(1) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. (2) Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. (3) 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.
Under the similitude of the human body, the Apostle, in this chapter, sets forth the beautiful order there is in the Church, as the body of Christ. For, as in the human frame every part, ministers to the very situation appointed, in promoting the welfare and harmony of the whole; so the members of Christ's mystical body have each their distinct and separate stations, and under the influence of their great Head, mutually act together in accomplishing the sacred purposes of his will. With this, as the leading object he had in view, the Apostle opens the chapter on the subject of spiritual gifts, which he desires the brethren, (as he calls the Church brethren of Christ and of each other), that they should not be ignorant of, but, have a suitable apprehension concerning. And, in order that the whole body of the Church might at one moment learn, that all and every spiritual gift must have been received from the Lord, and neither created, nor increased by themselves, he reminds them of the state of heathenism and idolatry from whence the Lord had called them. Reader! I pray you not to overlook this, as it relates to your own instance. Nothing can tend more effectually to hide pride from the eyes, than to be frequently led by the Holy Ghost back to see our awful state of blindness, ignorance, and corruption, when in the days of our unregeneracy. Hence, the Lord bids the Church, while following after righteousness and seeking the Lord, to look unto the rock whence they were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged, Isaiah 51:1. See 1 Corinthians 4:6-7
I consider the third verse in this chapter as a very striking passage, and eminently designed, after what the Apostle had said before, to enable not only those Corinthians to whom he wrote, but the Church of God in all ages, to ascertain the state of their faith in Christ by this standard. If the Reader will look at the word with a suitable attention, he will discover, under divine teaching, that they afford a double testimony for the child of God to know himself by, in his apprehension of the Person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed. It was a very common thing with the Jews, nationally considered, to speak of Christ as the Tolah, or man hanged on a tree; and, as their law declared, that he which was hanged was accursed of God; Deuteronomy 21:23, so they added to it; concerning Christ, accursed of God, They knew not, for their eyes were blinded that they could not), how to enter into the apprehension of what the Holy Ghost taught all his own people that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, Galatians 3:13. But, as the blinded Jews, and the prejudiced Gentiles, while in a state of unconverted nature, both joined in this reproach of Christ; yet the Church being now enlightened by divine teaching, gives this testimony, no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed. They are blessedly taught by that Almighty Teacher, to behold Christ as being made both sin and a curse for his people, and by which he hath redeemed all his people from the whole, and by which they are made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5:21. Yet, though made both sin and a curse, he himself was both holy and blessed. The sins of his people were put upon him, not in him; as his righteousness is put upon us, not in us. Reader! do observe the distinction. As our sins could only be laid on Christ, and not enter Christ, though becoming a curse for his Church, as his Church's surety; yet all the while, he himself was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens, Hebrews 7:26. And, in like manner, Christ's righteousness is unto all, and upon all that believe: Romans 3:22, not in, but upon, not arising out of themselves, but unto them from Christ. This is one precious testimony of the believer's speaking by the Spirit of God. And the other is like it.
No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. By which the Apostle did not mean, that the mere saying of it was impossible, but from divine influences. For, many a man from historical knowledge, may both say it and believe it. Devils believe and tremble, Luke 4:34; James 2:19. But, the Apostle's meaning is, that no man can know Jesus to be the visible Jehovah, but from the Spirit's work in the heart. The real heartfelt, and heart-enjoyment of Christ, is only attainable by the quickening and enlightening grace of God the Holy Ghost in the soul. When a man hath received a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, he can then, and not before, truly say, that Jesus is the Lord; yea, his Lord, the Lord his righteousness, Ephesians 1:17; Jeremiah 23:6; 1 Corinthians 1:30. Reader! hath the Lord blessed your soul with this double testimony of Jesus, and to the truth as it is in Jesus? Be very cheery of such precious gifts. They are rare mercies in the present God-dishonoring, Christ-despising, Holy Ghost-disowning generation. The knowledge of Christ, the belief in Christ, the dependence upon Christ, and the walking a life with Christ, are sweet proofs of an interest in the Covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure, 2 Samuel 23:5. The Lord Jesus speaks to all such in those sweet words, Luke 10:23-24, and of all such to the Father in those sweet words, Matthew 11:25-26.