Scandal (theology)

A stumbling block or scandal in the Bible, or in politics (including history), is a metaphor for a behavior or attitude that leads another to sin or to destructive behaviour.

The origin of the metaphor is the prohibition of putting a stumbling block before the blind (Leviticus 19:14). 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 miḵšōl (מִכְשׁוֹל). In the Septuagint, miḵšōl is translated into Koine Greek skandalon (), a word which occurs only in Hellenistic literature, in the sense "snare for an enemy; cause of moral stumbling". In the Septuagint Psalms 140:9 a stumbling block means anything that leads to sin.

The New Testament usages of skandalon, such as Matthew 13:41, resemble Septuagint usage. It appears 15 times in the New Testament in 12 unique verses according to Strong's Concordance. These passages are:Matthew 13:41, Matthew 16:23 , Matthew 18:7 (3 times), 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, and Revelation 2:14.

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