The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
Second Thessalonians stands as a letter correcting errors connected with the first epistle and addressing the Lord's coming, including the teaching that the great apostasy must occur before it. A forged letter falsely presented as from Paul had misled the Thessalonian believers about the nearness of Christ's coming. Paul's own handwritten salutation is the token or mark in every epistle by which a letter genuinely from him could be recognized and authenticated. This handwritten greeting distinguished his genuine letters from the counterfeit and from fraudulent letters circulated as though they came from him.
Paul normally used an amanuensis, dictating his letters or having someone else write the body, and then personally added the closing salutation and signature in his own hand. He added only the closing greeting in his own handwriting as his mark of genuineness in every letter, even when someone else wrote the body of the letter. Because of defective eyesight, Paul's writing by hand was especially notable. His eyes were never fully restored after his blinding on the Damascus road, leaving the defective sight that was his thorn in the flesh.
The token is also the style in which he writes, so I write, standing at the conclusion in the closing grace benediction. All fourteen of Paul's epistles close in this manner. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 and 2 Peter, James, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude never close in this way, so that style of closing is peculiar to Paul.
The handwritten token shows the Epistles were written and signed by men whom the receiving churches well knew, and the Gospels were received from the hands of the men who wrote them. The apostolic churches thus held the very authentic letters sounding forth the voice and representing the countenance of each apostle. This proves the Bible is different from all other books, because its writers testified to things they knew from hearing, seeing, looking upon, and handling the Word of life. They had seen Christ in his life and death and seen him after his resurrection, felt his hands and feet, seen the nail prints and the spear wound, and preached Christ who had died and risen again.
Second Thessalonians stands as a letter correcting errors connected with the first epistle and addressing the Lord's coming, including the teaching that the great apostasy must occur before it. A forged letter falsely presented as from Paul had misled the Thessalonian believers about the nearness of Christ's coming. Paul's own handwritten salutation is the token or mark in every epistle by which a letter genuinely from him could be recognized and authenticated. This handwritten greeting distinguished his genuine letters from the counterfeit and from fraudulent letters circulated as though they came from him.
Paul normally used an amanuensis, dictating his letters or having someone else write the body, and then personally added the closing salutation and signature in his own hand. He added only the closing greeting in his own handwriting as his mark of genuineness in every letter, even when someone else wrote the body of the letter. Because of defective eyesight, Paul's writing by hand was especially notable. His eyes were never fully restored after his blinding on the Damascus road, leaving the defective sight that was his thorn in the flesh.
The token is also the style in which he writes, so I write, standing at the conclusion in the closing grace benediction. All fourteen of Paul's epistles close in this manner. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, 1 and 2 Peter, James, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude never close in this way, so that style of closing is peculiar to Paul.
The handwritten token shows the Epistles were written and signed by men whom the receiving churches well knew, and the Gospels were received from the hands of the men who wrote them. The apostolic churches thus held the very authentic letters sounding forth the voice and representing the countenance of each apostle. This proves the Bible is different from all other books, because its writers testified to things they knew from hearing, seeing, looking upon, and handling the Word of life. They had seen Christ in his life and death and seen him after his resurrection, felt his hands and feet, seen the nail prints and the spear wound, and preached Christ who had died and risen again.