Lessons #611 and 612
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New American Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
+ 4. Text is based on 1984 edition of the NIV +
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Greetings and Declarations (1 Cor 16:19-24)
19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. 20 All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. 21 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
We have finally come to the end of this first epistle to the Corinthians. The apostle’s ending of this epistle involves two issues. The first is greeting that is generally a part of closing a letter in Hellenistic world that involves salutation or greeting to some individuals addressed by names. However, the apostle presents the subject of greeting as involving others who greet the Corinthians as he also instructs them to exchange greetings among themselves while he acknowledged his role in the ending greetings. The second issue is the apostle’s declarations as he ended the epistle. The declaration of the apostle consists of a curse, blessing, and love. We will deal with these issues later but we simply introduce them as part of the declarations of the apostle that form the ending portion of this first epistle to the Corinthians.
It is our assertion that the first subject of concern for the apostle as he ended his first epistle to the Corinthians is “greetings.” This concern is introduced in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians16:19 The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Literally, the Greek reads The churches of Asia send greetings to you. The addition of the word province in the NIV is intended to prevent the reader from thinking of the entire continent of Asia as we know it today. We will say more about this usage later, but we made the comment because some of our English versions followed the literal Greek reading, and some may think that something was added to the Scripture when that is not the case.
The expression “send…greetings” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (aspazomai) that has two general meanings. It can mean to express happiness about the arrival of something, hence means “to welcome, to be happy about.” It is in this sense that the human author of Hebrews used it in connection with the response of God’s people of faith to His promise that he described in the eleventh chapter, as we read in Hebrews 11:13:
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
However, the more common meaning of the Greek verb in question is to engage in hospitable recognition of another and so means “to greet, to welcome someone.” This engagement in hospitable recognition of another may be through word or gesture or both with, of course, varying degrees of intimacy. It may require one to spend time in a warm exchange. It is this kind of warm exchange that is probably meant in Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:47:
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Here Jesus did not mean the routine greeting of people that involves minimum effort or reflection. No! He means spending time in warm exchange with another. It is the understanding of this meaning of spending time in warm exchange with another that explains Jesus’ instruction to the seventy-two disciples that he sent on a mission field not to greet anyone in Luke 10:4:
Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
Anyhow, this engagement in hospitable recognition of another may involve short friendly visits. This meaning is reflected in Paul’s action mentioned in Acts 18:22:
When he landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church and then went down to Antioch.
The sentence he went up and greeted the church may be better translated he went up and visited the church. This sense of friendly visit in the Greek verb in question is also evident in what King Agrippa did with respect to the Governor Festus in Acts 25:13:
A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus.
The verbal phrase to pay their respects to Festus is more literally and greeted Festus. But the sense is that Agrippa visited Festus. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:19, the word means “to greet,” that is, “to employ certain set phrases as a part of the process of greeting” on meeting someone.
Be that as it may, the apostle identified those who sent their greetings to the Corinthians beginning with the phrase The churches in the province of Asia. The word “church” is translated from a Greek word (ekklēsia) that may refer to a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities and so means “assembly, gathering.” The word is used predominantly in Scripture to refer to people with shared belief and so the word is often given the meaning “church” in our English Bibles. However, the meaning “church” is used in different ways in relation to believers. We have in the past examined the different ways the word is used in our Scripture. For example, on the one hand, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the totality of believers in Christ, living and meeting in a specific locality or larger geographical area, but not necessarily limited to one meeting place. On the other hand, our Greek word translated “church” is used to designate the global community of believers or the whole body of those who have believed in Christ regardless of where they are located. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:19, the Greek word is used in the sense of “congregation or church as the totality of Christians living and meeting in a particular locality.” Thus, the apostle referenced local churches described with the phrase in the province of Asia. As we indicated previously the word “province” does not appear in the Greek text but was added to avoid misunderstanding what Asia meant in the apostle’s use of it. Asia in the NT does not refer to the continent, but it is a word used for a Roman province in western Asia Minor that was part of the modern Turkey. Hence, it is fitting to use the phrase the province of Asia instead of simply the literal word “Asia” so that a modern reader would not think that the apostle thought of the continent of Asia.
