The Meaning of 2 Corinthians 13:12 Explained

2 Corinthians 13:12

KJV: Greet one another with an holy kiss.

YLT: salute one another in an holy kiss;

Darby: Salute one another with a holy kiss.

ASV: Salute one another with a holy kiss.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Greet  one another  with  an holy  kiss. 

What does 2 Corinthians 13:12 Mean?

Verse Meaning

They could then exchange the holy kiss sincerely. The believers practiced this custom commonly. It symbolized the forgiveness, reconciliation, unity, and fellowship that existed between the people who kissed each other. Until unity prevailed in the church this kiss was hypocritical.

Context Summary

2 co 13:7-14 - How To Be Built Up
None can really injure the truth or stop its victorious progress. As well try to stop the sunrise. We often help others most in our weakness, because then we rely most on the Spirit of God. It is the noblest end of life to build up others through our own expenditure, even to the draining of our strength and resources. The world is apt at destruction; and indeed not much art is required for pulling down. But the divine work is to build; we have God's authority for that.
The valedictory address is very touching. Be perfected, 2 Corinthians 13:11, r.v., is really "be adjusted," "properly jointed," "articulated." God desires to set us as a skilful surgeon sets a dislocated limb. Let Him do it; let the Comforter comfort; let love and peace enter with the Holy Dove; and see that the inner atmosphere does not hinder the gracious healing work of the Spirit of God.
Note the threefold benediction, which maintains the doctrine of the Trinity, 2 Corinthians 13:14. The love of the Father is the fountain of all; the grace of the Lord Jesus is the channel for all; while the communion of the Holy Spirit brings us into partnership with the aims and resources of God. The salutation of the saints and the divine benediction are the worthy close of this noble letter [source]

Chapter Summary: 2 co 13

1  Paul threatens severity, and the power of his apostleship, against obstinate sinners
5  And, advising them to a trial of their faith,
7  and to a reformation of their sins before his coming,
11  he concludes his epistle with a general exhortation and a prayer

Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 13:12

With a holy kiss [εν αγιωι πιληματι]
In the Jewish synagogues where the sexes were separated, men kissed men, the women, women. This apparently was the Christian custom also. It is still observed in the Coptic and the Russian churches. It was dropped because of charges made against the Christians by the pagans. In England in 1250 Archbishop Walter of York introduced a “pax-board” which was first kissed by the clergy and then passed around. Think of the germ theory of disease and that kissing tablet! [source]
Kiss []
In 1 Peter 1:14, called the kiss of charity. The practice was maintained chiefly at the celebration of the Eucharist. In the “Apostolic Constitutions” it is enjoined that, before the communion, the clergy kiss the bishop, the laymen amongst each other, and so the women. This latter injunction grew out of the reproach of looseness of manners circulated by the heathen against the Christians. On Good Friday it was omitted in commemoration of Judas' kiss. In the West the practice survives among the Glassites or Sandemanians. In the Latin Church, after the end of the thirteenth century, there was substituted for it a piece of the altar furniture called a Pax (peace ), which was given to the deacon with the words Peace to thee and to the Church. In the East it is continued in the Coptic and Russian Churches. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 13:12

Romans 16:16 Kiss []
Compare 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14. [source]
Romans 16:16 With a holy kiss [εν πιληματι αγιωι]
The near-east mode of salutation as hand-shaking in the Western. In China one shakes hands with himself. Men kissed men and women kissed women. See note on 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12. [source]
1 Corinthians 16:20 With a holy kiss [εν πιληματι αγιωι]
In the synagogue men kissed men and women kissed women. This was the Christian custom at a later date and apparently so here. See note on 1 Thessalonians 5:26; note on 2 Corinthians 13:12; Romans 3:8; 1 Peter 5:14. It seems never to have been promiscuous between the sexes. [source]
1 Thessalonians 5:26 Kiss []
See on 2 Corinthians 13:12. Comp. Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Peter 5:14. [source]
1 Thessalonians 5:26 With a holy kiss [εν πιληματι αγιωι]
With a kiss that is holy (Milligan) a token of friendship and brotherly love (1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; Romans 16:16). In 1 Peter 5:14 it is “with a kiss of love.” This was the customary salutation for rabbis. [source]

What do the individual words in 2 Corinthians 13:12 mean?

Greet one another with a holy kiss
Ἀσπάσασθε ἀλλήλους ἐν ἁγίῳ φιλήματι

Ἀσπάσασθε  Greet 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Middle, 2nd Person Plural
Root: ἀπασπάζομαι 
Sense: to draw to one’s self.
ἀλλήλους  one  another 
Parse: Personal / Reciprocal Pronoun, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀλλήλων  
Sense: one another, reciprocally, mutually.
ἁγίῳ  a  holy 
Parse: Adjective, Dative Neuter Singular
Root: ἅγιος  
Sense: most holy thing, a saint.
φιλήματι  kiss 
Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Singular
Root: φίλημα  
Sense: a kiss.

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