Why the Jews Called Jesus Accursed — 1 Corinthians 12:3 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. I think this is a good time for me to let our television audience know that when a station or the satellite chews up our programs, our inventory, six a week, and we only produce four in a month, that means that in not too long a time they catch up with us. And so for those of you out in television, if all of a sudden now one of these months, probably in the next month or two, if your station catches up with us and we're way past First Corinthians, then all of a sudden they go back to Genesis 1. Don't scream at the station, because this is the way we're going to do it. We'll just take everybody back to Genesis 1 again, and realizing that so much of our audience has just been picked up in the last little while. So anyway, we just thought we'd better share that with our whole audience and save our station people a bunch of phone calls. But the day will come when we'll have all of our stations taking it off the satellite, and we won't have to be sending tapes out to everybody individually. And then of course they'll go back to Genesis 1 and pick up the series. And of course the reason we have the tapes is that if you happen to miss a program, or I mean human error, a station can miss a program once in a while, then you just call us and we'll try and get a tape to you. Okay, now let's for sake of time get right back to where we left off in First Corinthians 13. And we left off at verse 10, and we went back to Hebrews 6 where Paul even back there said, "...leaving the principles of Christ." In other words, there comes a point in our Christian growth where you have to leave just spending all your time on the simplistics, on the elementaries, and you move on into the deeper things. And I've put this on the board in programs past, that Paul's writings are a progressive revelation just like the Bible as a whole. And so the Book of Romans in the first one of Paul's letters in our New Testament is doctrinally elementary. You know I've said so often, if people could just understand two chapters in the Bible, they've got the battle over half one. And that is Genesis 3, which records the fall and man's problem with sin, and then Romans chapter 3 which gives us the remedy for it. So Romans is elementary, of course it is. But then you see as the congregations were beginning to grow, problems arose. And we'll see that in our next study after we leave Second Corinthians, somewhere down the road at the Lord Terry's, and we'll go to the little Book of Galatians. Well there again were problems. Legalism was creeping in, and Paul had to address it. But after we leave Galatians, then you see we move into what I call either the higher doctrines of grace, or into the deeper water, or however you want to put it. And then we go into those deep concepts of the prison epistles, and that of course is the Body of Christ in our position in the heavenlies. But you see you can't just unload all that at once. We have to take it progressively, and that's why I feel the Lord has blessed our system of teaching through the Scriptures as we've been doing. And so Corinthians, as we've been stressing as long as we've been teaching it, is addressing problems in a congregation that was so, so carnal. They had not yet moved into the deeper spiritual things, and of course they hadn't really been revealed except through the gifted men who could preach it. But as we move on through from Corinthians into Galatians, then you're going to see what I'm talking about, that we go from the simplistic to that which is so much deeper. Now then in I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, and we've been stressing that Paul puts this little chapter, by inspiration of course, between two chapters that are even controversial today. And the only way we can handle the controversy as we're faced with it day in and day out, is on the basis of the love of I Corinthians 13. I do not condemn people for practices that I don't agree with, that's between them and the Lord. But it is my responsibility to teach what the Book says, not what I think, but what does the Book say. Now then as you come on into I Corinthians 13, the love chapter, we're still dealing with that. Now in verse 11, when I was a child, see Paul uses simplistic illustrations, and that's what I like to do. I like to use illustrations that even grade school kids can comprehend. So he says, when I was a child, I spake as a child, naturally. You don't expect kids to all of a sudden talk like people with a college degree. You don't expect 3rd and 4th graders to come out with great big language. I know they're getting better thanks to television, but whatever. We still do not expect little kids to talk like adults, and Paul said that's true. I spake as a child, I thought like a kid. He was just as normal as everybody else. And here's where of course a lot of people fail. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now I'm finding out the older I get, the sharper I can remember things that took place when I was 5 years old. And I think those of you who are older than I am, know the same thing. As we become older then, yes we no longer play with the toys of a 5 or 6 year old, but have we forgotten them? No. It's still part of our makeup, and we still reflect back on things. And he says the same thing. When I was a man, I put away childish things. But does that mean that he totally obliterated them from his thinking? Of course not. But he is now a man, and he's no longer on the child level of activity. Now then he goes on to bring the thought that he's trying to bring through, and that is now, at his point in revelations. Now remember he still hasn't had the revelations of the prison epistles. I think he probably got them while he was in prison in Caesarea. Do you remember that was after all of his three missionary journeys through the Book of Acts? And then he went to Jerusalem and got in trouble with the Jews, went under house arrest and for protective custody with the Romans, and then they had him in prison in Caesarea for a year and a half while they were waiting to decide what to do with the man. Do you remember all that? Well I think that while he was rotting away in a Roman prison for a year and a half, God was revealing the deeper revelations that would now come from the Apostles pen then when he gets under house arrest in Rome. And so this is the whole process of his revelations. He has gotten enough to bring out the doctrines of grace for salvation and so forth, but so far as that deeper doctrine of the position in the heavenlies that we now enjoy, that hadn't been revealed to him