Thessalonians (continued) which He has begun. ‘Hath He said, and will He not do it?’ (Num. 23:19). Because He is The Faithful One, and because He is the One who has called them, they may know that He will do perfectly all that is involved in their call. It is profoundly satisfying to the believer that in the last resort what matters is not his feeble hold on God, but God’s strong grip on him (cf. John 10:28f.)” It is easy to picture for ourselves Paul as a very great Apostle ceaselessly oc cupied with his work of issuing direc tives to other people on how they should live out their faith, while he himself sits above the storm or calmly goes on his undisturbed way. Such, of course, is far from being a true picture in v. 25. Paul was very much caught up in the hurly-burly. Pink, “He found himself in situations where he did not know how to act. Sometimes when he did act he was not at all sure that he had done the right thing (in II Cor. 7:8, for example, he tells us that he wrote a letter which he came to regret, but later did not regret). He was very conscious of his own limitations, and knew that his only hope was in God. So quite often we find him seeking the prayers of his converts as he does here. He knew that he needed their prayers just as much as they needed his. So, as for the last time in this Epistle he uses the affectionate address, ‘Brethren,’ it is to request them to pray continually (continuous • tense) for him.” “Salute” sounds rather formal to us, but the Greek underlying it is simply the ordinary word for greeting people. Paul usually ends his letters by sending greetings. As a rule, when he writes to a church he knows he does not greet friends by name, which might have been invidious. As here, he sends his greetings to all. The “ all” insures that none are to be left out. He has spoken of some people who were loafers, and some who were weak. There were pos sibly others with whom he was not well pleased. But in his closing greet ings he includes them all. Some have
seen in the Word an indication that the church was seriously divided, and, indeed, was split into two groups but this is to read far too much into the Word. It is not in a specially emphatic position, and is adequately understood as above. Vincent, “The reference to the kiss means ‘Give everyone a kiss from me’ (cf. I Cor. 16:24). Paul could not be present in person to bestow this greet ing, so he wrote it. In some other places Paul urged his readers to greet one another with a holy kiss, but this is not the thought here. Paul is not telling the Thessalonians how to greet "Open Your Heart's Door" Set wide your doors, O heart of man, and let Him in. The glorious Lord would come to bide with you today— A blessed, heavenly Guest you may forever house. Shut Him not out, O heart, and turn Him not away. For, if the king of some great empire sought your door, Of your subservient welcome there would be no doubt; Yet will you entertain this lesser lord of earth, And shut the King of all the universe out? It may be He will never come your way again. Or that you did not hear His knock upon your door— Quickly, before He passes, open wide your heart. That He may come and dwell with you forever more! — Martha Snell Nicholson one another but sending his own affec tionate greetings to all.” It is clear enough that this is not meant as any thing more than a customary mode of greeting, much as we today shake hands. Not a great deal is known about kissing among the early Christians, but the practice, first taken over from the ordinary usage of secular society as a mode of greeting, in time came to have liturgical significance. Probably this 34
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