The salutations given by one saint to another are to be given through prayer having both the word of God and the will of God in mind.
The apostle Paul knew the saints of God and desired to greet them by name. This serves as a tremendous demonstration of brotherly love!
Paul’s salutation was so important to him that although he did not personally pen most of his epistles, he personally penned his salutation.
The Bible often defines words through their associations. For instance, the words salute, saluteth, and salutation involve a greeting.
Throughout man’s sordid history, people have mocked, rejected, and forsaken the Lord. They have chosen to look to gods that cannot save or help.
People in the world are generally quite self-centered. Even saved people are often lovers of their own selves instead of preferring one another.
Everything in the Christian life is dependent upon prayer. Thankfully, we serve a God who hears, answers, and has respect unto prayer.
In establishing His covenant with Israel, God promised them He would have respect unto them, make them fruitful, and multiply them.
Although there are times where God respects some while rejecting others, God’s acceptance of one and rejection of another is never a baseless respect.
Every person has done sinful things for which he was ashamed even prior to salvation (Romans 6:21). Some of those things are so wicked that the apostle Paul would not even mention what they were (Ephesians 5:12). The life of a Christian was never intended by God to be that way. According to verse 5 above, the Christian life is to be a life void of shame. This type of fulfilled life is only possible when hope is present for “hope maketh not ashamed.” Yet, every Christian must come to understand that hope is the outcome of a sometimes lengthy spiritual process. Here is the biblical sequence. If one properly endures tribulation, he learns to have patience. Patience, in turn, brings experience, and experience brings hope. All these things work together in the life of the believer to keep him from living a life of shame. There is truly no shame in a life lived with hope!