as yet. And he evidently had an understanding, or at least the Holy Spirit knew it, and so he says, Now we see through a glass, or we look into a mirror darkly. Now the Greek implies an enigma. Now for years I didn't know what an enigma was, and I don't expect most people even today. An enigma is like looking in a mirror and only getting an opaque reflection. In other words if your mirror is covered over with steam after a hot shower, you may see the overall outlines of your face, but you do not see the little details that you'd want for putting on your makeup or shaving or whatever. And that's what the word darkly means. Paul was seeing through an opaque view. He could tell that there was more out there, but as yet he didn't have the revelations. Now we see through a glass, or we look into a mirror that's clouded over, an enigma, but then. Now a lot of people think that this is referring to when Christ comes, and it could be, but I prefer to think that Paul is referring to when he would have the complete revelation as we now have it. At the point that he's writing in Corinthians 13, he didn't have it. And so he says we see through a glass darkly, but then when he has the full revelation, and the Word of God has become complete, then he says face to face. Now he's not talking about my seeing my parents face to face, or you seeing your loved ones, or even the Lord Jesus face to face. He's talking about the fact that when the steam is wiped off of that bathroom mirror, he's going to see himself as he really is, without it being an enigma or through an opaque view. And so then when the revelations are complete, he says I'll just be like having the steam wiped off the mirror, and I'll see it all, and we can see it all. And this of course is why I think we should be spending more time in not just Paul's early epistles, but his later ones. The church today needs to be taught what's in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and we're hearing precious little of it. That's the deep stuff. That's what makes us grow and become mature believers. All right, then reading on in verse 12, when the steam would be wiped off the mirror, so to speak, then he says, I shall know even as also I am known. In other words, the revelations would be complete, and there would be no more explanations necessary. And oh, it's so obvious that when you start those prison epistles, the revelations that go completely beyond his earliest epistles of Thessalonians, Corinthians, and Romans, and Galatians. Now then, verse 13. So after all is said and done, after all the gifts and the sign gifts have come and gone, only three things abide. And what are they? Faith, hope, and charity or love. Now it's interesting, and I want you to watch for this as you read Paul's epistles, that here and there sprinkled throughout all the rest of his epistles, up will come these three words. Not always three at a time. Sometimes it's faith and hope. Sometimes it may be faith and love. But he will constantly be using these three words to the end of his writings. Why? Because they will abide. They're not going to pass off like prophecies did, like tongues did, and some of these other things. And so he says the greatest of all three then is love. Now I think again we have to look at the whole picture. Naturally without faith you cannot please God. One of the other absolutes I've always said is that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. But you could also say that if there is no love it's the same thing. It's impossible to please God. So of the three then, even love is now the greatest. Now let's pick up at chapter 12. With love as the basis, and even as I deal with people who may not agree with me, I'm not going to get upset, I'm not going to get angry with you. I'm just going to simply say, look this is the way I feel the Lord has opened the Scriptures to my understanding, and it's my responsibility to teach what the Book says, and not what some group may think. Now then verse 1. As I said in our opening remarks of the first program, he is again seemingly referring to this letter of questions. And he says the same thing like he did in chapter 7. Now he says concerning spiritual things. Now I know your King James says gifts, but it's italicized, is it not? And so I think it would also even be plainer if we just put an S on the word spiritual and leave it at that. Now concerning spiritual things. Now here again we have to be so careful, because when we talk about the things in the realm of the spiritual, it's just not the Holy Spirit's power that we are confronted with, but also the adversary. He also is amongst the spirituals. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Turn over with me to Ephesians chapter 6, a verse that all of you know, and you'll recognize it as soon as we look at it. Ephesians chapter 6, and here's one of those letters that I was just telling you about. Here we're into one of the deeper aspects, the fuller and the more final revelations that the Apostle received. Ephesians 6 verse 12. "...for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against..." What's the next word? "...spiritual wickedness in high places." Now what do you suppose? The word spiritual here in Ephesians is basically the same Greek word as what is translated the spirituals in Ephesians chapter 12. Now he says concerning spiritual things, "...brethren, I would not have you to be ignorant." Now I'm going to have to jump across the page a minute in order to show you why I jumped over to Ephesians, because you come over to Ephesians chapter 12 and come to verse 10. And this is interesting, because here the Corinthian church was just beset with these problems, one of which they were abusing some of the gifts. Verse 10. "...to some in the church," not to all, "...but to some he gave the working of miracles, to another prophecy," now we're going to have to explain that after a while, but we'll come to that, "...and to yet another discerning of spirits." What does that mean? It doesn't mean to discern something. It means to analyze it and put it in its right category. That's what it means to discern. You intelligently look at something and determine where this belongs, and where this belongs. In other words, it had to be a gifted person even in Corinth to separate the spiritual things that were being prompted by Satan, and the spiritual things that were prompted by the Holy Spirit. Now let me show you what I mean. I'm going to use Scripture, not my own ideas. Go all the way back to I John, the little letter of I John. I John 4. Listen, this is just as apropos today as it was when John wrote it, or when Paul wrote Corinthian. It is still the