In persecuting the early Christians, Saul was driven by horror that anyone should proclaim a crucified criminal as God's promised Messiah. During Jesus' life His disciples found it difficult to accept that He would have to suffer. The crucifixion was a terrible experience for them. Then they encountered the Risen Lord and began to accept the reality of the Cross. For someone like Saul, however, without the grace of the Resurrection it was simply horrific to think that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth could be the Messiah.

Once he was converted and became an apostle, Paul had a complete change of attitude. He then preached with conviction about the Cross, but with a certain apologetic stand: although He was crucified as a criminal, Jesus was, nevertheless, the Messiah. Paul quickly passed through this stage as well. He quickly saw that this pattern of thought, "although...nevertheless", did not help us to penetrate the mystery of the Cross. Rather, Jesus could most truly be proclaimed the Messiah because He was crucified. Therefore, we should not be apologetic about the Cross. We should make ours what Paul has made it his own, that is "But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14).