sincerity and strength of this sorrow for them he asserts in the strongest terms in the next verse.
(3) For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, &c. The word anathema, which is used in this verse by the apostle, properly means something set up or consecrated, and is applied frequently to votive offerings. A secondary application of the word was to those persons who were devoted to destruction as sacrifices for the public good. And as, among the Greeks, the lowest and vilest of the peo- ple were selected for that purpose, it became a term of execration, and expressed the idea of exposure to divine wrath. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word to which it answers, occurs very frequently, and pro- bably the root originally meant to cut off, to separate. Hence, the sub- stantive derived from it, meant something separated or consecrated. In usage, however, it was applied only to such things as could not be redeemed, and which, when possessed of life, were to be put to death. It is evident from such passages as Lev. 27 : 28, 29. Deut. 7 : 26. Josh. 6 : 17. 1 Sam. 15 : 21, that the word usually designates a person or thing set apart to destruction on religious grounds ; something accursed.
In the New Testament the use of the Greek word is very nearly the same. The only passages in which it occurs besides the one before us, are the following ; Acts 23 : 14, " We have bound ourselves under a great curse (we have placed ourselves under an anathema), that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul." The meaning of this passage evi- dently is, ' We have imprecated on ourselves the curse of God, or we have called upon him to consider us as anathema.' 1 Cor. 12 : 3, " No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed (anathema) ;" 1 Cor. 16 : 22, " Let him be anathema maranatha;" Gal. 1 : 8, 9, " Let him be accursed (anathema)." In all these cases it is clear that the word is applied to those who were regarded as deservedly exposed, or devoted to the curse of God. In this sense it was used by the early Christian writers, and from them passed into the use of the church. " Let him be anathema," being the constant formula of pronouncing any one, in tho judgment of the church, exposed to the divine malediction.
Among the later Jews, this word, or the corresponding Hebrew term, was used in reference to the second of the three degrees into which they divided excommunication (see Buxtorf 's Rabbinical Lexicon). But no analogous use of the word occurs in the Bible. Such being the meaning of this word in the Scriptures, its application in this case by the apostle admits of various explanations.
The common interpretation, however, and that which seems most natu- ral, is, ' I am grieved at heart for my brethren, for I could wish myself accursed from Christ, that is, I could be willing to be regarded and treated as anathema, a thing accursed, for their sakes.' That this inter- pretation suits the force and meaning of the words, and is agi-eeable to the context, must, on all hands, be admitted. The only objection to it is