"If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus..."

“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema…”  1 Cor. 16:22

“…The criterion is love, love to Christ, and the thought is that the only alternative to this love of Christ is damnation….  The apostle could have said, ‘If anyone does not have faith in Christ, let him be anathema.’  But, instead, he speaks of love to Christ and we must take account of this direction of thought and interest.  One lesson to be learned is that faith in Christ is not a momentary and fleeting act of will.  Faith is an act of commitment to Christ and it results in permanent attachment to him.  It knows not divided allegiance.  It is total commitment in love and devotion because we discover in him that which demands our whole being.  Faith means Christ’s  absolute Lordship and it is significant that it is the title Lord that is employed and thrust into the foreground – ‘if  anyone does not love the Lord’….”

-- John Murray, sermon:  “Love to Christ Indispensable” (from “Collected Writings… vol. 3, p. 223)