Some passages
of God’s word derive their chief importance from the remarkable word
or words employed. Others draw their main value from an important
truth that is revealed. Not a few have their special lesson for us
because of the place where we find them. 1 Cor. 16: 22 is remarkable
for all these reasons: “If any one love not the Lord [Jesus Christ]
let him be Anathema Maranatha”.
This statement contains peculiar
words—Anathema Maranatha.
It also reveals a solemn truth—the Lord’s return will test whether I
have a heart for Him. Finally,
it occurs in a significant place. Where does it occur? It
speaks of the ‘Anathema’ or the ‘curse’ but it is not in Galatians.
It speaks of ‘love’ but it is not in John’s epistles. It speaks of
the Lord’s coming but it is not in Thessalonians. No, these words
are addressed to the saints in Corinth. But why Corinth?
The first epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians is a long epistle. In the course of it the Holy Spirit
has to rebuke numerous practical evils and correct many doctrinal
errors. There were divisions among the Corinthian saints (see 1 Cor.
1: 10–13) and these were brought about by focusing on the Lord’s
servants instead of the Lord. Not recognising the one body which God
has made in Christ, the Corinthians were taken up with their own
ecclesiastical cliques, just as many Christians are today. They were
boasting in men (see 1 Cor. 3: 21) and “puffed up one for [such a]
one against another” (1 Cor. 4: 6), occupied with the names of mere
men instead of the name which is above every name. Though they came
short in no gift, the apostle had to speak to them “as to fleshly”
(1 Cor. 3: 1) and as such they were in no condition to receive more
than what was elementary: “I have given you milk to drink, not meat,
for ye have not yet been able” (v2). Not only this, but there were
sins of gross immorality among them (see chap. 5: 1) and brother was
going to law with brother before the ungodly (see chap. 6: 6).
Again, there were offences against the consciences of weak brethren,
and the Lord’s Supper had been degraded into a grotesque exhibition
of selfishness (see 1 Cor. 8: 10; 11: 21).
Last, but not least, not only were there
practical faults, but there were also serious errors of doctrine.
Chapter 15 shows that even the truth of the resurrection had been
called into question, and that special pains had to be taken by the
apostle to establish it again in all its force and meaning.
Against this background, the great
point for us to notice is that the epistle ends with the solemn
reference to the fact that the Lord is coming again. “Anathema
Maranatha” are almost the final words of the epistle—indeed they do
conclude it apart from the blessing in verses 23–24.
Maranatha is made up of
two Aramaic or Syriac words.
Mar is the Syriac word today for
Lord, and
n is the Syriac suffix,
meaning our. Thus
Maran means
our Lord.
Atha in English is
he cometh, so that
Maranatha, when put
together, means our Lord
cometh. But this is not all. If we have ears to hear, the fact
of this word coming
here and nowhere else in the
Scriptures, ought to speak forcefully to us.
Everything the epistle deals with
is no longer to be looked at simply in the light of the past or the
present, but in the light of the
future. There are a
whole catalogue of serious evils reproved, but when it is a question
of the Lord’s coming, and of the “Anathema” or curse which will
fall, then it is no longer a question of life or walk,
it is a question of the heart:
“If any one
love not the Lord
[Jesus Christ] let him be Anathema Marantha” (my emphasis). It is as
much as to say ‘It is well and good to put right all your many
errors and failings, but that is not enough. Have you
love for Christ? When
He comes,
that is what He looks
for. It is one thing to respond to corrective ministry, quite
another to be moved by
affection for Christ. Henceforth you may
be pure, temperate and moral in life, but have you a heart for the
Lord? Yes, from now on you may be perfectly correct in your ritual
and orthodox in your creed, but if you have not love, then you are
nothing (see 1 Cor. 13: 2). Sadly, you can be outwardly sound and
yet have a heart of ice to the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus.’
Such will only hear “Anathema” when “our Lord cometh”!
Many motives may move me. I may be
exact in my religious duties and ecclesiastical observances because
I love my church or meeting. I may be orthodox in my creed because I
have a love of dogma and doctrine. I may be very philanthropic
because I love others. I may be very moral in life because I love
myself. But none of these things will be of any account when “our
Lord cometh.” Christ will then be the one test. In what relation do
I stand to Him? Do I love Him for all He has done for me, a poor,
lost, unworthy sinner? Is He mine and am I His?
True, such questions are not much asked
today. The churches put forwards their plans and purposes, unmindful
of “Maranatha”, and oblivious to “our Lord cometh”. It is “good will
toward men” which takes the places of “glory to God” today (Luke 2:
14 AV)—or which, at any rate,
is put before it. Social themes have
ousted the Gospel of God’s grace in most of our pulpits—as though
there could be any true morality, genuine philanthropy, or real
church work apart from Christ! When He, and love for Him, are not
the spring and source of what is done, then as regards eternity, the
results are sure to be cold, barren, lifeless and worthless, and
will come under the solemn Anathema or curse when “our Lord cometh”.
Only the love which comes from God, and is “shed abroad in our
hearts by [the] Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5: 5) can produce the “fruit of
the Spirit” (Gal. 5: 22) such that it ascends back again to God,
fragrant with the perfume of the merits of His beloved Son.
This is the lesson which is taught us by “Maranatha”, and its power
arises from the place where it is written for our learning. May that
same Holy Spirit who inspired it in the Book inspire it also in our
hearts, causing it to work there effectually for God’s own glory.
