StrongerBible

anathema

ἀνάθεμα

GreekG0331“accursed, anathema, ...”

Appears 6 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Act 23:14Rom 9:31Co 12:31Co 16:22Gal 1:8Gal 1:9
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeah-NAH-theh-mahnoun

What anathema means

accursed: a person or thing handed over to God for destruction and cut off forever from his people

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

The root idea is simple and old: something "set up" or "set apart" for God. In ordinary Greek that produced a positive word for a gift dedicated in a temple, and that gentler sense survives in the near-twin spelling (ἀνάθημα) used at Luke 21:5. But the writers of the Greek Old Testament reached for this word to translate the Hebrew idea of the ban: the irrevocable handing over of people, cities, or objects to God, normally for total destruction. Once it passed through that filter, the word kept its sense of "given over to God" but the giving now meant a sword. That is the force every New Testament use carries.

The key features all six uses share are that the surrender is to God, it is final, and it places the cursed thing entirely outside the community of the saved. This is why Paul can wish it on himself for his people's sake, pronounce it on anyone who corrupts the gospel, and even frame it as the unthinkable opposite of confessing Jesus as Lord. It is not mere disapproval or a church's discipline; it is the most severe verdict the Bible knows, transposed from the conquest of Canaan into the language of the gospel.

The shades below differ only by setting, not by core meaning. In most uses the word names the cursed state itself, declared over a person. In one use it names the binding oath a group calls down on themselves, swearing to be destroyed if they fail.

Nuances

1adevoted to destruction and cut off from God: the curse declared over a person
Rom 9:31Co 12:31Co 16:22Gal 1:8Gal 1:9
1ba binding self-curse: an oath calling destruction down on oneself if a vow is broken
Act 23:14

What scholars say about anathema

Modern lexicography agrees that the New Testament's negative sense of this word ("devoted to destruction, accursed") is essentially a development of Greek-speaking Judaism, not native to classical Greek, where the cognate spelling meant a votive offering. The decisive bridge is the Greek Old Testament, where translators most often used this word to render the Hebrew ban (cherem), the irrevocable handing over of persons, cities, or objects to God, usually for annihilation (Lohfink, TDOT; Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27). Johannes Behm (TDNT 1.353-356) argued, following R. C. Trench, for a sharp split between the positive spelling and the negative one; more recent lexicographers (Katell Berthelot, Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint I, 478-487; Moises Silva, NIDNTTE; BDAG) show the split was systematized only by later grammarians and treat it as a tendency mediated through the Septuagint rather than a fixed rule. The controlling background for every Pauline use is this Septuagintal ban, not the later synagogue discipline that borrowed the same Hebrew word. The commentaries (Cranfield, Dunn, Moo, Fitzmyer, Schreiner on Romans 9:3; Fee, Garland, Thiselton, Hays on 1 Corinthians; Betz, Longenecker, Martyn, Bruce on Galatians 1; Barrett, Keener, Bock on Acts 23:14) converge on the word's performative force: it does not describe a feeling but enacts a verdict of destruction.

Where scholars disagree about anathema

Whether the New Testament's negative "curse" sense reflects a fixed difference between the two spellings of this word, or only a tendency that Greek-speaking Jews developed through the Greek Old Testament.

  • minorityA real semantic split: one spelling means votive offering, the other means accursed, a distinction the New Testament observes.; Johannes Behm, "ἀνάθεμα," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1.353-356; R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §V
  • majorityNot a fixed rule but a Hellenistic-Jewish tendency mediated through the Septuagint; the same form is attested early in the positive sense, and the split was systematized only by later grammarians.; Katell Berthelot, "Anathèma, anathema, anathematizô," Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint I (Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 478-487; BDAG, s.v. ἀνάθεμα; Moisés Silva, NIDNTTE, s.v. ἀνάθεμα
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDAG, s.v. ἀνάθεμαlexicon
  • LSJ, s.v. ἀνάθεμαlexicon
  • Johannes Behm, "ἀνάθεμα," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1.353-356dictionary
  • Katell Berthelot, "Anathèma, anathema, anathematizô," Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint I (Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 478-487dictionary
  • Moisés Silva, New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDNTTE), s.v. ἀνάθεμαdictionary
  • Norbert Lohfink, "חרם," Theological Dictionary of the Old Testamentdictionary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 23-27 (Anchor Bible)commentary
  • C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), on Romans 9:3commentary
  • Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC), on 1 Corinthians 12:3commentary
  • Hans Dieter Betz, Galatians (Hermeneia), on Galatians 1:8-9commentary
  • C. K. Barrett, Acts (ICC), on Acts 23:14commentary
  • R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, §Vreference

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of ἀνάθεμα

nominative n s

ἀνάθεμα

Rom 9:3, 1Co 12:3, 1Co 16:22, Gal 1:8, Gal 1:9

dative n s

ἀναθέματι

Act 23:14