We indicated that the apostle used the word “church” to describe a local church, so which local churches did the apostle have in mind when he wrote the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches in the province of Asia? The apostle did not specify the local churches he had in mind, but the recipients of his epistle would probably have known these local churches for the apostle to reference them as greeting the Corinthians. Although the apostle did not specify the local churches, he meant, we know some of the local churches in the province of Asia because of the writing of Apostle John in Revelation. He wrote to the seven churches in province of Asia as stated in Revelation 1:4:
John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
These seven churches are identified for us in Revelation 1:11:
which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
Since the apostle wrote from Ephesus, he could have had in mind the other six local churches mentioned in Revelation. He would have also had in mind the local churches in Colossae and Hierapolis since he mentioned these two areas in his commendation of the work of Epaphras who was from Colossae as stated in Colossians 4:13:
I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
We know that there was a close association between the local church in Laodicea and the church in Colossae. This has to be the case for the apostle to instruct the Colossians to exchange with the Laodiceans letters written to each local church as he stated in Colossians 4:16:
After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.
It is true that we are not certain of all the local churches the apostle would have meant in the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches in the province of Asia but the fact these local churches greet the church in Corinth suggests that the local churches, especially those founded by the apostle had interactions with each other. We do not know how these local churches communicated their greetings to the church in Corinth through Apostle Paul but since he passed their greetings to the church in Corinth suggests that somehow these local churches interacted with the apostle who probably founded most of them. That aside, the point we seek to stress is that unlike what we have today where local churches do not interact much with each other unless those within their denominations, the Gentile churches of the time of Apostle Paul interacted with each other. They felt a sense of affinity with their fellow believers regardless of their geographical location. We say this because it is unlikely that members of the local churches in the province of Asia knew personally the Corinthian believers but that did not keep them from greeting them through the apostle. In other words, the affinity or kinship in Christ that these believers had for one another far transcends geographical boundary, something that is also lacking in our time. It should not be strange to you that a believer from another part of the world could send greeting to you through a missionary that is sent to a given nation by a local church or groups of local churches.
We argued that there was affinity between Gentile local churches that caused them to send their greetings to the Corinthians through the apostle although we do not know how they did that. That we do not know how the local churches conveyed their greetings to the Corinthians through the apostle, does not mean that they did not. We say this because the apostle would not be making up stories about the churches in the province of Asia sending their greetings to the Corinthians if they did not. So, while we do not know how these churches conveyed their greetings to the Corinthians, we can be certain that that actually was the case. That aside, the apostle was probably eager to convey the greetings from these local churches to the Corinthians because he wanted them to recognize that they are part of the universal church of Christ. They are not an island to themselves as the apostle had already reminded them that they should not be involved in practices that are not in keeping with those of the other local churches of Christ. Anyway, the first source of the greeting of the apostle to the Corinthians is the local churches in province of Asia as the apostle stated.
The next source of greetings to the Corinthians is a husband-and-wife team that were personally known to them as stated in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 16:19 Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord. Literally, the Greek reads Aquila and Prisca greet you warmly in the Lord. Some of our English versions used the word “Priscilla” instead of “Prisca” because both names refer to the same person. The diminutive form “Prisca” is used by Apostle Paul in his references to the husband-and-wife team while Luke the author of Acts used the full name “Priscilla” hence there is no contradiction between the English versions that used the name Prisca and those that used the full name Priscilla in the verse we are considering.
All the same, we are certain that Aquila who was a Jew from Pontus was well-known to the Corinthians because he and his wife had come to Corinth after the Jews were expelled from Rome and it was there that Apostle Paul met them as recorded in Acts 18:1–2:
1After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
Aquila was most certainly a believer when he got to Corinth which will account for the fact Apostle Paul felt comfortable to stay with him and his wife as implied in Acts 18:3:
and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
Aquila was a Christian missionary so that he traveled probably from place to place. Hence, when Apostle Paul left for Ephesus, he and his wife went with him as stated Acts 18:18–19:
18 Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken. 19 They arrived at Ephesus, where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila. He himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
Consequently, Aquila was in Ephesus when the apostle wrote his first epistle to the Corinthians so the apostle could convey his and his wife’s greetings to the Corinthians. Aquila and the wife at some point after their stay in Ephesus returned to Rome a second time. This fact is conveyed in Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. He greeted him and his wife as among those who are believers in Rome when the apostle wrote his epistle to the Romans as stated in Romans 16:3–4:
3Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
Apostle Paul described Aquila and his wife Priscilla as his fellow workers in Christ. This could only be because he had worked with both of them in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Such working together could only have been when the apostle was with them both in Corinth and in Ephesus. In other words, the greeting of the apostle to Aquila and his wife assumes personal contact with them for the apostle to state in verse 4 They risked their lives for me. The point is that the apostle knew Aquila and his wife personally as the Corinthians also knew them personally since we have demonstrated that they were in Corinth.
