“It is thus that human wisdom has endeavored to make the ‘offence of the cross’ to cease. The natural man thus receives not the doctrine of the cross. Rather than receive it, he will reject Christianity altogether; and if he receives Christianity in profession, he will fall on some plan or other of concealing this doctrine, or neutralising [sic] it, or explaining it away — he will ‘make the cross of Christ of no effect.'”
This quote mentions two places in Scripture (Galatians and 1 Corinthians) that speak of the offence and the efficacy of the cross of Christ. The offence of the cross to the natural (i.e., unregenerate) man and the efficacy of Christ’s cross-work that obliterates death and brings salvation to everyone for whom He died.
The unregenerate persons who “[receive] Christianity in profession,” who receive the Word or doctrine of the cross in profession, then go on to construct a philosophy whereby they would obviate, neutralize, and conceal its offense. In other words, these false religionists desire to make the Word of the cross more “palatable” to the unregenerate mind. They wish the offense of the cross to cease.
Agrammatos 