1 Thessalonians 5:26 - Final Things to Beloved People 2: The Holy Kiss

25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Target Date: Sunday, 30 July 2023

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

Holy kiss - φίλημα philēma – kiss, embrace –

Based on the root phileo (brotherly affection/ love). This has a familial connotation, such as when Joseph kissed his brothers.

The ending “ma” tends to mean “something that is borne from” or “something that results from”. Similar to charisma (the result of grace, i.e. gift), this is the result of affection, that is an embrace or kiss.

Kisses are for relatives, rulers, and those one loves. The primary intent is not erotic. Respect as well as affection is shown by the kiss. To kiss the ruler is a privilege; the ruler’s kiss is a supreme honor.

Kisses are on the mouth, hands, and feet, also on the cheeks, forehead, eyes, and shoulders. As a mark of respect the kiss is usually on the hands or feet. The kiss on the mouth becomes prominent only with the erotic kiss.

Occasions of kissing are greeting, parting, reconciling, making contracts, etc. The kiss signals entry into a fraternity.

Demonstrate your love for one another as befits family.

Thoughts on the Passage:

26 - The holy kiss of brotherly affection and unity in Christ was and still is a customary greeting in many parts of the world. In North American culture an embrace or handshake often communicates the same sentiments.

26 - “The practice may have arisen from the customary mode of saluting a Rabbi …”

26 – It is worthy of note that the method Judas used to identify Jesus in his betrayal is not eschewed by the church in its love for each other. The act, indeed the symbol of the act, was not tainted by its use by the betrayer.

Satan will try to not only steal the good things, but will try to corrupt their use. If he can bring us into disrepute when we love one another, he has won a victory. The church must maintain the purity of the acts and the spirit behind them as we follow the risen Christ.

Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away under guard.” 45 After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him. – Mark 14:44-45

26 - When Paul says to greet “all the brothers,” we should note how the all urges us to make sure that none are left out, that none who need encouragement in godliness lack friendship, and that all who belong to Jesus through faith find a place to belong in his church as well.

26 - here called a holy kiss, to intimate how cautious they should be of all impurity in the use of this ceremony, then commonly practised; as it should not be a treacherous kiss like that of Judas, so not a lascivious kiss like that of the harlot, Prov. 7:13.

26 - In the early Christian communities, which embraced all social classes (slaves, libertini, and free) and various races (Greeks, Romans, Macedonians, and Jews), the holy kiss would serve as an affirmation of their filial unity as “brothers and sisters” in the common faith.

27 – The instruction to have the letter read, particularly in its strongest form of command, gives us a good basis for the practice of Scripture READING in corporate and personal worship. It is not enough to hear the interpretation of the Scriptures by a preacher, no matter how competent he is. We must directly encounter the words of God in the Scriptures for our own exhortation and understanding.

More than simply validating his ministry, Paul’s command signals how vital the reading of Scripture is to the sanctification of believers. “Sanctify them in the truth,” Jesus prayed to the Father on the night of his arrest; “your word is truth” (John 17:17). John Calvin cited this text in condemning those church authorities that withhold the Scriptures from the people, calling them “more refractory than even devils themselves.”

Then, it was Roman Catholic churches that sought to keep their people from the Bible. Today, it is evangelical churches that are so busy attracting large numbers with spiritual entertainment that little place is given to the sober reading and the careful exposition of God’s Word. From the beginning of this letter, when Paul expressed thanks that they “received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thess. 1:6), to here at the end, as he commands the public reading of his letter, Paul has emphasized the primacy of God’s Word in the life of the church.

It is not only allowed to the common people to read the scriptures, and what none should prohibit, but it is their indispensable duty, and what they should be persuaded to do. In order to this, these holy oracles should not be kept concealed in an unknown tongue, but translated into the vulgar languages, that all men, being concerned to know the scriptures, may be able to read them, and be acquainted with them.

27 – Knowing, as we saw at the very beginning of this study, that this is likely the first epistle written by Paul in the New Testament (indeed, even possibly the first book of the New Testament to be written), the practice of reading Paul’s letters publicly, and sharing them with other churches, would have had no way to have begun.

Thus, this command would have established from the first a normal method of treating apostolic writings to the churches.

It was this very method that, less than 200 years later, resulted in the collection of the New Testament. One of the requirements for inclusion was that the book or letter had to be generally used in the churches as authoritative.

