Verse 3
Enthusiasm or ecstasy or "inspired" utterance do not necessarily indicate spirituality. By "inspired" utterance I mean any utterance that the speaker claimed came from God, not necessarily a truly inspired new revelation from God. Paul’s original readers needed to pay attention to what the person speaking in such a state said.
"Not the manner but the content of ecstatic speech determines its authenticity." [Note: Barrett, p. 279. Cf. Deuteronomy 13:2-6; 18:21-22.]
What the person said about Jesus Christ was especially important. No one the Holy Spirit motivated would curse Jesus Christ. Probably no one in the Corinthian church had. In the Septuagint anathema means a thing devoted to God without being redeemed, doomed to destruction (Leviticus 27:28-29; Joshua 6:17; Joshua 7:12). [Note: Robertson, 4:167.] Anathema is an Aramaic term carried over from the church’s Jewish background. Likewise no one would sincerely acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, Savior and or Sovereign, unless the Holy Spirit had some influence over him or her. This was true regardless of whether the person was speaking in an ecstatic condition or in plain speech. Paul was not enabling his readers to test the spirits to see if they were of God (cf. 1 John 4:1-3). His point was that "inspired" utterance as such does not indicate that the Holy Spirit is leading a person.
The Holy Spirit leads those under His control to glorify Jesus Christ, not dumb idols, with their speech (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
"The ultimate criterion of the Spirit’s activity is the exaltation of Jesus as Lord. Whatever takes away from that, even if they be legitimate expressions of the Spirit, begins to move away from Christ to a more pagan fascination with spiritual activity as an end in itself." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 582.]
Be the first to react on this!
