“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #140
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:1-3).
Paul then turns decidedly to a new topic, which is the subject of spiritual gifts. He announces the topic, and says that he wants to bring it up because he doesn’t want the Corinthian Christians to be ignorant on it. He wants to talk about what it means to be led by the Spirit in the matter of gifts, and the very first thing he introduces is the possibility of being misled.
He appears to be changing the subject, but that is not what he is doing at all. He reminds them of what it was like when they were Gentiles, before they had been ushered into the new Israel. He does not say that they used to “worship idols.” He says that they were “carried away” to dumb idols, “even as ye were led.” They were led somewhere, they were carried somewhere, and this had to have been done by something. In other words, spiritual forces were operative in their lives before they were converted, and there is no reason to believe that these evil spiritual forces have gone away. This means that within the context of the Christian church, it is still necessary to be on guard against false and lying spirits. Just as in the past, they would lead their captives to dumb idols, so now they might lead a professing Christian to say something outrageous, to a dumb idol that has been set up in the sanctuary.
Paul then gives two tests, one negative and one positive. If a spirit calls Jesus “accursed,” then it is not by the Spirit of God. And conversely, if someone in the spirit confesses that Jesus is Lord, then it is by the Holy Spirit. It is easy to see how someone in the grip of a blasphemous spirit might take the truth that Jesus became a curse for us on the tree (Gal. 3:13), and bend it slightly in order to take spiritual glee in italicizing the word “curse.” But confessing the lordship of Jesus is not something they can bring themselves to do.
So Paul starts his instruction on spiritual gifts by warning the Corinthians of the great danger that a thoughtless approach to it creates.
It also looks like Paul is subtly working his way through the Ten Commandments: False gods, and then taking Yahweh’s name in vain (Transcendence), followed by gifts given by the Spirit to the new Hierarchy. We see the same thing in Revelation 1-3: Jesus and then the Lampstands. Numbers ties this “vanity” (fruitlessness) to Israel being “yoked” to the Baals. His point might be that the Spirit in the new Israel would not allow her to be yoked to the Baals of the first century, the things which promised fertility and abundance but would only bring barrenness and desolation. In… Read more »
Let’s have some of that Holy Spirit optimism in our pneumatology that we’re used to in our teleology in these days when The Lord is purifying His bride. Let’s heed the apostle’s warning and curb the abuses of false prophets by means of the responsible governing elders of local congregations. We can have faith that His good gifts include enough discernment in the session to apply the prescribed tests and sort out the sheep from the goats. There’s nothing to fear from God’s good gifts but there’s exhortation, encouragement and comfort to gain.
I’ve often heard false teachers confess with their lips that Jesus is Lord. Their lives either do or eventually will reveal that this is lipservice only. How do these situations fit in with this passage? They are indeed professing Jesus as Lord, but closer inspection of their teaching shows it is anything but Spirit led. Is this to be taken as just one criterion and not an exhaustive study of false teaching?