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I. SALUTATION.

1. Invocation of peace.

(1) From whom peace is invoked. "Now the Lord of peace himself." We are to rise above what we can do for others to the Lord of peace himself. He has purchased peace for us by his death. "He is our Peace;" "The chastisement of our peace was upon him." He is, therefore, the sovereign Dispenser of the blessing of peace in the Churches. Peace was the legacy he left to his believing people in the world. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." When, after his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples, he hailed them with the salutation of peace. "As they thus spake," we are told, "Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you;" and yet again, on the same occasion, he said, "Peace be unto you." We wish, then, for all in whom we are interested, that our ascended Lord would bestow peace upon them, even as he bestowed peace upon the disciples before he ascended.

(2) The peace invoked. "Give you peace." "Peace be with you," is a sentiment which we should have in our hearts, and often on our lips, especially in parting with our friends, as Paul here in his letter parts with the Thessalonians. They leave us for a time, but not without our sincere wishes for their peace. Now, what is the peace that we wish especially for those that we are interested in? To be clear with God. There is no greater evil than to be in a state of unreconciledness to God. "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." They have sometimes a peace, a want of such dispeace as might be expected, but only by blinking the facts of their case. They do not thus get quit of their sins, any more than men can get out of debt by pertinaciously refusing to look into their accounts. Their state remains unaltered. Their sins will find them out, it may be in this life. Certainly, when earthly things cannot longer preoccupy them, and in the presence of eternal realities they are thrown back upon themselves, then will conscience fill them with dispeace. For persons who are insensible to their actual condition as sinners we can only wish dispeace. "Let sinners in Zion be afraid, let fearfulness surprise the hypocrites." What we wish for our friends is a peace that corresponds to facts. We wish them to be in a state of reconciliation, and to be conscious of that. We wish them to be so that they can inquire most narrowly into their state, and honestly come to the conclusion that they have an interest in Christ, while repeated self-examination can only result in the discovery of something more in their character that needs to be removed. To have a feeling of repose in God. We are such beings that our peace is only to be found in dependence, in leaning. We are apt to seek a resting place in the creature; but, alas, all that is beneath the highest fails us, and we are driven from one resting place to another, like the dove that could find no rest on the unstable waters. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul." True peace is only to be found in him from whom our being has come and to whom it tends, in leaning our weakness on his strength, our ignorance on his wisdom, our sinfulness on his grace. This is a rest out of which we cannot be driven, which makes us independent of the creature, which cures our restlessness of spirit. And as this is what we so much wish for ourselves, so we wish it for our friends. To have a feeling of satisfaction in being employed as God wants them to be employed. It is essential to our peace that our faculties should be truly and healthily employed. "Great peace have they who love thy Law." And what we wish for our friends is that, in some worthy way, they should work out the plan of their life given them by God. To have peace from without. It is said that, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. And that is often strikingly fulfilled. But it is not what every one can enjoy. Even Christ had his enemies, who gave no cause of offence to any. And we cannot calculate on escaping, who fail so much in our social duties. But still we wish this outward peace for our friends so far as it may please God. Let them be delivered from unreasonable and evil men. "Let no root of bitterness springing up trouble them." May causes of annoyance, elements of discord, be removed from families and from Churches!

(3) Time for which peace is invoked. "At all times." That would not be a good wish which was limited to a certain time, and was not made to extend over a longer period. If we wish peace at all, we will not wish it merely for a day, or for a month, or for a year, but for all time. Let them not by carelessness lose their evidences. Let not the coming years bring discord into their hearts or into their circle. The Lord give them peace in the season of affliction. The Lord especially give them peace in their dying hour. The Lord give them peace when they enter upon a new and solemn scene. May peace abide with them forever.

(4) Ways in which peace is invoked. "In all ways." The Lord of peace knows best how to see to the peace of our friends; with him, therefore, the ways may be left. The Lord use us, if we are his way of promoting their peace. The Lord work even against them in his providence, if that is necessary to their being ejected from their false confidences. The Lord especially, increase their faith, that their peace may flow as a river, broadening and deepening, until it loses itself in the ocean of eternity.

2. Invocation of the Lord's presence. "The Lord be with you all." This is a brief but comprehensive form of salutation. The Lord be with our friends, wherever their lot is cast. The Lord go with them where they go, and dwell with them where they dwell. The Lord be with them in their going out and in their coming in. The Lord be with them in their basket and in their store. The Lord especially be with them in the great work of their life.

II. REMARK REGARDING THE HANDWRITING OF THE SALUTATION. "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hard, which is the token in every Epistle: so I write." Paul, here dissociating himself from Silas and Timothy as joint writers, singles out himself by name. It is he who has given turn and form to the thought throughout. It is he who pre-eminently had the care of the Gentile Churches. At the close of 1 Corinthians, and also at the close of Colossians, there is the same language as here. "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand." In those places there is no salutation preceding; we require, therefore, mentally to supply a salutation. Here, where there is a salutation preceding, we are supplied with what the salutation is. We are to think of the weak-eyed Paul as seated in his room in the city of Corinth, and dictating the letter to the amanuensis beside him. While he had anything on his mind to say to these Thessalonians in the way of commendation, or direction, or advice, the amanuensis continued to write. But, having fully unburdened his mind, he took the roll of parchment into his own hand, and, in his own handwriting, put down these words: "Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all." Still continuing to write, he adds the explanatory note: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand." In his explanation he includes his reason for giving his own handwriting: "Which is the token in every Epistle: so I write" (i.e. in these characters). A forged epistle in his name had been circulated in Thessalonica; to prevent such imposition in future, he gives them, in the few words in his own handwriting, a token or seal by which to assure themselves of the genuineness of his letters. Let them accept of no letter which did not carry with it the evidence of its genuineness.

III. BENEDICTION. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." This is the short form which is found in the First Epistle, with the thoughtful addition of "all." There were some persons in the Thessalonian Church who had come under his censure. As in the sixteenth verse he has included them in his salutation ("with you all"), so now he includes them in his benediction. He leaves the Thessalonians for the time, with no grudge in his heart against any, but with the catholic desire that they should all be dealt with, not according to their own demerit, but according to the merit of their Saviour, of which he is sovereign Imputer. - R.F.

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KJV: Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

WEB: Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.