IV. Concluding Matters (16:13–24)
At the beginning of the letter (1:1–9) it was noted that a threefold salutation appears on almost all letters from the Greco-Roman period, often followed by a thanksgiving and/or prayer, and that Paul followed this standard form but thoroughly adapted it to the realities of the gospel. The conclusions of letters, on the other hand, lacked a standard form; various elements are found, but not all of them appear in any one letter. The one rather constant element was a final wish; other elements include greetings, a health wish, the date, a concluding autograph, and postscripts.
As before, Paul uses some of these conventions and freely adapts them to his own concerns. Since the form itself was not constant, it is no surprise that there is no standard form in his own letters; he uses some of the elements already available, but he also adds some of his own. Generally speaking his conclusions contain (1) hortatory remarks, (2) a wish of peace, (3) greetings, including (4) the exhortation to greet one another with a holy kiss and (5) an autographic greeting, and (6) a grace-benediction. Our letter follows this form with the following exceptions: (a) there is no wish of peace; (b) a brief word of warning is inserted between the autographic greeting (v. 21) and the grace-benediction (v. 23); and (c) the grace-benediction, which is the final item in all his letters, is followed in this instance by the personal wish of Paul’s love (v. 24).
Thus beginning (typically?) with a fivefold exhortation (v. 13), Paul is bringing the letter to conclusion. In this case the elements include:
(1) vv. 13–18 Hortatory remarks
[(2) missing—the wish of peace]
(3) vv. 19–20a Greetings
(4) v. 20b The holy kiss
(5) v. 21 Autographic conclusion
(*) v. 22 Interruptive word of warning
(6) v. 23 Grace-benediction
(*) v. 24 Personal wish of love
As always in Paul, these not only reflect the present circumstances of this letter but also are thoroughly marked by Paul’s singular commitment to the gospel.