There is another indication that Aquila and Priscilla were personally known to the Corinthians. It is the manner in which the apostle conveyed their greetings to the Corinthians is different from that of the greeting from the churches in the province of Asia as we read in the verbal phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:19 greet you warmly in the Lord. The word “warmly” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (polys) that pertains to being a large number, hence means “many, a great number of” as Apostle Paul used it to indicate that many individuals would be made righteous because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross as we read in Romans 5:19:
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The word in some contexts may mean “majority” or “most” as the word is used to describe those that decided for the ship carrying Apostle Paul to Rome to stand trial before Caesar, to proceed in their travel path instead of listening to the advice of the apostle not to proceed as we read in Acts 27:12:
Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This was a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.
The word may mean “number” in the sense of undetermined quantity as it is used in Paul’s defense in referencing the period of governorship of Governor Felix over Israel as we read in Acts 24:10:
When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.
The word may mean “few” in reference to a number that is less than or equal to ten as in the promise of the Lord to the disciples regarding the event that occurred about ten days after His ascension as we read in Acts 1:5:
For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 16:19, the word has the sense of “greatly” or “earnestly.” The fact the apostle described the greetings of Aquila and Priscilla with the Greek word that we said meant “greatly” or “earnestly” suggests a personal acquaintance with the Corinthians. In fact, it is only in this greeting to the Corinthians that our Greek word is associated with greeting. Thus, it is because of the personal relationship between the Corinthians and the Aquila and Priscilla that warranted such a description.
The greeting of Aquila and Priscilla and even that of the churches in Asia province is further qualified because of the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:19 in the Lord. Because of the range of meanings of the Greek preposition (en) translated “in” in our phrase, the phrase is subject to at least two possible interpretations. It could be understood that the greeting in view takes place within the scope of the Lord, that is, in association with the Lord. It could also be interpreted to mean that the greeting occurs because of the Lord. This may be a case where both meanings are intended, that is, that the greeting takes place because of the Lord and in close association with Him. But who is the Lord in view? We answer this question by examining the Greek word translated “Lord.”
The word “Lord” is translated from a Greek word (kyrios) that may mean “owner” as it is used to describe the owners of the colt that Jesus requested to be brought to Him for His entrance into Jerusalem, as recorded in Luke 19:33:
As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
The word may mean “lord, master” as a person in a position of authority. It is in this sense that the word is used to describe Abraham in relationship to his wife Sarah as one with authority hence Sarah described Abraham as her master meaning that he has authority over her, in 1 Peter 3:6:
like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
The word may be used to describe God in a general sense without distinction to the person of the Godhead in view as in Matthew 4:7:
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
The phrase Lord your God implies that Lord refers to God without distinction of the persons of the Godhead. It is in the sense of God the Father that the word is used in Matthew 11:25:
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
The word “Lord” may refer to Jesus Christ. This may be the case in some quotations from the OT Scripture. Take for example, in Jesus’ quotation from Psalms in the question He posed to the Pharisees regarding the Messiah as reported in Matthew 22:43–45:
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ 45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”
The Lord Jesus quoted from Psalm 110:1 where we have the sentence The Lord said to my Lord. In this psalm “Lord” refers to God in a general sense of the supreme creator whereas the phrase my Lord refers to the promised Messiah who is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, the second “Lord” refers to Jesus Christ. The word “Lord” is applied to Jesus even when there is no quotation from the OT. Thus, the word was applied to Him when He had ordered His disciples to get Him the colt, He would ride into Jerusalem in Luke 19:31:
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
The word is applied more often to the Lord Jesus Christ in the epistles of Apostle Paul, as for example, in Ephesians 3:11:
according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The apostle’s use of the word to refer to Jesus Christ implies that he recognized Him as God as, for example, in Romans 12:11:
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
