1 Corinthians 12:1-3

Scripture: 1 Cor. 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

1 Cor. 12:2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.

1 Cor. 12:3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

Teaching: Paul begins a new topic in chapter 12 in his customary way, saying “Now concerning…” For the next three chapters, Paul will teach on spiritual gifts. Before he does so though, he lays fundamental truth in the first three verses of chapter 12.

In verse 1, Paul calls the Corinthians attention to the matter of spiritual gifts so that they would not be “uninformed,” or what might be a better translation — ignorant. If they, or us today, have any hopes of understanding why God has gifted believers with spiritual gifts, we need to understand what Paul is about to tell us. 

In verse 2, Paul reminds them of their ways before coming to Christ - their pagan ways. He calls out mute idols in particular, but then adds “however you were led” as sort of a coverall for how each of them ended up in pagan worship. But when they were pagans, were they any less zealous in their worship? Well, no. As we’ve seen in the last chapter, they were accustomed to feasting and conducting themselves debaucherously in worship of their pagan gods. It was customary to offer sacrifices to these false gods, even child sacrifice. If that’s not zealous worship of false gods, I don’t know what is. But despite their sincerity and belief, they were following lies. They had been deceived by the father of lies, Satan, as every false religion is. 

Why is Paul dredging up this memory for the Corinthians? To prove a point — the level of devotion and fervor of worship is not proof of God’s working in that person or congregation. Thus, in verse 3, Paul calls them to understand that it is only by the Holy Spirit that God is worshipped in truth, which comes from belief in Jesus Christ as Lord. This is fundamental to understanding spiritual gifts, as gifting of many kinds can be displayed without the Spirit being present. We can be led astray by convincing acting, emotion, and personal experiences.

Takeaway: We will cover more on these verses next week, but for now, we need to understand that religious conviction and devotion are not inherently proof of God working in someone. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, they used to worship mute idols with complete conviction, and only after coming to faith in Christ recognized the lies they were built upon. There was nothing ever there! The same is true today — we can be deceived in many ways by Satan, but one of the easiest ways we believe lies is when we follow our feelings or our heart, over truth. The truth is found in God’s Word and by the Spirit’s leading, we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.