Final greetings
Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send greetings. 22 All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
With the song of praise in verse 20, Paul closes the body of his letter. All that remains now are the greetings. It is quite possible that Paul wrote these last verses with his own hand; a secretary probably had written the rest. All the saints—that is, all the people who by grace have been set apart as God’s children in Philippi—are given greetings, both from Paul and from the coworkers who were with him in Rome. Even though Paul has expressed disappointment with some of those coworkers (2:20,21), he does not exclude them from this greeting.
The circle of greeters widens to include all the believers in Rome. They all want to send their good wishes and express their unity in Christ. Those who belong to Caesar’s household receive special mention. These Christians may have been government officials, perhaps even some members of the palace guard (1:13). The reason for their special mention here may be that since Paul was involved in an imperial court case, these were the Christians with whom he had the closest contact at the time he wrote this epistle. Or perhaps since Philippi was a Roman colony, some of these officials personally knew or were even related to some of the Philippian believers. What is important to note once more is that Christianity had entered even the ranks of the highest Roman officials. Those believers also wanted to encourage the Philippians with their greetings.
Paul closes with a benediction, pronouncing the grace of God on his readers. We can picture to ourselves the scene in which the letter, brought by Epaphroditus to the overseers and deacons at Philippi, was read to the congregation assembled for worship. On them—and on all who might read this letter in the future—Paul, the Lord’s apostle, pronounces the blessing of God’s grace. Thus he once more reminds us that what makes us Christians is the undeserved love of God to us poor sinners through Jesus the Savior. On that blessing hinge all our other blessings as Christians and all the things the apostle has written about in this wonderful epistle of joy. Through that grace of God we too have an unshakable peace and joy.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit.