arose from the fact that the kiss would naturally be exchanged on those occa sions when the brethren came together for worship. It is usually held that the kiss was exchanged at first only be tween members of the same sex. But in course of time men and women ex changed kisses. Understandably this led to undesirable scenes, and the early church councils passed a number of reg ulations governing the circumstances under which the kiss should be ex changed. The “holy kiss” is mentioned "Growing in Grace" Some of us stay at the cross Some of us wait at the tomb, Quickened and raised together with Christ, Yet lingering still in its gloom. Some of us bide at the Passover Feast W ith Pentecost alt unknown; The triumphs of grace in the heav enly place That our Lord has made our own. If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross, His work has been incomplete; If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb. He had only known defeat. But the way of the cross never stops at the cross. And the way of the tomb leads on To victorious grace in the heavenly place, Where the risen Lord has gone. — Annie Johnson Flint in Rom. 16:6. I Cor. 16:20, II Cor. 13:12, and a “kiss of love” in I Pet. 5:14, so that the custom was evidently widely practiced in New Testament days. Milligan, “It is not surprising that Paul should ask for his letter to be read to all. The word ‘read’ in v. 27, will here mean ‘read aloud.’ We do not know how far the early church was literate, but it is not likely that all the artisan church members of Thessalonica could read for themselves, so that read ing aloud was the way in which the contents would be made known to all. Whether this means that Paul intends the letter to be read during public wor
ship is not clear. In time such reading came to be accepted as a mark of Can- onicity, a sign that the writing was accepted as sacred Scripture. But it is uncertain either how old the custom was of reading such letters during serv ice, or how early this signified canon- city. On the whole the likelihood is that Paul did mean the letter to be read, if not all worship, at least on the oc casion when people assembled for wor ship (perhaps before or after the serv ice.)” The point is that opportunities for those who were not leisured folk to meet were not many, and the gathering for worship would be the logical time for such a communication to be read to them all. This probably established a precedent. In time the kind of letters which might be read at service was sharply limited, and so only letters held to be canonical were read. But if it is not surprising that Paul should ask that the letter be read it is surprising that he does so in language of such vehemence. “ I adjure you by the Lord” means “I put you on your oath as Christians.” This is something which comes from Paul himself, for he says “I” and not “we.” Why should Paul be so very urgent about the letter being read to all? “It is characteristic of Paul that he brings his letters to an end, not with the customary “ Farewell,” but with a prayer for grace for those to whom he has written. Occasionally the prayer is shorter than this one, and sometimes it is longer, the longest being II Cor. .13:14 with its mention of each of the (persons of the Trinity. But characteris tic in each case is the prayer for grace. It is the grace of the Lord which ling ers in the Apostle’s thoughts, just as it is the grace of the Lord with which he begins his letters. His own hand would seem to have penned these words in each Epistle (see II Thess. 3:17), for he took the pen from the amanuensis somewhere before the conclusion. Just where he did so in this letter is not apparent, though the use of the first person singular in v. 27 makes it appear that he wrote that verse himself.” 35
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