Philippians 4:21,22 Greetings hence and forth

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Greeting you are brethren with me. Greeting you are all the saints, yet especially those of Caesar’s house.

This letter is addressed to “all the saints” in Philippi (1:1). Now at the end of this letter Paul greets “every saint”. A subtle difference. The letter is addressed universally, but each saint is saluted individually. Paul also conveys greetings from the brothers who are with him. To whom he refers besides Timothy (1:1) cannot be said with certainty. If the letter was written at the same time as the letter to the Colossians, then we can think of Luke, Aristarchus and Marcus (Col.4:10-18).

In addition to the brothers with whom Paul is together, he also sends greetings on behalf of “all the saints”. In doing so, he refers to all believers on the spot, i.e. in Rome. Several times we have come across indications that this letter was written from the capital of the then world empire (1:13,20; 2:24). The fact that Paul especially conveys the greetings of those “who are of Caesar’s house” strongly confirms this suspicion. Up to the highest regions of the Roman world, the Gospel not only sounded (1:13) but also bore fruit!

Delen: