Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 16:16 Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.
1 Peter 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.
1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Corinthians 13:11–end
Thus the apostle concludes this epistle with,
I. A valediction. He gives them a parting farewell, and takes his leave of them for the present, with hearty good wishes for their spiritual welfare. In order to this,
1. He gives them several good exhortations. (1.) To be perfect, or to be knit together in love, which would tend greatly to their advantage as a church, or Christian society. (2.) To be of good comfort under all the sufferings and persecutions they might endure for the cause of Christ or any calamities and disappointments they might meet with in the world. (3.) To be of one mind, which would greatly tend to their comfort; for the more easy we are with our brethren the more ease we…
farewell--meaning in Greek also "rejoice"; thus in bidding farewell he returns to the point with which he set out, "we are helpers of your joy" (Co2 1:24; Phi 4:4).
Be perfect--Become perfect by filling up what is lacking in your Christian character (Eph 4:13).
be of good comfort-- (Co2 1:6; Co2 7:8-13; Th1 4:18).
Adam Clarke on 2 Corinthians 13:12
Greet one another with a holy kiss - Use every means by which a good understanding may be brought about. Let the spirit of friendship live among you, and encourage its continuance by every friendly act. See the note on Rom 16:16.
John Gill on 2 Corinthians 13:12
Greet one another with an holy kiss. See Gill on Romans 16:16.
John Calvin on 2 Corinthians 13:10–end
2 Corinthians 13:10-14
10. Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
10. Propterea haec absens scribo: ne quum praesens fuero, rigidus sim iuxta potestatem, quam dedit mihi Dominus in aedificationem, et non in destructionem.
11. Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
11. Quod superest, fratres, valete, integri estote, [969] consolationem habete, unanimes sitis, in pace agite: et Deus caritatis ac pacis erit vobiscum.
12. Greet one another with an holy…
The Church Fathers
And through these gates and doors Christ both had entered into us, and doth enter, whensoever we communicate. Ye who partake of the mysteries understand what I say. For it is in no common manner that our lips are honored, when they receive the Lord's Body. It is for this reason chiefly that we here kiss. Let them give ear who speak filthy things, who utter railing, and let them shudder to think what that mouth is they dishonor; let those give ear who kiss obscenely.
I salute Cassian and his partner in life, and their very dear children. Polycarp, that most worthy bishop, who is also deeply interested in you, salutes you; and to him I have commended you in the Lord. The whole Church of the Smyrnaeans, indeed, is mindful of you in their prayers in the Lord. Onesimus, the pastor of the Ephesians, salutes you. Damas, the bishop of Magnesia, salutes you. Polybius, bishop of the Trallians, salutes you. Philo and Agathopus, the deacons, my companions, salute you, "Salute one another with a holy kiss."
Then to lead them on unto it, he says, "Salute one another with a holy kiss." What is "holy?" not hollow, not treacherous, like the kiss which Judas gave to Christ. For therefore is the kiss given, that it may be fuel unto love, that it may kindle the disposition, that we may so love each other, as brothers brothers, as children parents, as parents children; yea, rather even far more. For those things are a disposition implanted by nature, but these by spiritual grace. Thus our souls bound unto each other.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Kiss — Of affection (Gen. 27:26, 27; 29:13; Luke 7:38, 45); reconciliation (Gen. 33:4; 2 Sam. 14:33); leave-taking (Gen. 31:28, 55; Ruth 1:14; 2 Sam. 19:39); homage (Ps. 2:12; 1 Sam. 10:1); spoken of as…
Kiss · The holy — The holy
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Corinthians 13:12-13
a sacred kiss: The kiss was a common Jewish form of salutation, not only a sign of personal affection. Common in the New Testament church (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 1 Thes 5:26; 1 Pet 5:14), it may have a significance in worship services in uniting fellow believers (the “kiss of peace”). The word for sacred (Greek hagiō) is the same word that is translated God’s people (literally the saints; Greek hagioi) in the next sentence. • God’s people here were the believers in the place from which Paul was writing in Macedonia.
