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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 13:12 - 13:12
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12. Ἀσπάσασθε. 13. Ἀσπάζονται. These concluding salutations are a feature in all groups of S. Paul’s Epistles; 1Th 5:26; 1Co 16:19-20; Rom 16:3-23; Php 4:21-22; Col 4:10-15; Phm 1:23; Tit 3:15; 2Ti 4:19; 2Ti 4:21.
ἐν ἁγίῳ φιλήματι. This is the right order here (אBDKP), which in some texts (AFGL) has been altered to ἐν φ. ἁγίῳ, to produce agreement with 1Co 16:20; Rom 16:16; 1Th 5:26, where the order ἐν φ. ἁγίῳ is undisputed. After what has just been said respecting the ἀκαθαρσία of many at Corinth (2Co 12:21), the ἁγίῳ is emphasized. S. Peter (1Pe 5:14) says ἐν φ. ἀγάπης. Justin Martyr (Apol. i. 65) says simply φιλήματι. The ἐν marks that, in and by which the salutation was expressed. The kiss was a solemn token of that ἀγάπην ἔχειν ἐν ἀλλήλοις (Joh 13:35), by which Christ’s true disciples were to be known; of τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾷν (Rom 13:8), which is the Christian’s ceaseless debt. It was one of the earliest of ritual observances. Tertullian, who calls it osculum pacis, regards it as essential to the perfection of Christian worship. It is signaculum orationis, and quae oratio cum divortio sancti osculi integra? (de Orat. 18). Afterwards he speaks of it simply as pax, and this became a usual name for it in the West, as ἀσπασμός in the East. But in the Church Order known as The Testament of the Lord it is called simply ‘the Peace’ (i. 23, 30, ii. 4, 9). Originally the kiss in public worship was perhaps general; but certainly later, to avoid abuses, the clergy kissed the bishop, laymen kissed laymen, and women women (Const. Apost. ii. 57, viii. 11; Canons of Laodicea, 19; comp. Athenagoras Legat. 32; Clem. Alex. Paed. iii. 11, p. 301, ed. Potter). For details see Suicer s.v.; Smith and Cheetham, D. of Chr. Ant. p. 902.; Scudamore, Notitia Eucharistica, pp. 434–438, 592, 593; Kraus, Real-Enc. der Chr. Alt. p. 543. Conybeare (Expositor, 1894, i. 461) has shown that the ‘kiss of peace’ may have been a custom in the synagogue: there, of course, men would kiss men and women women. Chrysostom explains the kiss by a custom which is probably of later origin, viz. that of kissing the entrances of churches. “We are the temple of Christ. We kiss the porch and entrance of this temple in kissing one another. See now how many kiss the porch of this temple in which we are met, some stooping down on purpose, others touching it with their hand and applying their hand to their mouth.”