As we have indicated, the apostle uses the word “Lord” to refer to Jesus Christ so if he encouraged serving the Lord, he must mean serving and worshipping the Lord. The apostle would not have in any form advocated for worship of any person other than God so even in this passage in Romans 12, he implied that Jesus Christ is God. As we have stated, Apostle Paul, when he is not quoting from the OT uses the word often to describe Jesus Christ although in some passages it is difficult to be certain whether he means Jesus Christ or God in a general sense, as in 1 Thessalonians 4:6:
and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
This notwithstanding, the point is that Apostle Paul used the Greek word translated “Lord” to describe Jesus Christ. Hence, the greeting from Aquila and Priscilla and even the churches of the province of Asia directed to the Corinthians occurs because of and in association with the Lord Jesus Christ. These individuals would not have sent any greeting to the Corinthians if they and those who sent it were not in intimate association with Christ, that is, if they were not Christians. Consequently, the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:19 in the Lord reminds us of the necessity to act or conduct ourselves in relation to each other because of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. In effect, it is because we are in Christ and are related to each other in Christ that we should be careful how we conduct ourselves with respect to our fellow believers.
Aquila was certainly a leader of a local church in Ephesus. We say this because the apostle sends a greeting to the Corinthians from the local church that meets in his and Priscilla’s home as indicated in the last clause of 1 Corinthians 16:19 and so does the church that meets at their house. A literal translation is with the church in their house.
The sentence of 1 Corinthians 16:19 the church that meets at their house or literally the church in their house implies, as we have stated, that Aquila was a missionary that was a church leader since his house was a meeting place for believers in Ephesus as it was in Rome when he returned there a s second time in the passage we cited previously but with an additional verse, that is, Romans 16:3–5:
3Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. 4 They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
The fact that Priscilla is mentioned before Aquila in this passage, as some have speculated, may be due to the fact that she was of a higher status socially than the husband. We do not have a way of knowing this since at least in our current passage of study, Aquila was mentioned first. Furthermore, some contend that the husband and wife together form the leadership of the local church that met at their house. This is only possible if the wife was a leader for the women just as the Prophetess Miriam was considered a leader in Israel because of her role over women but not as a leader over men. Any interpretation that makes her a leader in a general sense over the local church that met at their house will contradict the Holy Spirit’s direct instruction through Apostle Paul that women should not exercise authority over men in a spiritual setting. Anyway, the fact is that Aquila was the leader of the church that met in their house. By the way, the fact that their house was used as a meeting place suggests that they were well off financially to afford a house that was spacious enough to accommodate a certain number of believers to meet for worship. This we can understand because they were tent makers.
Another implication of the sentence of 1 Corinthians 16:19 the church that meets at their house is that there must have been other house churches in Ephesus for the apostle to single out the house church associated with Aquila and Priscilla. We have strong evidence to assert that the early church met in homes and not in big buildings as we have today. That the early church met at homes is implied in what is written in Acts 2:45–47:
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It was to such house churches that Saul went in his attempt to stop the Christian movement as reported in Acts 8:3:
But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
It was to such house church in the home of Lydia that Apostle Paul and Silas went after their release from jail in Philippi as indicated in Acts 16:40:
After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
The same house church was mentioned in the greeting portion of Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Colossians according to Colossians 4:15:
Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.
The same house church is mentioned in Paul’s letter to Philemon as stated in Philemon 1–2:
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:
The point is that private homes served as meeting places for the early church. In fact, it was not until the middle of the third century that local churches began to own property and build public places of worship. That aside, another source of greetings for the Corinthians was the local church that met in Aquila and Priscilla’s house.
Still another source of greetings directed to the Corinthians is other believers in Ephesus as the apostle wrote the epistle to the Corinthians. It is this source that is introduced in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings. The adverb here is not in the Greek text although it is used in a handful of our English versions probably for clarity to the English reader since literally the Greek reads All the brothers greet you.
