“Greet one another with an holy kiss. All the saints salute you.” (2 Corinthians 13:12–13, KJV)
Somehow, we have lost the fine art of greeting people in our world. Perhaps it is the impersonal way that our young people interact with one another through social platforms. I mean, there is more communication through text messaging, Facebook, and emails than through personal interaction. With this move to these impersonal forms of communication, people have lost much in their relationships.
I have seen that when people communicate through emails and texts, that often the communication will backfire. People will say one thing but without personal contact the recipient will receive an entirely different message. The reason is that with written communications, something very important can be lost. What is it? It is that intangible thing that only comes through personal communication. Body language and voice tone are missed in purely written communication. Or let us say it is difficult to convey proper emotion when writing.
Here, Paul concluded his letter by telling the believers at Corinth to “Greet one another with an holy kiss.” The verb, “Greet,” aspazomai, is a command. Believers are commanded to “Greet one another.” Yet to do so with a holy kiss implies a personal, face-to-face, greeting. Believers are commanded to draw near to one another and greet one another in a holy manner.
It seems odd to us in this country to see a command like this. Let us face it, we do not practice greeting people with a kiss like happened in ancient times and still happens in many cultures today. However, the main point here is for believers to commune with one another in person. Today, in this culture, it is to greet people with a handshake. Yet it is to be a holy one signifying a special bond of fellowship and mutual love that is proper for believers in Christ.
I have been in churches where there is a time in the service where the parishioners are told to greet one another. This is all well and good, providing the greeting is one of genuineness. That is a genuine greeting of mutual affection and not an obligatory greeting that is void of brotherly love.
When you enter your congregation on Sunday morning or when you see parishioners throughout the week, great them with genuine holy affection. Once when I was serving with the Gideons International, I was assigned as a guest speaker in a large congregation. When I got there, I was ushered into the Senior Pastor’s office. As soon as he saw me, he stood up and shook my hand and told me how appreciative he was of me coming to speak at his church that morning. He went out of his way to greet me with a holy handshake. Let each of us remember to do the same.
Renewing the Heart 