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NASB | 1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 12:3 Therefore I want you to know that no one speaking by the [power and influence of the] Spirit of God can say, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is [my] Lord," except by [the power and influence of] the Holy Spirit. |
Bible Question:
Hi all again, On the 16th of this month, I asked for an explaination of 2 Cor 1:3. I got some 50 responses but none that attempted to help me explain this verse. So I'll ask it again, word for word: I work with a Unitarian man and we talk Bible a couple of times every week. He believes the Unitarian creed, which holds the holy spirit to be just the influence of the Almighty God on the minds of his servants,dwelling in the hearts of believers, as the source of their spiritual life. He also showed me just yesterday 2 Cor 1:3, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Here he says is proof that the trinity is not Bible based. I told him that he couldn't just pick out one scripture and make a whole doctrine out of it. But he said that there were many more bible verses that showed that Jesus has a God but Almighty God doesn't, and that proves Jesus isn't the Almighty God. He's very sharp when it comes to the Bible and I study it too, regularly. Being a Baptist, I try to prove him wrong about who God really is. He told me he would show me more verses that shows him that the trinity is not a bible teaching. He seems very sincere. So for now, any suggestions from anyone about this verse 2 Cor 1:3? Thanks |
Bible Answer: Hi, Stevenhh! Part 1 of 3 It is difficult to give a simplistic response to Scripture... when we divorce a Scriptural passage from the rest of the Bible, we can easily twisted to mean anything the mind of man can conveive... including separating God into sub-units of hierarchy (an Almighty part, and some secondary part/s)... When we read Scripture in the totality of the Bible we find different meanings to simplistic interpretations: Jesus tells us that the Father is greater than Him and we must believe! But why do we doubt when Jesus tells us that He and the Father are One, or when Jesus tells us that the Father lives in Him and that He lives in the Father, or when Jesus tells us that who ever has seen Him has seen the Father? Noticed that Jesus said only once that the Father was greater than He... and He said more than once that He and the Father were one and the same? The problem is not Jesus or Scripture! The problem is our limited and finite ability to accept everything that God reveals to us as the Truth! How can God be God and yet exist in sublevels? We cannot take God and distribute Him as we please! We cannot deny the passages of Scripture that we do not understand or refuse to accept while magnifying those passages that we think we understand or that we think that support our “personal theology!” If we separate God from God… where do we begin? Which part of God belongs exclusively to the Father, which part to the Son, which part to the Holy Spirit! Clearly, 1 Corinthians 12:3 is very succinct and unyielding!: We cannot worship the Father if we reject the Son and we cannot call Jesus Lord if not in the Holy Spirit! There’s no circumventing God’s Command: to love the Father we must come to the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son, through the Grace and Charity of the Holy Spirit! We find this Truth amplified in Ephesians 1:3-23: Spiritual Blessings in Christ 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory. Thanksgiving and Prayer 15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. Without the Father we have no knowledge of God, without the Son we have no redemption nor eternal life, and without the Holy Spirit we are not chosen (elected) from amongst the nonbelievers--we are made children of God through Christ, in the Holy Spirit! How do we negate any part of God’s Wonderful Plan? |