Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Read Chapter 14
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Consider the great punishment we shall suffer if we give offense at all. If the thing concerned was against the law and some people rebuked others wrongly, Paul forbade them to do so, in order not to cause a brother to stumble and fall. If we give offense without having anything to put right, what treatment will we deserve? For if not saving others is a crime (as is demonstrated by the man who buried his one talent), what will be the result if we offend him as well? But you may say: What if he brings the offense on himself, by being weak? Well, this is precisely why you ought to be patient. For if he were strong, he would not require so much care.
1115. After forbidding human judgments [n. 1081], the Apostle now forbids putting stumbling blocks before one’s neighbor. First, he presents his proposition; secondly, he clarifies it [v. 15; n. 1122]. 1116. In regard to the first he does three things: first, he teaches that stumbling blocks must be avoided, saying: I have said that you should not judge one another, but everyone ought to judge his own actions. And this is what he says: but rather decide never to put a hindrance or scandal in the way of a brother. A scandal, as Jerome says in 549 his commentary on Matthew, means a hindrance or injury which we can call a "striking of the foot." Hence a scandal is an illegal word or deed presenting the occasion of ruin to someone after the manner of a stone against which one strikes his foot and falls. A scandal is more serious than a hindrance, for the latter can be anything which merely retards forward movement; but a scandal, i.e., a striking, seems to exist when someone is disposed fo...
