"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 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."
Those who are not believers live lives of worthlessness. They are led astray to passionately pursue things that have no value. They follow after powerless, motionless, speechless idols. They worship physical idols of wood or metal, or they worship the modern idols of our western world—success, happiness, entertainment, physical pleasure, or one or more of the many other false god’s set up in our western pantheons.
I find it interesting that they are “led astray to mute idols.” It’s not even the idols that lead them astray. The idols cannot lead anyone. They are powerless. Nevertheless people are led to them. By whom? I believe they are led to the idols by evil—by Satan and his demons, through the influence of the world system, and by their own sinful fallen nature. People are led to idols hoping for fulfillment, but they find no lasting satisfaction.
In contrast to that sad estate, a person who comes to Christ finds great fulfillment and is richly blessed in many ways. One way in which he is blessed is through spiritual gifts. What spiritual gifts God gives and how they should be exercised will be discussed later, in this and the following two chapters. But for now, God simply indicates that one who is exercising a spiritual gift will be led by the Spirit to affirm truth. One who is exercising a spiritual gift will not deny truths about Jesus’ nature; he will affirm them.
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