28 - Like Augustine after him, the apostle would have our last thoughts to center not on human free will or effort—which must fail us in this life—but on the divine grace that provides our sure hope of eternal life.

Sermon Text:

We come again this morning to the final verses in our study in 1 Thessalonians.

To be candid with you, I originally intended that when we reached this passage I would deal with the entirety of the passage in a single week.

But we find in these last verses a wealth of important instructions that we must continue to keep in mind.

Even though our tendency, as I mentioned last week, is to rush through the ending to move on to the next book, I would offer you another way of looking at these closing verses wherever they might be found.

Think of Paul and Silas completing this letter to this beloved church.

They have dictated this letter to these disciples in Thessalonica, dealing with the things they felt were important for them to grow in Christ.

And when they were ready to seal the rest of the letter to be delivered to the church, they, guided by the Holy Spirit, considered that this letter would be incomplete without these final commands.

These verses are so important that the letter would have been unfinished had they not been included.

Such is our view of Scripture: there is no extraneous word, no unimportant thought in the whole of God’s written word.

The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Bible as we have received it with perfect economy;

There is neither too much information nor too little information for us in our journey toward the righteousness of God.

So with that explanation, we will look this week at verse 26: Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

We will examine first what the command here means.

Then we will look at the look at the reasons behind the command, particularly as they might apply today.

And then look at the applications we can make of this command,

a command, I remind you, that if it had been absent would have made the letter incomplete.

Now before we get to the kissing part, let’s look first at the rest of the verse.

We see the word “greet” used quite often in the New Testament.

Most often it is used as a command, a request, or a statement of greeting.

All the saints greet you – 2 Corinthians 13:13

We might think this is as simple as saying “hello” to someone.

Like if someone is talking on the phone, and you tell them to say hi from you.

Or if a friend is visiting someone, and you tell them “Give them a hug from me.”

But when we look at the sheer number of greetings expressed in the New Testament epistles, we have to start suspecting that there is more to this greeting.

Add to it the instruction of our Lord in Matthew 5:47:

If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

This is not simply about saying hello; it is about extending a warm and loving welcome.

It is even going out of your way to make the first move of greeting and welcome, not waiting for them to come to us.

When we send our “hi’s” today, we might think well of the person, but we might also be simply saying hi to be sociable or for any number of other reasons.

But when the apostles are talking about greeting our brothers and sisters, this is an act of brotherly love.

For the Christian, all our greetings flow from love for one another, and we will see that displayed in the rest of the verse.

I would almost say that this greeting is formal, but I don’t think that quite captures its importance.

I think the better word for the greeting of one believer to another is AUTHENTIC.

Let love be genuine. – Romans 12:9

Rather than saying hello to each other because that is what we are expected to do socially,

Let us greet each other warmly, in love that cherishes the other person.

It is a love that even in our greeting of one another demands to be demonstrated: Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

It is not simply a command to love one another, or to maintain brotherly affection.

There is a tangible demonstration of the love we have for our brother or sister, far more than simply good feelings or well-wishes.

It is so important that this same command appears in much the same form in Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Peter 5:14.

So it seems important for us to examine what is meant by greeting one another with a holy kiss.

I invite you to consider for a moment this idea of greeting one another with a holy kiss.

And remember it in this context: this was the very sign Judas the Betrayer had used to mark Jesus out to the soldiers who arrested Him.

How tainted this act must have been!

It would have been easy for the disciples after that to shy away from that demonstration of filial love and respect, preferring some other expression.

But isn’t it remarkable they didn’t!

Rather than running from this holy kiss because of its taint, they redeemed the act by restoring its true meaning – the love of a brother.

The world or the devil may try to take any number of good things and corrupt them for their own purposes:

Rainbows, hearts, or crosses,

Marriage and love.

It is not for the followers of Jesus Christ to leave those God-given symbols behind because of the taint of the world;

It is for the church to use all the good things God has given in the way He intended for His glory.

Perhaps the first question we should ask is does a “kiss” mean a “kiss”?

The word here is indeed the word for a kiss, but it is also used in places where we might use the word “embrace”.

It is based on the word for “brotherly love”.

It was accepted by the early church to such an extent that part of the observance of Communion was the “holy kiss”.

