Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
1 Thessalonians 5:26
In the ancient world, kisses had various meanings. In both Greco-Roman and Jewish cultures, a kiss was a sign of affection between family and friends and honor towards superiors.* Within the Christian community, kisses communicated something more than friendship and respect.* The “holy kisses” to which Paul refers communicated that a) the church was family, b) that unity existed in the church, and c) that reconciliation and peace were present within the church.*
The sense of unity and family in the body of Christ was important, especially for the Thessalonians. As mentioned, the Church in Thessalonica consisted of slaves, former slaves, and free.* It consisted of Greeks, Romans, Macedonians, and Jews.* The diversity was rich, and so were the customs, cultures, and opinions.
Furthermore, the holy kiss wasn’t just a sign of unity and family, but it was intended as a mechanism to remind and return the community to unity and familial relationship.* It symbolized reconciliation and peace in a way that made the betraying kiss of Judas that much more shocking.*
Jeffery Weima, quoting Ben Witherington, shares,
Paul’s command to greet others “with a holy kiss,” therefore, expresses more than an exhortation simply to greet each other. It serves, rather, as a challenge to his readers to remove any hostility that may exist among them and to exhibit the oneness that they share as fellow members of the body of Christ. It is analogous to our contemporary challenge that a married couple or close friends who are at odds with each other ought to “kiss and make up”
When was the last time you viewed the body of Christ as family? Have you experienced a legitimate wrong that has forced you into a position to need to forgive? Has an experience or a series of experiences made “church” feel unsafe. Is reconciliation and peace possible?
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to reengage in the family of God. Perhaps today God wants you to “kiss and make up” with someone. Maybe today God wants you to remember that your membership in the family of God transcends all other “memberships.”
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!
*Holmes, M. (1998). 1 and 2 Thessalonians (p. 201). Zondervan Publishing House.
Shogren, G. S. (2012). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (pp. 234–235). Zondervan.
Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (pp. 270–271). W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
Kim, S., & Bruce, F. F. (2023). 1 & 2 Thessalonians (D. B. Capes, Ed.; Second Edition, Vol. 45, pp. 496–497). Zondervan Academic.
Morris, L. (1984). 1 and 2 Thessalonians: An introduction and commentary (Vol. 13, pp. 109–110). InterVarsity Press.
Beale, G. K. (2003). 1–2 Thessalonians (p. 177). InterVarsity Press.
Weima, J. A. D. (2014). Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: 1–2 Thessalonians (R. W. Yarbrough & R. H. Stein, Eds.; pp. 426–428). Baker Academic.