died by a means of a punishment reserved exclusively for criminals, but also that he died as one cursed and forsaken by God (Gal. 3:13; cf. Heb. 13:12–13). The message of a crucified Messiah was so radical that it became for Jews a stumbling block and for Greeks folly (1 Cor. 1:23). Käsemann makes two indispensable observations about Paul’s use of crucifixion language as opposed to other terms for Jesus’ death. First, the “theology of the cross” is from beginning to end a polemical theology. In fact,