Information AboutMaranatha |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MARANATHA | |
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The phrase seems to have been used as a greeting between early Christians , and it is probably in this way that it was used by Paul. However, the preceding word is the curse " Anathema ", and because the original texts of the Greek New Testament contained no punctuation at all, or indeed any word or sentence separation, early readers took the two words together and construed the passage as, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha". It was therefore believed that "anathema maranatha" must be some exceptionally severe kind of curse. The phrase was in use in this sense at least by the 7th Century , when Pope Silverius pronounces anyone who deceives a bishop as "anathema maranatha". One possible understanding of this is that the offender would be excluded from communion with the Church until the return of Christ, tying the punishment to the term Maranatha. This appears, however, to be an afterthought. The negative understanding of ''maranatha'' persisted until the early 20th Century , and can still be found among some of the more severe kinds of conservative Christians to-day. It is worth noting that, perhaps as a consequence of this interpretation, it has been maintained by some scholars that "Maranatha" is a mis-translation of the Hebrew phrase "''mohoram atta''", which means "''you are put under the ban''". If the original usage is understood as a greeting, however, this interpretation seems gratuitous. In the 20th Century, especially in Protestant circles, the word "maranatha" seems to have shed its negative associations, and it is widely used as a title by Christian organisations and institutions. Maranatha may also refer to
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