Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Thessalonians 5:26 - 5:26

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Thessalonians 5:26 - 5:26


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26. Ἀσπάσασθε τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς πάντας ἐν φιλήματι ἁγίῳ. Salute the brothers all in a holy kiss. In 1Pe 5:14 the kiss is defined, by its quality, φίλημα ἀγάπης: love and holiness were identified in the prayer of 1Th 3:12 f. above (see notes); the injunction of the φίλημα is followed by words upon love, and of love, in 1Co 16:20-24; cf. also 2Co 13:11-13. Such love was implied in the fellowship of prayer expressed in the verses just preceding. The “kiss” is ἅγιον as the token of love amongst the ἅγιοι (1Th 3:13, 1Th 4:7 f.); it is called in the Apost. Constitt., ii.57, τὸ ἐν Κυρίῳ φίλημα, and by Tertullian, for the Latin Church, osculum pacis, by St Augustine osculum sanctum. The Apostles wish the φίλημα to be given in conveying their “greeting,” and by way of signifying their love to “all” the Thessalonian believers; its communication in this form pre-supposes, and simultaneously expresses, the mutual love reigning in the Church (1Th 1:3; 2Th 1:3). The direction is presumably given, as Lightfoot and Bornemann point out, to the primary receivers of the Letter—probably the προιστάμενοι, scil. Elders, spoken of in 1Th 5:12 above and addressed in 1Th 5:14 f. (see notes); these are to give the kiss in the name of the writers to the Church at large. Such a salutation they were probably accustomed to bestow at Church gatherings; on the occasion of reading this Letter, it is to be given and received as from Paul and his companions.

The kiss, as the natural sign of affection amongst kindred and near friends in meeting or parting, was common in the primitive Christian assemblies, with their strong sense of fraternity. It is still a usage of the Greek and Oriental Churches at Holy Communion; but the ceremony died out in the West during the Middle Ages, being less suitable to the colder manners of the Germanic races. The custom fell into suspicion as the simplicity of Christian feeling declined; it was the subject of numerous regulations in early Councils. See the article Kiss in the Dict. of Christian Antiquitics, and φίλημα in Suicer’s Thesaurus.