Stumbling block

The Koine Greek word, skándalon (Strong's 4625) means either a 'trap stick' or a 'stumbling block'. In the Bible, skándalon is used figuratively to mean either something that causes people to sin, or something that causes them to lose their faith in Jesus. A trap stick: a stick holding open a baited trap; when a creature touches it, it releases the trap door to capture the prey. This figuratively refers to a person that entices someone into wrongdoing, getting them to thereby harm or destroy themselves. For example, Peter tempting Christ to refuse the crucifixion. Causing others to sin endangers their connection to God and potentially destroys their souls. If the victim thereby falls into mortal sin, the scandalous deed is considered to be likewise mortal sin. A stumbling stone or tripwire: anything that makes someone trip and fall. This figuratively means "something that causes someone to lose faith in Jesus".

The verb skandalizō (Strongs 4624) means 'to lead into sin', or 'to cause to fall away from faith.' Matthew 18:6 is therefore translated as either, "to cause these little ones to sin," or, "to cause one of these little ones to lose faith in me."

Scandal is a "word or act which occasions another's spiritual ruin". Scandalising others is achieved by either enticing them into sin, or by causing them to lose faith. Scandalising the innocent by the powerful is a mortal sin.

A stumbling stone makes someone trip and fall. This figuratively means 'something that causes someone to lose faith in Jesus.' and in this meaning is applied to Jesus, whose person was so contrary to the expectations of the Jews, that they rejected him and thereby lost their salvation. Isaiah concludes: "He will be a stone that causes men to stumble, a rock that makes them fall" (Isaiah 8:14). In other words, Jesus is like a stumbling stone because in rejecting him, people fall very heavily.

The origin of the metaphor is the prohibition of putting a stumbling block before the blind Geoffrey W. Bromiley calls the image "especially appropriate to a rocky land like Palestine". In the Hebrew Bible, the term for "stumbling block" is Biblical Hebrew (מִכְשׁוֹל). In the Septuagint, is translated into Koine Greek , a word which occurs only in Hellenistic literature, in the sense "snare for an enemy; cause of moral stumbling". In the Septuagint a stumbling block means anything that leads to sin.

The New Testament usages of skandalon, such as , resemble Septuagint usage. , , (3 times), , , , , , , , , , and
The noun skandalon has a derived verb, skandalizo (formed with the iz suffix as English "scandalize"), meaning literally "to trip somebody up" or, idiomatically, "to cause someone to sin." This verb appears 29 times in 27 New Testament verses. Apart from skandalon the idiom of "stumbling block" has a second synonym in the Greek term proskomma "stumbling." Both words are used together in 1 Peter 2:8; this is a "stone of stumbling" (lithos proskommatos λίθος προσκόμματος) and a "rock of offense" (petra skandalou πέτρα σκανδάλου).

The Leviticus warning is developed in rabbinical Judaism as lifnei iver "before the blind".

"Scandal" is discussed by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. In the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, it is discussed under the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill) section "Respect for the Dignity of Persons". Actively scandalise is performed by a person; to be passively scandalised is the reaction of a person to active scandalisation ("scandal given" or in Latin scandalum datum), or to acts which, because of the viewer's ignorance, weakness, or malice, are regarded as scandalous ("scandal received" or in Latin scandalum acceptum). In order to qualify as scandalous, the behavior must, in itself, be evil or give the appearance of evil. To do a good act or an indifferent act, even knowing that it will inspire others to sin — as when a student studies diligently to do well, knowing it will cause envy — is not scandalous.

The term "stumbling block" is common in Protestant writings. An early use was Martin Luther's consideration that the common belief that the Mass was a sacrifice was a "stumbling block."

One can be scandalised by the State: They are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible."

The Greek word skandalon was borrowed from Greek to Latin to French, and finally to English as "scandal".