Paul was speaking of dead idols! He contrast between the dead idols and the living God. Their idols never spoke to them, but God spoke to them through the Spirit. Now the Spirit of God lived in them and directed them.
A "dumb idol" is only dumb (or dead) from the perspective of a Christian to whom Paul was writing to. Don't ever tell a Hindu that, or any other person that worships "idols." Clearly you don't understand idol worship. Let's use examples from the Bible.
What happened when Aaron made a golden calf at the time when Moses was 40 days in the Mount with the Lord.
He said: "Behold your god O Israel."
But they didn't consider the calf their actual god. It was a representation of their God (Jehovah). Jehovah was a spirit. They understand that. They wanted something concrete, something that they could see; something in their minds that would represent him or picture him. They bowed down to the calf, the calf replacing Jehovah.
Secondly, and probably easier to understand, is the god Baal, which is worshiped throughout the OT. They made idols of Baal and bowed down before them. The idol itself is not the god. It is a representation of the god. The god is not that which is dumb. The god (to them is alive and active). They truly believed he could accomplish miraculous things. That is why Elijah challenged them to call upon their god, Baal to bring fire down from heaven and consume their sacrifice, and he would call fire down from heaven and consume his sacrifice, and whoever would act, that would be the true God. We know what happened. It is not the idol, the statue, that they expected to open his mouth and wave its arms. It was the god or spirit behind the statue.
They danced upon the altar. They cut themselves with knives. But their god was silent. Elijah mocked them. They knew the idol itself was dumb. But the god was not dumb. Demons speak. They speak in tongues. They posses people. They do terrible things. Have you heard of witch-doctors, priests and priestesses?
It does not say they were calling God accursed!
The verse does not make sense unless some of them were. How can you say they weren't?
1 Corinthians 12:3 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.
--Paul writes as he did because this was happening. Otherwise the verse makes no sense. Why does he include it? Because there was a problem.
--The first part of 7:1, the key verse to this chapter says:
Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me:
--This was a problem that they had written to them about. He is now giving them the answer. Some of them were calling Christ accursed. It was a problem. He was telling them how to differentiate.
As a sinner we may mouth the words "Jesus is Lord"...but that is not making God Lord!
You can also say the Christ is accursed in the non-biblical tongues that you speak. How do you know? You don't know what you are saying!!!!!
Again...In verse 3 he is not saying that they called God accursed.
Again, the verse does not make sense, unless some were. Paul does not write in vain.
He is saying that BY THE SPIRIT of God..the Holy Spirit! We can not call God accursed!
That is right; but other spirits can; the pagan spirits that they worshiped in their pagan background could. They were bringing some of that pagan background into the church, just as they did in other areas of their lives--as I pointed out to you showing you how Paul addressed it in every previous chapter.
THen he goes on to explain the Spirit Working or manifesting through believers/ church!
He also shows how the carnal spirit manifests itself. You seem to gloss over that part.
Again the contrast is between a living God and a dumb idol. A dumb idol could not speak, see or hear.
The demons or false spirits of dumb idols speak. Understand that!!!
To me it is simply saying that no one speaking under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit can EVER say Jesus is cursed. You do not have to add to what is said to understand that!
Paul does not speak in vain. He does not write those words for nothing. They have meaning. There were some that were calling Christ accursed. Let me give you a personal example.
I have a friend (a reputable pastor) who relates this this actually happened. He can give the names, the time and the place. Two men, (also pastors were traveling in the western part of the nation through a small town where there were very few churches. It was Sunday and the only church in the town was a Charismatic church so they decided to go to it. It was a strange experience for them since neither of them had been in one before. One of these men was a visiting pastor from Greece. After the opening prayer, many (if not most) of the people stood up and started speaking in tongues (without interpretation). This man from Greece motioned to his friend and said: "We have to leave immediately!" The other said: "Why, what is the hurry?" The evangelist replied: "See the man in front of me; he is speaking in perfect Greek 'I love the devil; I love the devil; I love the devil.'"
Now that is a true story, and I am not making it up. It happens today as it happened in Corinth. No man speaking by the Holy Spirit will call Jesus accursed, but they will if they are under the influence of another spirit. It happens.
