A (religious) ban or (concretely) excommunicated (thing or person)
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G331 names what is accursed or placed under a curse. Its New Testament contexts are severe, but the noun should be defined from those contexts rather than from an etymological story or a direct transfer of every Old Testament use of devoted things.
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Full entry for ἀνάθεμα (G331) · Open the biblical lexicon
G331 names what is accursed or placed under a curse. Its New Testament contexts are severe, but the noun should be defined from those contexts rather than from an etymological story or a direct transfer of every Old Testament use of devoted things.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include under a curse (3), [be] cursed (1), cursed (1), with a solemn oath (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 23:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 1 Corinthians (2), Galatians (2), Acts (1), Romans (1).
G331 names what is accursed or placed under a curse. Its New Testament contexts are severe, but the noun should be defined from those contexts rather than from an etymological story or a direct transfer of every Old Testament use of devoted things. Galatians 1:8-9 repeats the command that a messenger of a contrary gospel be under a curse; the surrounding chapter identifies the crisis as desertion from the grace of Christ to a distorted gospel.
Romans 9:3 uses the word in Paul's grief-filled, qualified wish concerning his fellow Israelites, not as a transaction he says could save them. First Corinthians 12:3 contrasts saying 'Jesus be cursed' with confessing 'Jesus is Lord' in a discussion of speech and the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 16:22 places a curse formula beside the Aramaic prayer for the Lord to come.
Acts 23 uses the related oath language for conspirators binding themselves to kill Paul, reminding readers that curse vocabulary can also appear in a human vow. None of these passages authorizes Christians to pronounce curses casually, threaten dissenters, or enact violence.
The local index count is about seven and should not be treated as an unqualified corpus total. Galatians repeats a curse concerning a contrary gospel, Romans records Paul's anguished wish, First Corinthians uses the term in confession and closing judgment formulas, and Acts applies related curse language to a murderous oath.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!
Paul includes himself and even an angel from heaven in the hypothetical, so a messenger's status cannot authorize a gospel contrary to what the Galatians received. The surrounding verses describe the crisis as desertion from the grace of Christ for a distorted gospel.
As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!
Paul explicitly repeats the warning and shifts from the hypothetical messengers of verse 8 to anyone preaching contrary to the gospel the Galatians received. The repetition marks deliberate emphasis without requiring readers to reconstruct every target beyond the letter's own argument.
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
Paul's qualified wish expresses great sorrow and unceasing anguish for his fellow Israelites. The verse does not say that his being cut off could save them or that such an exchange is possible; it measures the depth of his grief before the argument continues.
Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
Paul gives the Corinthians a negative and positive boundary for speech concerning Jesus: God's Spirit does not produce 'Jesus be cursed,' and confession of Jesus as Lord is attributed to the Holy Spirit. This passage should govern its own claim rather than be made to identify every false teacher with that utterance.
If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
The closing formula places lack of love for the Lord under a curse and immediately preserves the Aramaic prayer, 'Come, O Lord.' Their juxtaposition gives the closing a solemn horizon of the Lord's coming, but the verse does not supply a reusable human procedure for cursing others.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. A thing devoted to God or cursed; in NT usage, excommunication or complete separation from Christian community.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a curse, a cursed thing
Read versea curse, a cursed thing
Read versea curse, a cursed thing
Read versea curse, a cursed thing
Read versea curse, a cursed thing
Read versea curse, a cursed thing
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
ἀνάθεμα is built from this root:
Highlights the intensity of the conspiracy. Acts 23:11-22
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Galatians 1:8-9 requires teachers to take a distorted gospel with utmost seriousness while remaining under the text themselves. Paul places 'we' and an angel inside the warning before saying 'anyone,' so office, reputation, or claimed revelation cannot place a messenger above the gospel already received. The rest of Galatians must define the controversy: desertion from Christ's grace, pressure toward circumcision, and reliance on works of law.
The curse formula is not permission for leaders to threaten people over secondary disputes, demand personal loyalty, or declare opponents beyond God's mercy. Romans 9:3 shows the same apostle using the term while expressing anguish for Israel, and First Corinthians places it in tightly governed confessional and eschatological settings. Churches should protect the gospel through truthful teaching, patient correction, accountable discipline where Scripture warrants it, and care for those endangered by coercive leaders. Final judgment belongs to God.
Gal.1.8
G331 functions in the New Testament with the sense of accursed or under a curse. Related Greek vocabulary can describe dedicated offerings, and Septuagint usage provides background for things devoted under judgment, but spelling history and word parts should not replace contextual evidence. In Galatians the construction is ἀνάθεμα ἔστω, a third-person imperative, 'let that one be accursed.' The grammar expresses a solemn command or pronouncement; it does not by itself define a church-discipline procedure.
The Septuagint uses related curse and devoted-thing language in translating several Hebrew settings, including חֵרֶם. That background can explain the term's severity, but Israel's conquest judgments must not be turned into a warrant for Christian violence or mapped mechanically onto church disagreement. Galatians supplies its own governing context: fidelity to the gospel of Christ's grace over every claimed messenger.
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