill/weak/feeble or sick” (ἀσθενεῖ).
Practically what does this look like when a believer becomes a skandalon to a brother? Here is an example from the Apostle Peter himself:
- Matthew 16:21-23 “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
- Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
- Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block (σκάνδαλον) to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Here we see that Peter gives voice to words that are a lure and a trap to Jesus himself. Jesus identifies them as coming from Satan. In order to do the Father’s will Jesus cannot circumvent the cross. There is no other way for us to be saved. But Peter is trying to persuade Jesus to ignore the Father’s plan. It is sobering to realize that the vehemence of our misplaced convictions can lead us to be a skandalon for others!
The final example I ran into was when Mick and I were reading and memorizing 1 John. We came across this verse:
- 1 John 2:10-11 “Anyone who loves their brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble (σκάνδαλον – skandalon). But anyone who hates a brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” [6]
The warning is dire! Hatred in our heart is a lure, the bait of a trap, that ultimately causes us to sin against one another. When we truly love a brother from the heart, the σκάνδαλον (skandalon)[7] is gone, there is no enticement to sin against him.
How do we change our hearts so we can love each other better? There is only one way that I know of that works. Invite Jesus into our heart and ask him to teach us to love people better.
[1] σκανδαλίσῃ is the verb of the aorist subjunctive active tense (past hypothetical action: “they might have set a lure to trap these little ones”)
[2] https://biblehub.com/str/greek/4625.htm 4625 skándalon – properly, the trigger of a trap (the mechanism closing a trap down on the unsuspecting victim); (figuratively) an offense, putting a negative cause-and-effect relationship into motion. 4625 /skándalon (“the means of stumbling”) stresses the method (means) of entrapment, i.e. how someone is caught by their own devices (like their personal bias, carnal thinking). [“4625 (skándalon) is the native rock rising up through the earth, which trips up the traveler, hence, of Jesus the Messiah, to the Jews who refused him” (Souter); “properly, the bait-stick of a trap, a snare, stumbling-block” (Abbott-Smith); “the stick in the trap that springs and closes the trap when the animal touches it” (WP, 1, 46).]
[3] https://biblehub.com/greek/458.htm%5D. 458 anomía properly, without law; lawlessness; the utter disregard for God’s law (His written and living Word).
[4] If you would like do to further study, σκάνδαλον is used 15 times in the OT Septuagint (LXX): Lev 19:14, Jos 23:13, Jdg 2:3, Jdg 8:27, 1Sam 18:21, 1Sam 25:31, Psalm 49:13, Psalm 50:20, Psalm 69:22, Psalm 106:36, Psalm 119:165, Psalm 140:5, Psalm 141:9, Hosea 4:17
[5] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/apostolic/joshua/23.htm
[6] I am using the NIV 1984 translation because the word in Greek “adelphon” means “brother” not “brother or sister” and all of the pronouns are masculine singular “he or him” not plural “they or them”.
[7] If you would like do to further study, σκάνδαλον is used 15 times in the NT: Matthew 13:41, Matthew 16:23, Matthew 18:7, Matthew 18:7, Matthew 18:7, Luke 17:1, Romans 9:33, Romans 11:9, Romans 14:13, Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 1:23, Galatians 5:11, 1 Peter 2:8, 1 John 2:10, Revelation 2:14
Atheist to Elder 
David – really enjoyed this one. (Also the first time I’ve seen Greek letters in a url…)
– Tony
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