He concludes with a parting Salutation and Benediction under his own hand
17The salutation of Paul with mine own hand; which is the [a] token in every epistle: so I write. 18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. (2Th_3:17.) The salutation of Paul with mine own hand;
Ðáýëïõ
is in apposition to
ἐìῇ
, which indeed as to sense is the same thing
ìïõ
. Hitherto, therefore, Paul had dictated; and that was his custom (Rom_16:22); though Gal_6:12 [11] purports otherwise.—Which is the [a] token;
ὅ
might be explained by attraction, the subject being conformed to the gender of the predicate; but it is better to understand it thus: which, to wit, the
ἀóðÜæåóèáé ôῆ
̣
ἐìῆ
̣
÷åéñß
.—In every epistle; on which Theophylact already remarks:
ἐí ðÜóῃ ôῆ
̣
ἐðéóô
.
ôῆ
̣
ἵóùò ðåìöèçóïìÝíῃ ðñὸò ὑìᾶò
,
ῆ êáὶ ἁðëῶò ἐí ðÜóῃ ôῆ
̣
ðñὸò ïὕóôéíáò
. [Ellicott: “Apparently with reference to every future epistle (
ôῆ
̣
ðñὸò ïὕóôéíáò äÞðïôå
, Theoph. 2) which the Apostle might hereafter deem it necessary so to authenticate,—not merely those he might have contemplated writing to Thessalonica (Theoph. 1, Lünem.); for consider 1Co_16:21 and Col_4:18. If it be urged that these last mentioned are the only Epistles in which the autograph attestation seems to have found a place, it may be reasonably answered that the
ðÜóῃ
must be understood relatively of every Epistle that was sent in such a way or under such circumstances as to have needed it. All the other Epistles (except 1 Cor., Col., which have the
óçìåῖïí
, and 1 Thess., which was sent before circumstances proved it to be necessary) are fairly, shown both by De Wette and by Alford in loc. to have either been delivered by emissaries (2 Corinth., Phil.), to bear marks (Gal_6:11, and perhaps the doxology in Rom., Eph.), or to be of such a general character (Rom.? Eph.? and those to individuals) as to have rendered such a formal attestation unnecessary.”—J. L.]—So I write; not, that is, these words, as if there were cause for surprise, if we meet with them again only in 1 Cor. and Col.; it is not
ôáῦôá
, but
ïὕôùò
, and De Wette’s inquiry, why the words recur in the smallest number of the other Epistles, is quite superfluous. He says merely: This is my handwriting (see the Introduction to Thess., p. 114). Grotius, Bengel and others, thought of an intricate monogram, difficult of imitation; but that is untenable, and not consonant to antiquity. It may be further asked, whether by the autograph salutation Paul means 2Th_3:17, or 2Th_3:18, or both together. Very improbable is Diedrich’s idea: The salutation and benediction in 2Th_3:16 are written by my hand. The word is referred to 2Th_3:18 by Chrysostom (
ἀóðáóìὸí êáëåῖ ôὴí åὐ÷Þí
), Theodoret, Theophylact; by Lünemann, on the other hand, only to 2Th_3:17,
ἀóðáóìüò
, he thinks, being something different from a benediction. But probably this is to distinguish too nicely, and besides it is scarcely to be supposed, that Paul should have written 2Th_3:17 with his own hand, and then again have dictated 2Th_3:18. Nor does Lünemann assume this, but regards both verses as autographical. In that case, however, the separation between salutation and benediction also fails, as Hofmann properly remarks. The closing salutation might be compressed, or extended. The Apostle wrote it himself, but not always in the same words, nor always expressly drawing attention to it:
ὁ ἀóð
., &c. In this place it is the salutation of love, and at the same time a precautionary measure for the future. After what has been said, Lünemann’s other inference is likewise untenable, that, if Paul here says for the first time:
ïὕôùò ãñÜöù
, and thus shows that his handwriting was still unknown to the Thessalonians, then in the First Epistle he had not written the salutation. But he might there too have written the words of benediction, and merely not have found occasion to make express reference to his handwriting. So Hofmann with reason. Utterly groundless is it, when Grotius also infers from our passage that this Epistle was the first, since, had they already received one at an earlier period, this notice would have been unnecessary.—A thorough knowledge of Paul’s customary procedure could only be got from the original letters. But we know enough to say, that to regard the warding off of a pernicious forgery, as just a mark by which a forger betrays himself, is the most perverse abuse of our passage.
2. (2Th_3:18.) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all; as in the First Epistle, only that here all is expressed; no one, therefore, even of the delinquents is excluded.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
(2Th_3:17-18.) Paul takes great pains even for the fides humana of Scripture. The interest which faith has in scientific criticism consists in this, that it must be of importance for us to place confidence in nothing that is precarious. Now the original apostolic manuscript is not accessible to us, but we are referred to a series of intermediate processes, through which copies of the original are delivered to us, and, were we obliged to verify the trustworthiness of these mediums, we should remain in a painful uncertainty. But, on the whole, it is only through the fides divina that the fides humana first receives its full authentication. Only because this Epistle also bears the stamp of the Spirit of God, is the assertion of the writer, which we read at 2Th_3:17, worthy of credit, and it becomes a moral impossibility for us to impeach it as a falsehood. Not the Apostle’s handwriting, which we no longer have before us, but the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, which pervades the Epistle, is for us the decisive seal of authenticity.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Stähelin: Truly this is also the mark of all those who are a living epistle of Christ (2Co_3:2-3), that the grace of their Lord Jesus, whom they have received in faith and love to their justification, sanctification, and salvation, is by them continually embraced and held fast as their souls’ only comfort and joy.
THE END OF THESSALONIANS.
Footnotes:
2Th_3:17.—[The Greek is:
Ὁ ἀóðáóìὸò ôῆ ἐìῆ ÷åéñὶ Ðáýëïõ
, which Riggehbach renders: Der Gruss mit meiner Paulushand. Our English Version gives it in three forms: “The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand” (1Co_16:21; and so Ellicott in our text); “The salutation by the hand of me Paul” (Col_4:18); “The salutation of Paul with mine own hand” (2Th_3:17). The second mode was adopted in my Revision of this Epistle.—J. L. ]
2Th_3:17.—[
óçìåῖïí
, without the article; and so De Wette, Lünemann, Conybeare, Ellicott, and others.—J. L.]
2Th_3:18.—Most authorities give
ἀìÞí
; it is wanting in B., Sin. à prima manu, and some others. Grotius decides, that Amen was added by the church, when the Epistle was read. [It is cancelled by Tischendorf and Alford. Riggenbach likewise omits it.—J. L.]
[Webster and Wilkinson: “We have here a strong proof that St. Paul regarded himself and desired the churches to regard him as the sole author of his Epistles, whatever might be the association of the superscription, or the corresponding phraseology of the composition.”—J. L.]
