2 Thessalonians 3:18 (KJV)

Cross-references

Ro 16:20 Ro 16:24

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSALONIANS. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is generally agreed, was the earliest written of all St. Paul's epistles, whence we see the reason and propriety of his anxiety that it should be read in all the Christian churches of Macedonia--"I charge you by the Lord, that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren." (ch. 5:27.) "The existence of this clause," observes Dr. Paley, "is an evidence of its authenticity; because, to produce a letter, purporting to have been publicly read in the church at Thessalonica, when no such letter had been read or heard of in that church, would be to produce an imposture destructive of itself....Either the Epistle was publicly read in the church of Thessalonica, during St. Paul's lifetime, or it was not. If it was, no publication could be more authentic, no species of notoriety more unquestionable, no method of preserving the integrity of the copy more secure....If it was not, the clause would remain a standing condemnation of the forgery, and one would suppose, an invincible impediment to its success." Its genuineness, however, has never been disputed; and it has been universally received…

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