1 Thessalonians 5:28

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen. This is the apostle's usual salutation in all his epistles, and the token of the genuineness of them, 2 Thessalonians 3:17.

(Note, 2 Corinthians 13:14, which is the longest benediction; as Colossians 4:18; 2 Timothy 4:22, "Grace be with you," is the shortest) Paul ends as he began (1 Thessalonians 1:1), with "grace."

Having exhorted them to salute one another, he now sends them his own salutation; not in a lip compliment, as the mode now is, but in a serious expression of the desire of his soul: and this, or words to the same purpose, are his salutation in every Epistle, which he makes to be his token, . And by grace here he means favour and good will, rather than inherent grace: and all blessings which spring from grace, as sometimes all are comprehended under the word peace. Yet grace and peace are sometimes in his salutations both joined together. And though here Christ is only mentioned, yet in many other places God the Father is mentioned with him, ; yea, and God the Holy Ghost also, ; and where they are not mentioned, yet are all to be understood, for in all works ad extra they co-operate. And because grace is so eminently manifested in the whole work of our salvation, therefore the apostle doth still mention it in all his salutations. And with this he concludes this Epistle, and with this St. John concludes the whole Bible, . And the seal added, not to shut up, but confirm the whole is: Amen; and is added as the voice of the whole church upon reading the Epistle, as some think, and not by the apostle himself. The first (epistle) unto the Thessalonians was written from Athens. These postscripts to the apostle’ s Epistles are judged to be added by some scribes that copied them out, and not by the apostle himself, as might be made evident; and they are not found in any Epistles but in St. Paul’ s alone. But as it is usual to date letters from the places where they are written, so is this dated from Athens. Hither he was conducted by some brethren after his persecution at Thessalonica and Berea, , and here we read he stayed for some time; but that from thence he wrote this Epistle, either then, or any time after, is but conjecture; it is more probable he wrote it from Corinth, because he sends it from Timotheus and Silvanus, as well as from himself, and they came to him from Macedonia when he was at Corinth, as .

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. > Ver. 28. Amen] Amen Isaiah 1:1-31. Assenting; 2. Assevering; 3. Assuring.

(28) The grace.—St. Paul’s autograph to conclude the letter. (See 2 Thessalonians 3:17-18.)

Verse 28. The grace of our Lord Jesus] As the epistle began so it ends; for the grace of Christ must be at the beginning and end of every work, in order to complete it, and bring it to good effect. Amen.] This is wanting in BD*FG and some others. It was probably not written by St. Paul. The subscriptions are, as in other cases, various and contradictory. The chief MSS. conclude as follows: The first to the Thessalonians is completed; the second to the Thessalonians begins. - DFG. The first to the Thessalonians written from Athens. - AB, and others. From Laodicea. - Cod. Claromont. The first to the Thessalonians, written from Athens. - Common Greek text. The VERSIONS conclude thus: - The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was written at Athens, and sent by the hands of Timotheus. - SYRIAC. To the Thessalonians. - AETHIOPIC. Nothing in the VULGATE. The end of the epistle: it was written from a city of the Athenians, and sent by the hand of Timotheus. And to the Lord be praise for ever and ever. Amen. - ARABIC. Written from Athens, and sent by Silvanus and Timotheus. - COPTIC. That it was not sent by either Silvanus or Timothy is evident enough from the inscription, for St. Paul associates these two with himself, in directing it to the Thessalonian Church. Others say that it was sent by Tychicus and Onesimus, but this also is absurd; for Onesimus was not converted till a considerable time after the writing of this epistle. That it was written by St. Paul, there is no doubt; and that it was written at Corinth, and not at Athens, has been shown in the preface. 1. THE two preceding chapters are certainly among the most important and the most sublime in the New Testament. The general judgment, the resurrection of the body, and the states of the quick and dead, the unrighteous and the just, are described, concisely indeed, but they are exhibited in the most striking and affecting points of view. I have attempted little else than verbal illustrations; the subject is too vast for my comprehension; I cannot order my speech by reason of darkness. Though there are some topics handled here which do not appear in other parts of the sacred writings, yet the main of what we learn is this. "Our God will come, and will not keep silence; a fire shall burn before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him; he shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth beneath, that he may judge his people. "The day of judgment! what an awful word is this! what a truly terrific time! when the heavens shall be shrivelled as a scroll, and the elements melt with fervent heat; when the earth and its appendages shall be burnt up, and the fury of that conflagration be such that there shall be no more sea!

28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you] This is St Paul’s usual form of final benediction. He expands it later Into the full Trinitarian blessing of 2 Corinthians 13:14, or shortens it into the brief “Grace be with you” of Colossians 4:18. It contains all spiritual good that one Christian can wish another. Such grace is with us, when it constantly attends us, when it forms the atmosphere we breathe, the light by which we see, the guiding and sustaining influence of our whole lives. Comp. note on ch. 1 Thessalonians 1:1; and on grace, 2 Thessalonians 1:12.The liturgical Amen is added by the Apostle in some of his letters, and was very naturally supplied by devout copyists in others. Here it is not authentic. The first epistle unto the Thessalonians was written from Athens] This, like the other “subscriptions” to St Paul’s Epistles, is a note of the Greek editors, which may be perhaps as old as the second century. It is almost certainly erroneous in point of fact; see Introd. pp. 22, 27. In the oldest MSS the words “To the Thessalonians I” are placed at the end, repeated from the beginning of the Epistle. See note on the title, p. 45.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... - notes, Romans 16:20. In regard to the subscription at the close of the Epistle, purporting that it was written from Athens, see the introduction, section 3.

28. Grace… you—Wordsworth remarks, that of the thirteen epistles to which the name of Paul is prefixed, all contain near the close the formula “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” During St.