1 Corinthians 16:22
If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Si quis non amat Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, sit anathema, Maran Atha.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- εἴ τις οὐ φιλεῖ τὸν κύριον, ἤτω ἀνάθεμα. Μαράνα θά.
Haydock's commentary
Let him be anathema, accursed. Maran Atha,2 which, according to St. Jerome and St. Chrysostom, signify, the Lord is come already, and so is to be taken as an admonition to those who doubted of the resurrection, and is to put them in mind, that Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, is come already. The Rabbinical writers tells us, there are three curses among the Jews called by different names: that the first was niddui, which implied an expulsion from the synagogue for a time; the second was greater, such being quite cut off from the common society, called Cherem; the third, Maran Atha, the Lord cometh, is coming, or is come, which was followed by exemplary judgments and punishments. Thus Mons. Hure, in his Bible Dictionary, Mr. Legh, in his Critica Sacra, and also Mr. Nary. But whether this is better grounded than many other Rabbinical stories, let others judge. (Witham)
2 Maran Atha, maran atha. St. Chrysostom, ti de esti maran atha; o kurios emon elthe, &c. St. Hierom[St. Jerome], Epist. ad Marcellam. tom. ii. p. 706, and de nominibus Hebraicis. tom. iv. p. 78.
Where a note speaks of the Jewish people, the Church teaches that the Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Pseudo-Ignatius Epistle to the Antiochians, Chapter VII. Exhortation to
Ye have been the disciples of Paul and Peter; do not lose what was committed to your trust. Keep in remembrance Euodias, your deservedly-blessed pastor, into whose hands the government over you was first entrusted by the apostles. Let us not bring disgrace upon our Father. Let us prove ourselves His true-born children, and not bastards. Ye know after what manner I have acted among you. The things which, when present, I spoke to you, these same, when absent, I now write to you. “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema.” Be ye followers of me. My soul be for yours, when I attain to Jesus. Remember my bonds.
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Homily XVI on Rom. ix. 1
What sayest thou, O Paul? from Christ, thy beloved One, from Whom neither kingdom nor hell, nor things visible nor intelligible, nor another world as great, would separate thee, is it from Him that thou wouldst now be accursed? What has happened? Hast thou changed, hast thou given over that love? No, he replies, fear not. Rather I have even made it more intense. How then is it that thou wouldest fain be accursed, and seekest a separation, and a removal to such a distance, that after it there is no possibility of finding a more distant one? Because I love Him exceedingly, he may reply. How, pray, and in what manner? For the things seem a riddle. Or rather, if you will, let us learn what the curse is, and then we will question him upon these points, and shall understand this unspeakable and extraordinary love. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Homily XXXI on Rom. xvi. 5
Here again he passes encomiums upon his person by his love. For the love of Paul was for God, carrying countless blessings with it. For if being loved by the king is a great thing, what a great encomium must it be to be beloved by Paul? For if he had not acquired great virtue, he would not have attracted his love? Since as for those who live in vice and transgressions he is accustomed ( οἶδε ) not only to abstain from loving them, but even to anathematize them. As when he says, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be accursed” ( 1 Cor. xvi. 22 ); and, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” ( Gal. i. 8 .)
St John Chrysostom Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily XLIV
Ver. 22 . “If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.” By this one word he strikes fear into all: those who made their members the members of an harlot; those who put stumbling blocks in the way of their brethren by the things offered in sacrifice unto idols; those who named themselves after men; those who refuse to believe the resurrection. And he not only strikes fear, but also points out the way of virtue and the fountain of vice, viz. that as when our love towards Him hath become intense, there is no kind of sin but is extinguished and cast out thereby; so when it is too weak, it causes the same to spring up.
St Athanasius Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life, First Letter to Monks. (Written 358-360)
3. Accordingly I have written as well as I was able; and you, dearly beloved, receive these communications not as containing a perfect exposition of the Godhead of the Word, but as being merely a refutation of the impiety of the enemies of Christ, and as containing and affording to those who desire it, suggestions for arriving at a pious and sound faith in Christ. And if in anything they are defective (and I think they are defective in all respects), pardon it with a pure conscience, and only receive favourably the boldness of my good intentions in support of godliness. For an utter condemnation of the heresy of the Arians, it is sufficient for you to know the judgment given by the Lord in the death of Arius, of which you have already been informed by others. …