And there were very formal rules around it:

Kisses were to be closed-mouth on the cheek or forehead.

Kisses would only be exchanged man-to-man or woman-to-woman; never between people of the opposite sex in this context.

The best we can tell, this brotherly kiss fell out of use by AD 300 or so, as the kiss may have been directed more toward the priest as the Roman mass began to take shape.

And even though the early church seems to have adopted the practice, we have no evidence of the “holy kiss” at the Lord’s Supper before about AD 150.

And there is nothing in our verse today that seems to establish this practice as part of the observance of the Lord’s Supper or in any other part of the worship of the church.

We should also understand that the kiss the apostles were advocating was a HOLY kiss.

It was not to be a trite thing, nor was it to be something practiced simply as a ritual.

The entire point of this kiss or embrace was to confirm to your brother or sister their value and worth to you.

Because this kiss was the statement of inclusion and family.

We embrace those we are kin to.

We kiss those we are kin to.

And the true, eternal family relationship of believers is important enough to demonstrate to each other.

I have known men in the past who, when they embraced me, told me “I hug everyone” or “I am a hugger”.

That is simply NOT the message of this passage.

Paul and Silas are not telling the Thessalonians to become huggers or kissers;

They are telling them to value each other deeply, and to make sure to demonstrate that love.

Do you see the difference?

The HOLY kiss is about the worth of the other person to you – genuinely treasured closer than a brother.

The other kiss is simply something that is done because YOU want to need that reassurance.

Or because you want to be seen as obeying the letter of the instruction rather than the spirit of it.

So, you may ask, is the holy kiss something for us today?

Sure, but puckering up and smacking someone on the cheek is not the only way we may demonstrate our brotherly love for each other.

But I did shave my beard…

I am really cautious in discussing the cultural biases around things in Scripture, but I do think this may help us a bit.

In the day, it was common to kiss a relative or friend when meeting or parting. In many cultures, this is true today.

For our culture, there may be people who are put off by contact.

For the sake of their consciences, it may be best to be cautious in physical contact, not giving them discomfort when we exercise what we might consider our liberty.

For most Americans, an offered hand is easily accepted, so that should probably be our starting point.

An affirming touch or heartfelt embrace may be used powerfully by the Spirit as well, but we want to make sure the other person is really comfortable with that contact.

Also, don’t get physical with someone who is not the same sex as you in the context of holy conduct.

This, I think, was a very good rule of the early church, and would not be rejected by the apostles here.

Along with that, I would recommend this only between adult believers, unless initiated by someone younger.

If a child or a teenager wants to give you a hug, that is fine,

But the command in this verse is really about adult believers demonstrating their brotherly love for each other.

Finally on the common sense guardrails I might suggest, I would point out this does not appear to be something commanded to be done toward unbelievers or toward visitors.

In both of these cases, the “kiss” would not be holy; it would be a formality that has no regard for the truth of the act.

Because the basis of this command is to demonstrate the love we have to our brother.

I want you to consider, though, the benefits of these things:

How many brothers or sisters feel or have felt that they are on the outside looking in to the fellowship of the church?

How many believers struggle with their place in a congregation?

But the simple act of someone coming up and genuinely expressing their love, brother-to-brother or sister-to-sister –

How powerful is that?

But the purpose must not be to simply make the person feel better, or to make yourself feel better:

It must always be motivated by truly cherishing the person and expressing that truth.

Notice also that the apostles tell them to greet ALL the brethren in this way – not simply those they are closest to.

As Christians, we must not just seek out a small clique of people to lavish with affection, but we must always be seeking to spread that love to all our brothers and sisters in the church.

Will your feelings be stronger for some than others? Certainly.

But in seeking to love ALL the brothers, we will find those for whom we need to seek the Lord in helping us love them more.

This command toward ALL the brothers meant something else also:

This church was made up of wealthy people all the way down to slaves.

Every social class was represented.

And in most churches today, we have a wide spectrum of social roles, professions, fame, and other things that might make us discriminate in our love for each other.

So for us, as well as for the Thessalonian church, we must make sure we do not stick solely to people who seem to be in our peer group, no matter how we define it.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are ONE peer group.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. - Galatians 3:26-28

Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; - Revelation 5:9-10

So to summarize, we do not take this as a law simply to be followed, but as a holy calling to be genuine in our demonstrations of love toward one another.