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Conclusion of the Epistle with Salutation and Benediction
1Th_5:25-28.
2. (1Th_5:26.) Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss; ößëçìá , a love-token (Rom_16:16; 1Co_16:20; 2Co_13:12); ößëçìá ἀãÜðçò (1Pe_5:14); in the Latin Fathers, and first Tertullian, osculum pacis [signaculum pacis.—J. L.], also simply pax. The kiss, a general mark of salutation, especially in the East, was here to be hallowed as an expression of brotherly love, and of the common joy in the Lord. It had its place especially after prayer, and before taking the Holy Supper, &c. According to Tertullian it was omitted on Good Friday (on account of the kiss of Judas). Later ecclesiastical rules (with a view particularly to cutting off every pretext for heathen calumnies) insisted that only men should kiss men, and women women. The custom remained till the middle ages, and it still prevails in the East at Easter (comp. Augusti, Handbuch der chr. Archäol., II. p., 718 sqq.). Because in the other Pauline passages it is said: ἀóðÜóáóèå ἀëëÞëïíò , but here: ôïὺò ἀäåëöïὺò ðÜíôáò , De Wette and Lünemann infer that the Epistle, received and read in public by the presidents, requires them, first of all, to salute and kiss all the brethren in the Apostle’s name. Ewald even asserts that 1Th_5:25-27, beginning so abruptly, were plainly added by Paul in his own hand for the authentication of the letter, according to 2Th_3:17 (in pursuance of the untenable hypothesis, that our First Epistle was rather the Second); and that these words, accordingly, were intended first for the presidents; Timothy having probably informed him that our Second Epistle (which was rather the First) had not been duly read in public before the assembled church. But even the appeal to 3Jn_1:9 has no power to lift all this out of the category of utterly groundless hypotheses. In opposition to it Hofmann properly reminds us, that the invitation in 1Th_5:25 is addressed to all the Thessalonians, and therefore also the next 1Th_5:26; hence: Deliver my salutation (in connection with the holy kiss) to all the brethren—this the Thessalonians did collectively, when on hearing these words they kissed one another.
3. (1Th_5:27.) I adjure you, &c.; äñêßæù or ἐíïñêßæù has also a different construction from
Footnotes:
1Th_5:27.—A. B. D.1 E. ἐíïñêßæù , [found nowhere else]; Sin. and most others, ὁñêßæù which is, indeed, more common in the New Testament [Mar_5:7; Act_19:13;—the only other instances], and therefore, perhaps, in the present instance merely a correction. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott edit Ýíïñê .—Nearly all versions and commentaries give the full force of the Greek verb, as E. V. does in the other instances, and here in the margin.—J. L.]
1Th_5:27.— ἁãßïéò is wanting in B. D. E. F. G. and in Sin. primâ manu; but is found in A. K. L., Sin. secundâ manu, and in most of the versions. De Wette is probably right in holding, that it was omitted as being unusual and apparently superfluous, rather than it was added; it is found also at Heb_3:1. [It is omitted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford. Riggenbach brackets it in his version.—J. L.]
1Th_5:28.— ἀìÞí at the close is wanting in B. D.1 F. G.; most of the authorities have it, and so Sin. [The critical editors generally omit it; Riggenbach brackets.—J. L.]
[Comp. 2Co_1:11; Php_1:19; Heb_13:18.—J. L.]
[Bengel also remarks that this request is wanting likewise in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, either because Paul addressed them as his sons, or because he could already count on having their intercession.—J. L.]