(19) The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. (20) All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with a holy kiss. (21) The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. (22) If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. (23) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (24) My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
It would have been unnecessary to have dwelt upon the salutations with which the Apostle closeth his Epistle; everyone knoweth how very decided a part they form in Christian fellowship and communion. But we have in this paragraph, with which the Apostle takes leave of the Church in this first Epistle, an expression which we meet with in no other part of the word of God, but which Paul delivers in a kind of denunciation which demands our attention. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. In order for the right apprehension of the words, it should be considered what they mean, and to whom they are applicable.
As to their meaning, it should seem to have been a form made use of by the Jews, when they intended to express somewhat more than ordinarily severe, to say, let him be anathema maranatha, that is, let the Lord determine his punishment, for we cannot, his crime is so great and heavy. The Jews had a word for excommunication, namely, Cherem, which implied a total separation forever from all hopes of recovery, and such as was never used, but to imply the being devoted to eternal wrath. This word corresponded to the expression here used by Paul of anathematizing. And in application to the persons the Apostle had in view, the sense is, that, if any lived and died without being regenerated, and, consequently, not loving Christ, because a state of nature in the carnal mind is enmity against God, he was of necessity in this state, and, as such, is justly exposed to everlasting wrath. And, if Paul used the expression as the Jews used it, then it would follow, that by it, the Apostle left the nature and degree of punishment to the Lord. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha!
But, in reference to modern times, it may not be amiss to ask to whom the words are applicable? There maybe, indeed there must be, multitudes among the unawakened and profane, of whom it may be truly said, they do not at present love the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet such a sentence cannot be passed upon them. What numbers are there of the Lord's own people which are now in nature's darkness, who, therefore, love not the Lord; but yet from belonging to the Lord, when the fulness of the time is come, and God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their heart, they will cry Abba! Father!
Now, the anathema, maranatha can never belong to them. Neither, if during the time of their unregeneracy, they should grievously afflict, and persecute the Church of God, as Paul himself did, while in a state of unconversion; yet, as in these instances, the Lord is shewing forth all long-suffering, and all the while, though persecuting Christ in his members, they themselves are the unconscious members also of Christ's body; here can be no anathema pronounced against them!
Reader! there is a case, however, of great clearness, in which the faithful cannot err, and you and I may, (and we ought indeed), try our faith and love to the Lord Jesus by the standard. Supposing we see and know any one person or persons living and dying in an hatred to Christ, and supposing this person is near and dear to us in the ties of nature, while full of malignity, in respect to the doctrines of grace; can we join the Apostle? Can we say of such as Paul did: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be an anathema maranatha here is the trial of faith and love!
Sweetly the Apostle concludes his Epistle, as we have cause to conclude every day and night, every deed and prayer, ordinance and service; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Lord Christ Jesus be with all his people. Amen.