Why did Paul say Jesus was a curse to Israel before he was saved?
Before salvation, Paul reflected his own pre-salvation opposition when he told Israel that Jesus of Nazareth was a curse because He had been hanged on the cross. Israel leaned on Deuteronomy and called Jesus accursed in unbelief, not by the Holy Spirit, who alone enables anyone to confess Jesus as Lord.
Les explains that Paul was speaking especially to Jewish unbelievers who were giving Christianity a bad time, and he was reflecting on his own pre-salvation experience. In that former state, Paul literally told Israel that this Jesus of Nazareth was a curse because He was hanged on the cross. The Jews were leaning on Deuteronomy and on what Judas had done, so they were calling Jesus a curse. Les notes they were not doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit but in unbelief. This explains the contrast in 1 Corinthians 12: a believer now under the Holy Spirit’s control would never call Jesus a curse simply because He had been crucified; they know better. On the other side, no man can say Jesus is Lord and really mean it except by the Holy Spirit. No unbeliever can ever truly claim Christ as his Lord, and Christ can never be Lord and Master of an unbelieving person. Les adds that years ago this verse bothered him, because he wondered how anyone could accuse Jesus of being a curse, but the context shows this was their reasoning.
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.
More Questions
Can a Spirit-filled believer call Jesus accursed because he was crucified?
Paul makes it plain in 1 Corinthians 12 that no man who is now a believer and under the control of the Holy Spirit would ever call Jesus a curse simply because He had been crucified.