How are we to understand the word brothers in the sentence we are considering? Does the apostle mean some male believers associated with him or does he mean all the other believers in Ephesus other than the ones that met in the house of Aquila and Priscilla? To answer this question, we should recognize that this is the last time in this epistle that the word “brothers” appears.
The word “brothers” is translated from a Greek word (adelphos) that basically means a male sibling either from the same father or the same mother. This aside, the word has several meanings in the Greek but only two of these possible meanings are applicable in our passage. The word may mean “brother” in the sense of one with whom one has a close affinity or is a member of a group regardless of gender so that it could mean “fellow country man or woman.” It is in this sense that Apostle Paul used it to express his desire for the salvation of the Jews or Israel as recorded in Romans 9:3:
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race.
The phrase my brothers refers to male and female Israelites or in short, the Jewish people. The phrase of my own race is more literally according to the flesh. The word may mean “brother” in the sense of a fellow believer in Christ. The word may mean “a believer” as that is the sense of the word “brother” used by Apostle Paul in his instruction to slaves regarding how to treat their masters who are believers in Christ as we read in 1 Timothy 6:2:
Those who have believing masters are not to show less respect for them because they are brothers. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their service are believers, and dear to them. These are the things you are to teach and urge on them.
It is clear that “brothers” is used here for believers because of the clause because those who benefit from their service are believers. Hence, the word “brother” is the same as “believer.” It is in this sense of fellow believers, regardless of gender, that Apostle Paul used it in his final greetings to the Ephesian church in Ephesians 6:23:
Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The peace the apostle wished on “the brothers” could not possibly apply only to male members of the church in Ephesus. Therefore, the word “brothers” has the sense of “brothers and sisters in Christ” here in Ephesians 6:23. It is in this sense that the word is used in 1 Corinthians 16:20. Thus, some English versions including the 2011 edition of the NIV rendered our Greek word as “brothers and sisters.” The TEV simply translated the Greek word as “believers” while the CEV translated it with the phrase “Lord’s followers.”
In any case, because the apostle used the Greek word we considered to describe believers regardless of gender, it is our interpretation that when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings he meant all the other believers in Ephesus other than those who met in Aquila’s house greet the Corinthians. If the apostle meant all the male believers with him it will seem that he would have included the phrase “with me” as we find in at least two of his final greetings that may suggest he was thinking of his associates who were certainly males. In his final greeting to the Philippians, we find him use the phrase “with me” in Philippians 4:21–22:
21 Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.
The same situation was also the case in the apostle’s greeting as he ended his epistle to Titus as we read in Titus 3:15:
Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.
So, if the apostle meant that the “brothers” he had in mind were male associates, he would probably have used the phrase “with me” but since he did not, we believe the apostle meant all the other believers in Ephesus that met in different house churches. Furthermore, there must be other house churches in Ephesus besides that associated with Aquila. This makes sense because it is unlikely that the house of Aquila was large enough to accommodate all the believers in Ephesus. Of course, if all the believers met in his house the apostle would not have qualified the local church as that which met in his house. There is one more piece of evidence to support that there were other house churches in Ephesus besides the one associated with Aquila. It is that when the apostle summoned the leaders of the church in Ephesus to meet with him at Miletus, there is no indication that Aquila was with them although it may be argued that this was because he was not in Ephesus. Nonetheless, more importantly, if there was only one local church in Ephesus the apostle would have not requested the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus as recorded in Acts 20:17:
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
Of course, it is possible to argue that all the elders belong to one local church but that is unlikely. Anyhow, when the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers here send you greetings he meant that all the other believers in Ephesus other than those who met in Aquila’s house greet the Corinthians.
Apostle Paul having conveyed the greetings to the Corinthians from different sources in Ephesus issued a command that requires the Corinthians to exchange greetings among themselves as we read in 1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss. Before we examine what this entails, let us make two observations about the command Greet one another. The Greek indicates that the action expected is one that should be carried out by each believer. In effect, each believer should obey the command. You see, there are believers who are shy or who claim to be shy and that they have a hard time interacting with others. The instruction we have here is that there is no exception, so if you are shy, you should take the action stipulated since failure to do so will be an act of disobedience to the Holy Spirit that instructed what we have through the apostle. Another observation is that the apostle probably wanted the Corinthians to recognize the importance of the command to greet each other and probably that they should make it a top priority to do so. They are not to make light of the command to greet each other.