valid Word of God, and look what it says. It says, "...beloved..." So who is John writing to? Believers. So he says, "...beloved fellow believers, believe not every spirit." Now remember the word there isn't capitalized, and I'm going to make a point of that after a while, but don't forget. It's the small case S. So it's not talking about the Holy Spirit, but it is talking about a spirit that is involved with the very mind and the mental attributes of man as well as Satan. Now you know the spirit of Satan is never capitalized either, and so here he says, "...believe not every spirit, that which is part of the invisible, but it is certainly not a working of the Holy Spirit." Then it's capital S. So he says, "...believe not every spirit, but try..." Or what's a better word? Test. You've got to test whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Now John wrote around A.D. 90, just before the turn of the first century, and if he thought, or the Holy Spirit inspired him to write that there were many false spirits then, my friend what do you think it is now? It's far, far greater, and so we have to be all the more aware of the gift of discerning these spirits. And I maintain that every believer has the wherewithal to do that, if you line it up with the Word of God. That's your only criteria. You don't go by what some preacher says, you don't go by what I say, you don't go by what some seminary says, you line it up with the Word of God. Now come back to I Corinthians chapter 12, and I think I can show you one area that Paul as well as John were talking about. I Corinthians 12, reading on. He says, "...now concerning spiritual things, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." See, God does not want the most uneducated believer to be ignorant. There is absolutely no excuse for it. There are Bibles in every bookstore, and there are commentaries galore, but the Word of God can be understood by the lowliest, the most uneducated in the world. God has promised it. Now He may lead someone to help you understand it, but it is not beyond the comprehension of any believer. Now in verse 2 Paul says, "...you know that you were in the past Gentiles, and you had been carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were lead." Now the word dumb there merely means that they couldn't speak. It doesn't mean they had no intelligence, but they couldn't speak. And so he says, "...you were lead to those." Well naturally, because that's all the world knew at that time, except for Judaism of course, and Israel. Now in verse 3 Paul says, "...wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit..." Now what's the case? Capitalized. So that's the Holy Spirit. See the difference? Small case s is not the Holy Spirit, it's the Spirit of man, or the Spirit of evil, but it is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is capitalized. And so he says, "...no man speaking by the Holy Spirit calleth Jesus accursed." Now we think, how could anybody ever do that? Hey listen, what do you suppose the Jews did then, and perhaps a lot of them do today? What do they call Jesus? Accursed. What do you think Saul of Tarsus called Him in his days of intense persecution? That accursed person? How can you believe in something like that? And you may say, how can you be so blasphemous? No, I'm using Scripture, and I'll tell you why the Jews would say something like that. Turn with me now a minute to Acts chapter 5. This is interesting, and this is why I like to teach. This is Bible study. I'm not going to roll out a sermon at you. We're going to search the Scriptures. Acts chapter 5, and here of course Peter is still holding forth with the eleven, and they're still dealing primarily with the Jewish people, still confronting them with the fact that the One that was crucified was their Messiah. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "...we ought to be God rather than men." Now verse 30, "...the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew, and hanged on a tree." What's that got to do with it? Come back to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, Judas. In verse 5. Matthew 27, verse 5. Matthew 27, now verse 5. And Judas has just gone to the chief priest, and in verse 4 he admits he has betrayed innocent blood. Then verse 5, he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Now come all the way back to Deuteronomy 21. Here is why Jews with a straight face, and a straight conscience, could accuse or accuse Jesus, because He had been hanged on a tree, the cross. Deuteronomy 21, and let's start at verse 22. If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. Does that ring a bell? Why were the Jews in such a hurry to get Jesus off the cross? They knew this verse, don't think they didn't know it. And so, "...any wise bury him that day, for he that is hanged is accursed of God." He that is hanged is accursed of God, that is under Israel's Law. "...that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Now let's come back to I Corinthians, and this will probably make more sense. So Paul is saying, especially in the direction of these Jewish unbelievers who were giving Christianity such a bad time, and reflecting in his own pre-salvation experience, he was literally telling Israel that this Jesus of Nazareth was a curse because He was hanged on the cross. So now Paul is making it so plain in I 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. We know better than that. But you see the Jews were leaning on Deuteronomy, on what Judas had done, and so they were calling Jesus a curse. But they were not doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit, but they were doing it in their unbelief. Now I know the reason I'm making a point of this, because years ago this verse bugged me. I thought, how in the world could anybody accuse Jesus of being a curse? But this was their reasoning. And also in I Corinthians 12, no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, and really mean it, but by the Holy Spirit. Now that's the other side of the coin. No unbeliever can ever, ever claim that Christ is his Lord. It's impossible. Christ can never be the Lord and Master of an unbelieving person. Now go back to the left, I guess. Yeah, come back to the left to Romans. Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, 15 seconds. I thought we had 15 minutes. Well, anyway, we have to recognize that Christ is our Lord. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma. 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma. 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported and your gift is appreciated. Thank you and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.