I lived fifteen years in Argentina. My wife is from there, as are my kids. I’ve had the privilege to learn a lot about the culture of Argentina.
80% of the population of Argentina is of Italian and/or Spanish descent. The Mediterranean culture has had a tremendous impact on Argentina. That can be helpful at times when looking at the New Testament, for it was principally written by and for people of that region.
In Argentina, no one argues that the “holy kiss” of the New Testament is something restricted to the past. As in the culture in general, Christians greet one another with a “kiss,” though in most cases only the cheeks touch. There’s nothing remotely sexual about it.
But if we examine the holy kiss in New Testament writings, we’ll find some interesting things about this “command.” It’s only found in the final section of letters, in the midst of other greetings. It took me a while to realize that this is not a command at all.
Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
Imagine getting a letter from a friend that says, “Tell your mom I said hello.” How would you interpret that command? It’s not really a command, is it? It’s doubtful that your friend will quiz you later on your fulfillment of that order.
When I receive letters from friends from Latin America, I often receive hugs and kisses, sometimes for other people. It’s common to end a letter with the phrase “un abrazo” (a hug) or “un beso” (a kiss). Some will write “un abrazo fraternal” (a brotherly hug). Sometimes they will send you a hug or a kiss for someone else.
When Peter and Paul ask Christians to greet one another with a holy kiss, it’s not a command for the church. It’s not some new instruction they hadn’t thought of, some sort of law that they will transgress if they don’t obey. There was no fear that (a) they wouldn’t greet one another; (b) they wouldn’t kiss; nor (c) it wouldn’t be holy. Saying “Greet one another with a holy kiss) was a courteous expression.
There are commands in the New Testament that we don’t follow. Many who obey the commandment in 1 Corinthians 16:2 to collect money on a weekly basis disobey the instruction in the same passage to save said money until Paul comes to take it to Jerusalem. And other commands are understood to not be intended for us today.
But don’t point to the holy kiss as an ignored command. That’s not what it is.
And by the way… tell the members at your church that I said hello.
photo from Wikimedia user Zil
I’m curious about whether you’ve found manuscript evidence that supports this assertion that “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” (not, “I greet you with a holy kiss” but “greet one another”) is an informal greeting rather than a pointed reminder, that some of them desperately needed, to maintain close fellowship even in the midst of disagreements.
Was the phrase used that way in other ancient letters?
Digging through the piles of first and second century papyri in my office, I came up with…
OK, no I’m working more off of context, both textual and cultural.
Look at the surrounding verses:
Admittedly, 2 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians make your suggestion a possibility; the other contexts pretty much rule it out. Those are greeting sections, not teaching sections. The idea of seeing this as a greeting fits all 5 contexts.
Interesting thoughts, Tim.
Yes, I certainly see your contextual point (and hey, you’re a prof at ACU — you’re a lot closer to a library with socio-rhetorical commentaries on epistles than I am! :) ). But I guess I’m still looking for the “from me” or “for me” part. As in, “Give your mom a hug for me” or “Give your family much love from me.”
The other point I would raise is that most of the time, when I point to holy kisses as ignored commands, I’m speaking to someone who views the New Testament as a legal document — a code of laws for the church. In that context, we can either choose to enforce an ordinance or not; but it doesn’t change the fact that that is what it is — an ignored command if and only if one views the NT from the law-code genre or are trying to help someone see the inconsistency with which they live out such a claim.
I should point out that I’m NOT an ACU prof. I did some adjunct teaching, but not any more. (Just updated yesterday the outdated “About” section on this blog that talked about me teaching) While my daughter does work at the ACU library, I don’t get over there much (maybe once or twice a year). Not nearly as often as you make it to a library! :-)
It is possible that someone more familiar with ancient languages will correct me. I just know that it’s VERY common in Spanish to say something like “Greet the brothers,” and it’s understood that the greeting is from me. (Where we write “Say hello” to someone, Spanish uses saludar, which means greet) The consistent location of these instructions within a section of greetings leads me to think that was the case with them as well.
I’ll admit that I was drawn to thinking about this by the sheer number of times that Jay Guin referred to this “command” in his book Buried Talents. I’ll also agree that interpretive approaches like CENI overplay the use of commands; it can still be helpful to look at imperatives in the original and see why they’re there. While the apostles weren’t dictating legal code, they were giving instructions as to how the Christians of that day could live in a God-pleasing way. If that’s our goal today, it’s worth looking at what they were taught. (I know you don’t disagree with that concept; just putting my views into a non-legalistic framework that hopefully still makes sense)
I know you are using ancient manuscripts to level your desk…
Yeah, I think some of Jay’s thinking there has been shaped by having to push back against folks who think “The NT is our pattern so we are required by God to do exactly what they did exactly how they did it — except for the places where we don’t.”
I’ve lived in Greece where this is common practice.
It’s common practice in the Arabian gulf and all over the Mediterranean.