Maranatha, or The Lord Cometh

The title of the following work is taken from the twenty-second verse of the sixteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The inspired apostle, after stating that the salutation was given, not by an amanuensis, but with his own hand, adds with his own. hand these words of most solemn import: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema. Maranatha.” He does not say, if any man hate the Lord Jesus Christ, if any man revile the Lord Jesus Christ, if any man deliberately and persistently reject the Lord Jesus Christ; but if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema. A man, then, may be adorned with all the attractions of a spotless morality, or he may be a member of the visible Church, or he may be an able and eloquent minister of the Gospel, but if he love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he falls under the Anathema. He may love his family, he may love his country, he may love the denomination of Christians to which he belongs, he may love orthodoxy, but if he love not the Lord Jesus Christ, says the Holy Ghost, let him be Anathema.

The threatened curse in the fulness of its desolating power maybe delayed, but it is sure; for the Anathema is immediately followed by Maranatha, which means, The Lord or Our Lord Cometh; and he cometh, as it

INTRODUCTION.

is elsewhere written, “with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.”

It may be of some importance, merely for the sake of vindicating the propriety of the title selected for the book to show that Maranatha refers, not to a past, (as some who oppose the truth of our Lord’s premillennial advent strangely assert) but to a future coming of Christ. In the nature of the case such a question must be determined by an appeal to competent human authority. For the proper meaning of Hebrew and Greek words we are compelled to resort to Lexicographers who are thoroughly familiar with the languages in which the Sacred Scriptures were written; although the humblest disciple of Jesus may also be compelled, under the teachings of the Holy Spirit, to dissent entirely from their views of doctrine. Gesenius, for example, was a very distinguished Oriental Scholar, and his Hebrew Lexicon is everywhere in use; but when he enters the field of exposition, no true Christian can think of adopting his opinions, for he was an avowed and earnest adherent of the rationalistic or infidel body in Germany that has done so much to degrade and dis¬ honor God’s blessed word. The most accurate and faithful translation, perhaps, of the Greek New Testament into English has been made by a Unitarian; but if he should publish a Commentary on the New Testament, it would hold no place in the esteem of those who reverently and joyfully receive the great truths of our Lord’s real and proper divinity, and of His sacrificial death upon the cross, and of the absolute necessity of regeneration by the personal power of the Holy Ghost.

It is perfectly consistent, therefore, to accept the testimony of learned men with regard to the meaning of Hebrew and Greek words, and at the same time to deny the soundness of their conclusions when they undertake to expound the doctrines contained in the Scriptures. If a correct translation of the Bible is presented to us in language we can understand, one Christian has no advantage over another in arriving at a knowledge of the truths it teaches, save as one may be a more devout and diligent student of the word, and more subject to the Spirit, and less dependent upon human tradition for his belief. Hence it often occurs that the poor laborer, working all day with his hands, and having neither inclination nor leisure to read any book but his Bible, has a far clearer perception of the truth as it is in Jesus than many of the most eminent Professors in our schools of learning. The presence of the ever abiding Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to teach us all things, and to bring all things to our remembrance, and to guide us into all truth, was made to all alike who believe in Christ as their Saviour; and to all alike, including the “fathers,” the “young men,” and the “little children,” it is written, “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things;” and “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you.”

Without attaching any special value, therefore, to the views of commentators and scholars concerning the doctrine of our Lord’s coming, it is necessary to receive their testimony concerning the meaning of Maranatha.

INTRODUCTION.

Bagster’s Greek Lexicon defines it as follows: “The Lord cometh, or will come to judgment.”

Robinson’s Greek Lexicon gives as its definition: “The Lord cometh to judgment.”

Murdock, in his translation of the Syriac New Testament, renders it, “Our Lord cometh.”

Kitto, in his Pictorial Bible, says, “On this word we have no fact beyond this, that it means in Syriac ‘ the Lord will come.’ Suppose we were to paraphrase the verse thus: — ‘ If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema when the Lord cometh.’ Or thus: — ‘ If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema: and this the Lord cometh quickly to accomplish.’”

The Religious Encyclopedia says, “Anathema signifies accursed, that is to say, condemned and devoted to utter destruction. Maranatha signifies The Lord cometh.”

The Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature says it is a Syriac phrase, meaning “The Lord cometh.”

Wordsworth says, “A pause is to be made after ‘Anathema.’ Let him be accursed: not, however, by man. For, the Lord (^Marati) {athd) cometh to execute judgment on him.”

Alford says, it means “The (or our) Lord cometh,” and adds, “A weighty watchword tending to recall to them the nearness of His coming, and the duty of being found ready for it.”

Lange says it is the “Syriac for ‘Our Lord comes;’ not, he has come, so that obstinate hatred and conflict with him are all, useless, (Jerome.)” To which the American Editor adds, “By translating the expression in Greek [equivalent to ‘the Lord cometh’] we are at once reminded of the epithet, the coming Otte as applied to the Messiah in Matthew xi: 3; Luke xvii: 19, 20; John vi: 14; xi:27; and also as constantly recurring in Revelation, where the coming of Christ forms the refrain of the whole book, and where at the close John winds up the Canon of Scripture with a reference to the solemn fact, ‘ He that testifieth these things, saith, Behold, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Here in fact is the key-note of the Apostle’s constant mood. In all the changes of thought and feeling we hear it ever returning; and what is more natural than that in uttering it, he should use the very terms in which the thought was always ringing through his soul.? They had acquired with him the character of a solemn formula, for which nothing else could be substituted.”

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