Grace be with you

Chapter 35

Good Monday Morning to this new week 35 of 2023

Last Monday we were about to begin to prepare the room for the program of the afternoon, we engaged in a captivating dialogue involving three from diverse backgrounds: a Nigerian lady, a Syrian lady, and a Swiss gentleman. (no this is not one of these multi-cultural or multi religious jokes – A bishop, a priest, and a rabbi walked into a bakery … that another time!! )

Our conversation revolved around the intricacies of greetings and the usage of titles such as “chef,” “sir,” “brother,” and more, exploring how these practices vary among our respective cultures. As anticipated, it became apparent that each of us had interpreted or heard these titles in distinct individual ways based on our culture and background.

I have a friend from Afghanistan who works as a taxi driver. Over the years, he has consistently sent me audio messages, all of which start in a familiar pattern: “Hello, how are you? How’s your day? How’s your family?” Only after a considerable pause does his question emerge: “Could you do something for me?”

In his letters, the apostle Paul elevates the practice to an entirely different level, utilizing his greetings and farewells not just as customary expressions but as powerful tools for teaching, blessing, and worship.

Preachers often point out that a chasm of difference exists between the last words of the Buddha before he died (“Strive without ceasing”) and the last words of Jesus before he died (“It is finished”). We could say something similar about Paul’s letters and those of his contemporaries. There is a vast difference between “Farewell” and “Grace be with you.” From start to finish, hello to goodbye, we are a people of grace.

Paul (and subsequently Peter) developed a modified introduction to their contemporaries. After identifying himself and the church he was addressing, he would offer “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul was obsessed with grace, so it might come as little surprise that he starts all his letters with it. The addition of peace, the common Jewish greeting, expresses a desire for the congregation’s well-being and displays Paul’s conviction that we have been reconciled through Christ, both to God and to each other. The order may even be significant: It is first grace and then peace, and never the other way around. The theological change, whereby the greeting comes from God and Christ rather than Paul himself, reflects his God-centered vision of everything. So far, so Pauline.

But there is another layer to the “Grace and peace” introduction. It looks very much like a deliberate reworking of Aaron’s blessing in Numbers 6:24–26. For over a thousand years, Israel’s priests had blessed the people by asking that God would “make his face shine” upon them, “be gracious” to them, “turn his face” toward them, and give them “peace.” By starting all his letters with grace and peace from God and the Lord Jesus, Paul appears to be condensing and Christianizing the Aaronic blessing. God still wants to “bless” and “keep” his people, but now the blessing includes Gentile believers, and it comes from God the Son as well as God the Father.

In some ways, Paul’s method of closing his letters demonstrates an even more pointed change. The ancient norm was well established: Vale in Latin and errōso in Greek both mean “farewell.” Like our English equivalent, these words communicated a desire for physical health and strength in the recipient. There is nothing wrong with that, of course; the apostle James does it too (Acts 15:29). But however subtly, the language emphasizes human rather than divine agency, our choices as opposed to God’s.

Maybe the most deliberate example comes in Trinitarian form: “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). For Paul, even the most innocuous parts of a letter are opportunities to teach, bless, and worship.

As you journey through through this week, may the boundless grace of God accompany you. May His blessings encompass your every endeavor, from the moment you set out to the moment you return, every step you take and every decision you make under the grace of the divine. From dawn and dusk, may the unwavering presence of God’s grace embrace you, knowing that His grace is your constant companion.

Philemon

Various quotes out of an article by Andrew Wilson, CT 14.08.23, which discusses the art of composing opening and closing statements in letters.