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. 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.
The teaching belongs to the instruction on spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit, which declares that definite gifts of the Spirit have been placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. It shows how Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth would be fulfilled to the church. Confessing Jesus as Lord belongs to that same teaching, and is made possible by the Holy Spirit.
No speech prompted by the Spirit of God condemns Jesus, and no one can acknowledge Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit, whose enabling makes the confession possible. Together with the teaching of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of First Corinthians, this test should have more weight with believers while they are being tried and tested. Then the Lord of heaven may shut them in with Himself so that the wicked one has no power over them.
The distinction applies to fanaticism, for Satanic deception must not be mistaken for the work of the Spirit. The wrong response to fanaticism is to reject the genuine gifts and operations of God's Spirit because of the counterfeit. When the power of the third angel's message is lost and an accursed thing is in the camp, speaking by a wrong spirit brings prejudice, false reports, darkness, distraction, and self-confidence without confession. That same wrong spirit sets itself in opposition to the visions.
Speaking by the Spirit of God acknowledges that the visions are of God and produces a mighty breaking down and confession of wrongs. The wrong is then removed by disfellowshipping those who refuse to yield. What follows is restored sweet union and love with the clear light of truth, together with healing of the sick through anointing with oil and prayer and prostration by the power of God.
The verse is to be studied and applied by church members for the continuous humbling of individual self and the critical taking of self in hand. That work begins with self-examination whose very first step is denying self. It means taking up one's own cross of self-denial and self-humiliation and self-sacrifice instead of laying it on someone else to carry.