The greeting of each other that everyone in Corinth should not take lightly is qualified with the phrase of 1 Corinthians 16:20 with a holy kiss. The word “kiss” is translated from a Greek word (philēma) that means “kiss,” that is, “the act of touching one’s lips to another person; especially as a greeting, for intimacy, or for adoration.”
Kissing at that time was definitely an outward expression of some presumed kind of intimacy. Some of the biblical examples of kissing between men often conveyed intimacy or restoration of intimacy lost, as was the case of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt stated in Genesis 45:15:
And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
There was also at least one kiss recorded in the Hebrew Bible that was not genuine, but led to betrayal, that of Joab towards Amasa, as recorded in 2 Samuel 20:9-10:
9 Joab said to Amasa, "How are you, my brother?" Then Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 Amasa was not on his guard against the dagger in Joab's hand, and Joab plunged it into his belly, and his intestines spilled out on the ground. Without being stabbed again, Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bicri.
Kissing may express passion in a seductive manner that is related to illicit sexual relationship as demonstrated by the wayward wife described in Proverbs 7:13:
She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said:
There is also a legitimate act of kissing within appropriate romantic relationship of marriage. It is this kind of kissing that is anticipated in Song of Solomon 1:2:
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.
This notwithstanding, the most common kissing recorded in the Bible involved warm emotional embracing of relatives or close friends.
It is so there is no misunderstanding of the kind of kiss involved in the apostle’s instruction that he added the word holy in the instruction of 1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss. The word “holy” is translated from a Greek adjective (hagios) that pertains to being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God and so means “dedicated to God, holy, sacred.” The word may pertain to being holy in the sense of superior, moral qualities, and possessing certain essential divine qualities in contrast with what is human so means “holy, pure, divine.” It is in this sense that the word is used in our passage so that “holy” is concerned with what is characterized by moral purity. Thus, a holy kiss is an act of greeting that is devoid of any kind of moral impurity. In effect, it is a kind of kiss where the minds of the participants must be free of anything that is impure as they participate in it. It is known at that time that men do not kiss women in public unless they are their relatives as was the case when Jacob kissed his cousin Rachel as stated in Genesis 29:11:
Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.
Ordinarily, women would kiss women as in the kissing by Ruth of her daughter in-laws as recorded in Ruth 1:9:
May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them and they wept aloud.
Men certainly kissed other men not related to them as a sign of greeting or showing respect as Prophet Samuel did when he anointed Saul king of Israel as stated in 1 Samuel 10:1:
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the LORD anointed you leader over his inheritance?
Apparently in Israel at that time, any public display of affection between men and women, even if married, is frowned at, as implied in the declaration of the woman in love to her beloved as narrated in Song of Solomon 8:1:
If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
The apostle’s command would not have been such as to go against a morally accepted standard of any people. So, it was particularly important that the Corinthians would understand that the kiss the apostle commanded is one that should be free of any impure affection especially since there was much sexual immorality in Corinth. Of course, because the kiss in view is to be carried out in church meeting, it is important the Corinthians should recognize that the kiss commanded is unique in that it is a show of love and affection for each other that is devoid of any hint of anything sexual. The apostle while recognizing that the kiss is unique to Christians implying that it is not specifically restrictive in the sense of male kissing only male or female kissing only female believer but that believers should be free of any impure motive as they kiss each other. That there is no difference in Christ between male and female does not mean that the difference in function is obliterated. This being the case, it is important that if believers of opposite genders greet each other with a kiss that it must be entirely free of any impure thought hence the description holy kiss. Thus, we should be careful not to apply the command in a way that will involve anything impure. Since kissing is a form of greeting, the command to greet each other with a holy kiss is one that requires believers to greet each other warmly without any hidden thought or pretense. The main purpose of this command is to demonstrate affection among believers so the command should be applied today in keeping with what is acceptable practice of greeting in any culture. Again, regardless of how this is applied, it is important to recognize that the greeting is uniquely Christian and therefore should not involve an impure motive or thought.
03/29/24