How to understand 1 Corinthians 12:3 in the light of Matthew 7:21-23?

Question

Paul clearly says that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit

1 Corianthians 12:3 NASB

3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking [a]by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is [b]accursed”; and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except [c]by the Holy Spirit.

But in Matthew we have 'disciples' who called Jesus Lord and even went on to prophesy and cast out demons yet were rejected by Christ

Matthew 7:21-23 NASB

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [n]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

How can we understand Paul's assertion in the above text?

Answer 1

Those two passages agree if we read them within the larger context. I suggest you have taken Matthew 7:21-23 out of context, which distorts its meaning, then tried to read 1 Corinthians 12:3 in light of that. Obviously, that confuses the meaning. I will endeavor to put the Matthew passage back into context, and into the larger context of Jesus' teaching as recorded in the Gospels. Then I will show how this agrees with Paul's writing to the Corinthians.

Matthew 7:21-23

Matthew 7:21-23 is the second part of Jesus' parable about the Tree and Its Fruit. Jesus begins in V. 15 by saying, "Beware of false prophets." He goes on to say that people, i.e. prophets, can be known by their fruits the same way as trees can be known by their fruits. For example, he says, no one gathers grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles (V. 16). Good trees, he says, cannot bear bad fruit, nor vice versa.

I think all of us have enough life experience and understanding of biology and horticulture to realize that apples don't grow on thorn bushes, but that each kind of plant bears its own seed in its fruit. Likewise, some plants produce fruit good to eat while others produce poisonous fruit. Thorns and thistles, as most of us know, are prickly weeds that pierce the skin--not good.

Jesus compares the false prophets to the poisonous fruit, to prickly thistles and thorns that only hurt. Jesus also compares these false prophets to "ravening wolves in sheep's clothing," i.e. deceivers and/or traitors (V. 15), like the con-people and their scams we are all so familiar with. These false prophets will say "Lord, Lord, did we not do all these good deeds in your name?" V. 22.

Those are the people Jesus rejects. He is saying that they may have deceived the innocent and the gullible but they won't deceive him no matter how much they flatter him. That is what I understand him to mean when he says in Verse 21:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

Compare Matthew 25:31-46

The passage in Matthew 25:31-46 in which Jesus speaks about The Judgment agrees with the above explanation. At the judgment, Jesus says, all the nations will be gathered before him; he will divide them, with the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. The sheep are the good people who have done the will of his Father and are invited into the Kingdom and the goats are the bad people who have not done the will of God; they are told to "Depart from me!" The good people are surprised at their reward and ask, "What have we done to deserve this?" Jesus will list all the deeds of charity and reply:

‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ V. 40.

The bad people will also be surprised at their reward and ask, "What did we do to deserve this?" Again, Jesus will reply with all the deeds of charity that they did NOT do and reply:

‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ V. 45

In other words, when people fail to bring forth good fruits (as described above in Matt. 7), Jesus does not look upon them favourably. Pretending not to know what they did wrong, calling him Lord, Lord, will not get them anywhere at that point.

I think we have now established that in Matthew 7.21-23 Jesus is describing unrighteous or bad people, and clarifying that unlike some people he might name he will not buckle to flattery.

Correctly Acknowledging Jesus' Lordship

Jesus did not object to being called Lord when done so in sincerity. From John 13:13-14:

13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

In other words, serving tired servants--even washing their weary filthy feet that had walked the sewers of the city--was the responsibility of a real Lord and Teacher (some translations say Master).

1 Corinthians 12:3

Then, to get even closer to the meaning of Paul's meaning in 1 Corinthians 12:3, there is Peter's Confession of Christ in Matthew 16:13-20.

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. V. 16-17.

I confess that there is a difference between calling Jesus the Christ (which means Messiah, Savior, the Anointed One) and calling him Lord. However, as shown in the passage above from John, Lord was intended to mean something much different in Christian theology from the Roman lords and masters.

It is beyond the scope of this answer to define exactly what Paul means by "Holy Spirit" or the "Spirit of God." I think, however, that we can safely include the concept in Christian theology of the time. See above in Matt. 16:13-20 and John 13:13-14. That would starkly differentiate the use of Lord from that in contemporary Roman society.

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.

Obviously, being a Christian and cursing Jesus does not go together. Only a Christian will say, "Jesus is Lord." I think that agrees with what Jesus was saying, according to the Gospels.

Answer 2

True Confession versus Lip Service
The English fails to emphasize what Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

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. (ESV)

διὸ γνωρίζω ὑμῖν ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ λαλῶν λέγει Ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦν, καὶ οὐδεὶς δύναται εἰπεῖν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν, εἰ μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ

Paul's λαλῶν λέγει combines λαλέω and λέγω. λαλέω focuses on the articulated, distinct sound of the formed word, and λέγω are words usually of systematic or set discourse. So ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ λαλῶν λέγει which is literally in spirit of God speaking says means "saying out loud that which is a systematic discourse." One is not merely mouthing words, but speaking from a "systematic discourse." In other words, they have full knowledge of what they are saying.

That person cannot say "Jesus is cursed." But one in the Holy Spirit is able to say, "Jesus is Lord" since the the Spirit of God has provided the λαλέω, and the λέγω.

