2 “You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.”
12:2
You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols,
Many Corinthians were Gentiles (non-Jews) who believed in the mystery religions and pagan cults. The living God can speak, but “dumb” (speechless) idols cannot speak. As non-Christians, they were “carried away” to lifeless idols; that is, Satan held them captive to these idols by subjective and ecstatic means. Most people are suckers for religion. Satan carried them away by distorted religious ecstasy because they did not have propositions of the Word of God.
however you were led.
We can paraphrase the Greek of this phrase as “however you happen to be led.” On occasion, heathen oracles led at random without any controlling principle those who bowed to them. Rejection of revelation and acceptance of ecstasy put them into a subjectively random place without principle. Satan led them by a power foreign to their own objective determination. They permitted themselves to be led in a self-abandoned manner without the Word of God.
12:3
Therefore
The “therefore” links “together (1) carried away” to ecstatic idolatry and (2) “led” by Satan without the will of the individual (by ecstasy). It also introduces two conclusions, one negative and the other positive.
I make known to you
The idea here is that Paul causes the Corinthians to recognize objective biblical truth on this issue. Objective truth always displaces ecstasy.
that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed,
Ecstatic utterances do not point to spirituality. Evidently, some of the Corinthians thought that if they spoke in ecstatic utterances, then that was spiritual. A test of spirituality is our view of Jesus. Anyone who condemns (“accursed”) Jesus leaves the heart and essence of Christianity. The idea of “accursed” is that Jesus was a malefactor or one justly condemned to death. The particular false doctrine here may have been Gnosticism. One view of Gnosticism believed that the physical body was evil. Since Jesus had a physical body, He was evil and accursed. John wrote First John against this error. Other New Testament books warn of this error as well.
and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
No one can claim, “Jesus is Lord” except under the power of the Holy Spirit. To say that Jesus is “Lord” is to say that He is God. He was both truly God and a perfect man. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit. The word “by” is literally in; the Holy Spirit is the controlling agent. It is the role of the Holy Spirit to glorify or reveal Jesus.
Jn 16:13-14, 13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
Mt 7;21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven“
PRINCIPLE:
Spirituality originates in the Holy Spirit’s revelation of propositional truths and not in an ecstatic experience.
APPLICATION:
Christians need to beware of false, subjective spirituality. It is easy to haul our past subjective spirituality before becoming Christians into our view of spirituality as Christians. One criterion that will save us is the unmistakable objective mark that Jesus is Lord. If we distort the person and work of Christ, we distort Christianity.
Ignorance of extant, objective truth will put believers in a bad place spiritually. Any teaching that makes us (1) overly introspectively navel-gazing of the self or (2) passively and subjectively open to any teaching will put us in a seriously negative place spiritually. Objective truth always counters the subjective influences of the ecstatic idols of our day.
Hi Grant, you wrote “No one can claim, “Jesus is Lord” except under the power of the Holy Spirit. ”
So my question pertains to Kenneth Copeland who teaches the prosperity gospel, word of faith and name it claim it gospel with no Repentance but he always says at the end of his program “Jesus is Lord”,
Copied and pasted from so4j.com:
KENNETH & GLORIA COPELAND teach unbiblical False Teachings such as: Prosperity gospel, Word of Faith says that Christians are “little Gods.” Kenneth says, “You don’t have a god in you, you are one!”— (“The Force of One” Audiotape, 1987) He says, “When I read the Bible where He (Jesus) says, ‘I AM’, I say, ‘Yes, I AM too!'”- Crusade Meeting, July 1987. He teaches that Adam was an exact duplicate of God, and that God is the biggest loser in the Bible. He also falsely states that the LORD told Him in a Prophecy that Jesus was not God during His earthly Ministry. What?! Here is part of that Prophecy that Jesus allegedly said to Kenneth: “They Crucified Me for claiming that I was God. But I didn’t claim I was God; I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was in Me.” (Believer’s Voice of Victory – Feb 1987).
Copied and pasted from Why Kenneth Copeland is a False Teacher and a Heretic by Michael Houke
https://thewordonthewordoffaithinfoblog.com › …
Kenneth Copeland’s own words:
“You don’t have a god in you, you are one.” – ‘The Force of Love,’ audiotape Kenneth Copeland, 1987
“‘Don’t be disturbed when people accuse you of thinking you are God … They crucified Me for claiming I was God. I didn’t claim that I was God; I just claimed that I walked with Him and that He was in Me. Hallelujah! That’s what you’re doing …’” – ‘Take Time to Pray,’ Believer’s Voice of Victory, February 1987, p. 9
“Now Peter said by exceeding great and precious promises you become partakers of the divine class. All right, are we gods? We are a class of gods!” – Kenneth Copeland, ‘Praise The Lord’ TV Show, Feb. 5, 1986
“You really cannot ever come to that place were you let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be called equal with God. Let this mind be in Kenneth Copeland, Oh my goodness, Ah! that thinks its not robbery to be called equal with God.” – Kenneth Copeland, Believer’s Voice of Victory, Monday 29th January 2001, GOD TV
“You’re all God. You don’t have a God living in you; you are one! … When I read in the Bible where God tells Moses, ‘I AM,’ I say, ‘Yah, I am too!’” – ‘The Force of Love,’ Kenneth Copeland, tape BBC-56
How does this verse pertain to someone who has been teaching false teaching for decades with no Repentance but still declares “Jesus is Lord” ? Thank you
Scott, Copeland’s teaching is rank with poor hermeneutics. The false doctrine in your quotes above is New Age in its philosophy.
Yes so how is Copeland able to proclaim “Jesus is Lord” when he is a proven unrepentant heretic? Thanks
Scott, I have not read Copeland very extensively so I cannot conclude that he is an unbeliever. Christians can hold heretical views while still being Christian. This occurred in a number of books of the Bible.