cultural shame in Paul | Gordon Fee

"The fact that early believers followed a "crucified Messiah" (the ultimate oxymoron for both Jew and Greek) meant they aligned themselves with a religious sect whose founder had experienced ultimate shame (hence Paul's saying to the basically Gentile congregations at the heart of the empire that the gospel is not a matter of shame for him [Rom 1.16]).

To follow Christ and thus experience cultural shame and isolation were not negotiables for Paul; this is the way God had chosen..."

Page 181, Gordon Fee writing on Gal 3 in Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy