Romans 9:33, commentary and pictures

The stumblingstone and rock of offense is Christ. The light and mercy given to recover people, the warnings and reproofs that expose sin, and the life of Christ and the truth of God's word that rebuke sinful desires, become a stumbling stone when their message is resisted. Those who cling to unbelief reject both the truth and its messenger, tripping and falling into a downward course, while refusing truth and its light leaves them unrestrained in unbelief, leads them further into blindness, and puts their souls in peril.

To the Jews He became a stumbling block because they would not receive Him as their personal Saviour. To professed believers today He becomes a stumbling block when they separate Christ and the law and make faith a substitute for obedience, teaching that the gospel has made the law of no effect, that believing alone releases men from being doers of the word, that the imputed righteousness of Christ fulfills the law for them and gives them credentials while they transgress, and that Christ by His death saves men in their transgressions. Such teaching makes Christ's righteousness a cloak for iniquity and is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

The cause of God in Europe must not become a stumblingstone and rock of offense to unbelievers, so its institutions are not to be closed or given into the hands of those not of the faith, since failure there would turn unbelievers away, and the great work to be done requires the Lord's servants in Europe to rally to recover what has been lost, with the Lord working with them, and believers in America to cooperate with them in that effort. The image of a stone over which people stumble applies to obstacles that have caused believers to stumble, which should be removed where possible through loving human effort joined with divine help.