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Concluding greetings:
v. 23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
v. 24. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.
v. 25. Brethren, pray for us.
v. 26. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
v. 27. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
v. 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Amen.
The conclusions of Paul's letters are always serene and restful, his last word invariably being one of evangelical kindness. Whether he here had in mind the vices to which he had alluded in the body of his letter, which tend to disturb the harmony of the Church, or not, his closing benediction is one of singular beauty: He Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, blameless, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the Lord, the God of peace, the apostle commends the Thessalonian Christians, for it is He that is the Author and Giver of peace; He it was that sent His Son, the Prince of Peace, for the redemption of the world, to restore the right relation between Himself and fallen mankind. This God, reconciled to them through the death of His Son, also had the power to consecrate the Christians through and through, working in them that perfection which He desires in His children, through the Word. The result of the Spirit's sanctifying labors, then, would be that in the end the Christians would be blameless, irreproachable in soul, mind, and body. The soul, in its relation to God, the mind, in its judging of all matters pertaining to sanctification, the body, as the seat of the soul and the instrument of the mind: they all should make steady progress toward perfect sanctification. This goal may not be reached in this life, but at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ all the believers, clothed in the righteousness and holiness of their Redeemer, will be acceptable in the sight of God, washed by the blood of the Lamb that was slain. For the comfort of the Christians, who feel their own insufficiency all too well, the apostle adds: Faithful is He that calls you, who will also do this. The promises of God as to His keeping His own in the faith to the end are so numerous in Scriptures that every Christian should feel the calm certainty of the infallible Word, Joh_10:28; 2Ti_4:8-18.
So far as his own person is concerned, Paul feels constrained to add the appeal: Brethren, pray for me. Not only were great responsibilities resting upon the apostle, but he had an unusual measure of personal affliction to contend with and therefore stood in need of their constant intercession. Incidentally, ever full of kind remembrance toward all members of the churches, he bids his readers salute all the brethren with a holy kiss, a custom of the early Church which was retained for several centuries in the public services, the women saluting the women and the men the men, in a very dignified and solemn manner, to signify the sincerity of the love which united them. The apostle also impressed upon their minds with great solemnity that all the brethren should be given an opportunity to read this letter, for he wanted every single member of the congregation to be acquainted with its contents. Here again the apostle shows the fine character of a pastor who is concerned about every soul entrusted to his care and makes it a special point to reach them all by either public or private appeal. At the end of his letter the apostle places the ordinary benediction in its short form: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! It is a wish which implies not only that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, whose redemption secured free grace for all, but also that He is divine and can freely dispense of His boundless store of grace and mercy, as He obtained it for men by His suffering and death.
Summary
The apostle describes the unexpectedness of the return of Christ, which makes constant vigilance on the part of the Christians necessary; he gives his readers short instructions as to their conduct toward others and as to their personal bearing; he closes with a beautiful benediction, an appeal, and the apostolic greeting.