Anathema

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 1min
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 10
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This is a Greek word untranslated in 1 Corinthians 16:22: it occurs also in Romans 9:33For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: (Romans 9:3); 1 Corinthians 12:33Wherefore 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. (1 Corinthians 12:3); Galatians 1:8-98But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8‑9) and is uniformly translated “accursed.” The solemn passage in 1 Corinthians 16 is “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed, Maranatha (the Lord cometh).” In Galatians it is said that if any person or even an angel from heaven preached any other gospel than that which they had received, let him be accursed. Two solemn denunciations relating to the person of the Lord Jesus and the gospel of God.
The word ἀνάθεμα was used for any votive offering in a heathen temple, which could not be redeemed; hence anything devoted. In the New Testament it is devoted to God’s curse, destruction.