The difference between the letter and Matthew is a result of the sincerity of the confession. Later in Matthew, Jesus addresses the issue of "lip service:"

⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ⁸ “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; ⁹ in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matthew 15)

εἶπον or ἐρεῶ
For saying "Jesus is Lord" Paul uses εἶπον is to speak or say by word or writing, used only in the definite past tense. This differs from Matthew where Jesus uses ἐρεῶ:

²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7)

²² πολλοὶ ἐροῦσίν μοι ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ κύριε κύριε οὐ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι ἐπροφητεύσαμεν καὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι δαιμόνια ἐξεβάλομεν καὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι δυνάμεις πολλὰς ἐποιήσαμεν

The LXX has passages which distinguish εἶπον and ἐρεῶ:

And he spoke (εἶπεν) in order to destroy them - had not Moyses, his chosen one, stood in the breech before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying. (105:23 [106:23]) LXX

They did not destroy the nations which the Lord told εἶπεν them. (105:34 [106:34]) LXX

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people will say ἐρεῗ "May it be. May it be." (105:48 [106:48]) LXX

In Hebrew, all three use אָמַר, yet the LXX uses both εἶπον and ἐρεῶ in translating. εἶπεν is used to described what the LORD says, and ἐρεῶ when the people "say." Therefore, one could say Paul's use of εἶπον to describe one speaking in the Holy Spirit follows how the Lord is described as speaking in contrast to those who say, ἐρεῶ, "Lord, Lord..."

Summary
In the letter to the Corinthians Paul is describing a true confession which was made in the Holy Spirit. In Matthew, Jesus is describing those whose proclamation is merely "lip service"

Answer 3

These two texts are discussing quite separate matters in the Christian life.

1 Cor 12:3, as with John 16:13 and others, is discussing the Christian's enlightenment by the Holy Spirit.

By contrast, Matt 7:21-23 is discussing the life and work of the Christian which everyday experience tells us is often sadly lacking, despite the Christian knowing and via an informed conscience educated by the Holy Spirit. Many of us have had the same experience - we know we should not do something but do it anyway.

This is the entire crux of the sin problem - this disconnect between what we know we should do and what we actually do. Romans 7 discusses this at some length. No one becomes immediately perfect at conversion. Our Christian knowledge via the Holy Spirit is always ahead of our actions.

Hence the Christian life is characterised by a growing into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor 3:18), being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2), “follow after righteousness” (1 Tim 6:11), walking in the “newness of life” (Rom 6:4), “perfecting holiness” (2 Cor 7:1), “partaking in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), “growing up into Christ” (Eph 4:15), “pressing toward the mark” (Phil 3:12-15), “being built up in Christ” (Col 2:7), “becoming complete in all the will of God” (Col 4:12), “fighting the good fight of faith” (1 Tim 6:12), “growing in grace” (2 Peter 3:18), “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt 3:8), “walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal 5:16), etc.

Unfortunately, some reject their salvation. That is, some reject the call of God which comes via the Holy Spirit.

• Eze 18:21-28 also teaches that the wicked can reform and be saved, and the righteous can apostatise and be lost.
• 1 Cor 9:27 Paul says he disciplines his body to keep it under control so that after preaching to others he does not become a castaway/disqualified. That is, Paul believed that it was possible that he could lose his way and become lost.
• 1 Tim 6:10, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
• Similarly, Heb 6:4-6 also teaches that some “who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit…” can fall away. • 2 Peter 1:10, “make your calling and election sure”. This clearly allows for the possibility of losing one’s election.
• 2 Peter 2:21, “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”
• 2 Peter 3:17 contains a very stern and sobering warning to be on guard that we do not fall from our secure position. Verse 14 contains a similar warning.
• 1 Cor 10:12 also contains a stern warning from Paul, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.”
• Gal 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Answer 4

Mt 5--7 are spoken about His disciples. The one exception may be 7:15-20. Though believers into Christ can also be "false," deceive. 7:21-23 is certainly about saints who already used His name effectively, at least toward demons. 1 Corinthians 12:3 is God's will, through the apostle, to call "Lord Jesus!" or to say "Jesus is Lord" to learn to prophesy (12:1-2, 8, 10; 14:1-19, 24-32, 39). I say 'learn' because that is the encouragement in chapter 14, and: "You know that when you were Gentiles, you were always being led away to dumb idols, whenever and however you were led," emphasis on "dumb." This in contrast with the normal, Pauline-taught, Christian meeting: "Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation," 14:26. It's interesting, 12:10, like Mt 7:22 in my version also mentions "works of power." The ones in Mt 7:21-23, though believers into the Lord, sound like they don't know their Lord so well. In that it's "in that day," they're facing Christ in person at His judgment seat of believers, and they're advocating for themselves. The difference I see is that this group of Christians apparently was 'using' the Lord's name more than calling on Him. None of this is to say that 1 Corinthians is not full of warnings to believers on the very same subject of the judgment seat of Christ for either discipline or reward, 1 Cor 3:10-17. 3:18 is a good word to both of them, all of us (me, since I'm daring to write to teach another): "Let no one deceive himself; if anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise."

Answer 5

How to understand 1 Corinthians 12:3 in the light of Matthew 7:21-23?

How can we understand Paul's assertion in the above text?

1 Corinthians 12:2-3 NET

2 You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however, you were led. 3 So I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

Paul is speaking to Christians in Corinth that were worshippers of mute idols. Paul continues and says that God's spirit now guides us to confess that Jesus is "Lord" and that nobody speaking by spirit says, “Jesus is cursed,” Hence any spirit that incites people to make a curse upon Jesus must originate with Satan the Devil.