Galatia 6:11

Final Instructions and Benediction

6:11 See what big letters I make as I write to you with my own hand!

Kolose 4:18

4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting by my own hand. ¹  Remember my chains. ²  Grace be with you. ³ 

Kolose 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

1 Tesalonika 3:1

3:1 So when we could bear it no longer, we decided to stay on in Athens ⁴  alone.

1 Tesalonika 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul ⁵  and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians ⁶  in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace to you! ⁷ 

[4:18]  ¹ tn Grk “the greeting by my hand, of Paul.”

[4:18]  ² tn Or “my imprisonment.”

[4:18]  ³ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (א² D Ψ 075 0278 Ï lat sy), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”). Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. Further, the external evidence for the omission is quite compelling (א* A B C F G 048 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa). The strongly preferred reading is therefore the omission of ἀμήν.

[3:1]  ⁴ map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁶ map For the location of Thessalonica see JP1 C1; JP2 C1; JP3 C1; JP4 C1.

[1:1]  ⁷ tc The majority of witnesses, including several early and important ones (א A [D] I 33 Ï bo), have ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυριοῦ Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (apo qeou patro" Jhmwn kai kuriou Ihsou Cristou, “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”) at the end of v. 1. The more abrupt reading (“Grace and peace to you”) without this addition is supported by B F G Ψ 0278 629 1739 1881 pc lat sa. Apart from a desire to omit the redundancy of the mention of God and Christ in this verse, there is no good reason why scribes would have omitted the characteristically Pauline greeting. (Further, if this were the case, why did these same scribes overlook such an opportunity in 2 Thess 1:1-2?) On the other hand, since 1 Thessalonians is one of Paul’s earliest letters, what would become characteristic of his greetings seems to have been still in embryonic form (e.g., he does not yet call his audience “saints” [which will first be used in his address to the Corinthians], nor does he use ἐν (en) plus the dative to refer to the location of the church). Thus, the internal evidence is overwhelming in support of the shorter reading, for scribes would have been strongly motivated to rework this salutation in light of Paul’s style elsewhere. And the external evidence, though not overwhelming, is supportive of this shorter reading, found as it is in some of the best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texttypes.

[1:1]  tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”