K. Erbes, in a suggestive article, thinks that, as St. Paul's journey to Rome was well known in the city, many disciples met him at Forum Appii or Tres Tabern^e, and gave him full particulars concerning the Roman congregation. Even before, brethren in Rome in deep sympathy had written to him, so that he was familiar with disciples there. In the Peter-Paul Actsied. R. A. Lipsius, Leipzig, 1891, p. 180 f.), it is said that St. Paul received in Malta a friendly letter from Rome by two messengers, and this occurs in the oldest part of these Acts. The greetings in Ro 16 may be a historical reminder of this letter. Christians also may have gone ahead to Rome from St. Paul's various Churches to help and plead for him. How much Christians did in this way for lesser men we know from Lucian, de Morte Peregrini, 13, and Ignatius, ad Smyrn. 10, and Erbes gives interesting parallels between the Epistles of Ignatius and St. Paul. The Greek names in these greetings — there are also Latin — confirm what we know from other sources, that most of the members in Rome were Greek. In the BulletinodelV Insti- tuto di Corrispondenza archeologica, Rome, 1881, p. 131 ff., H. Dessau gives eighty-one names in families in Ostia in which NT ones often recur. It can easily be proved by inscriptions in the time of Claudius and Nero that all the names in Ro 16 were Roman names. Erbes thinks that these were actual salutations sent to Rome by the Ajwstle, occasioned perhaps by these embassies and letters ; and that this beautiful message covering with renown these humble and faithful workers might not be lost, they inserted it in the most appropriate place in the Epistle to the Romans.J
The religious interest, however, so predominates in the NT that salutations like those in Ro 16 are rare. They are swallowed up in the ever-recurring prayer (in which, perhaps, greeting also is not wanting) that the grace of God or of Christ may be with the Christians. And the community or brotherhood seems to supersede the personal element. ' The churches of Asia salute you '
• Einleitung in das XT', Tiibingen, 1906, p. 95, Eng. tr., An Introduction to the NT, London, 1904, p. 109 (.
t SK, 1829, p. 609 f.
J Untersuchungen tiber den Brief des Paulus an die Romer ( = Zur Gei^chichte und Littcratur des Urchristentuins, vol. iii. pt. i.), Gbttingen, 1901, esp. pp. 76, 82-91.
5 ' Zeit und Ziele der Grusse Rom. lO^-i^,' in ZXTW x. [1909] 128-147.
SALUTATlOi^S
SALUTATlUiNS
443
(1 Co 16"); 'All the brethren salute you' (v.*"). If Aqiiila and Prisca salute, ' the church that is in their house,' the society usually nu'ctin-,' in their triclinium or dining-rooui is iniuiediately broujjht in (V.'"). Again, 'All the saints salute you' ("2 Co 13'^), where tlie word 'saints' is to he inter- Iireteil as equivalent — without losing its religious signilicance — to our word 'nienihers.' This uni- versality of Christian interest, or indusiveness of brotherhood, appears often : ' Salute every saint in Christ Jesus' (I'h 4'-'); ' Tlie bretliren whicli are with me salute you '(v."'), where all the Christians who were wont to assemble in )irison or in his hired rooms (Ac 28™) to console St. Paul, or were actually present when he dictated this letter, join in his salutation ; ' All the saints salute you, especially they that are of Ca-sar's household ' (I'h 4--), where we are reminded of what recent research in inscrip- tions has shown, not to speak of the literary evidence — that converts, and some of them of higli rank, were in the Imperial Court, liesidcs many in the city of the highest circles.* Sometimes St. Paul is so anxious to bring home to the societies his loving greetings that he takes the pen from the amanuensis and adds these in his own hand (1 Co 10-', Col 4'*). In the form ' All that are with me salute thee' (Tit 3") there is nothing unusual, as the same appears in the papyri. t The Christian note, of course, is peculiar : ' Salute them that love us in faith' (ib.). In the midst of other associations, in and for Christian society alone St. Paul lived and worked. On account of a danger of a false Judaizihg, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews brings in the Christian leauers in a unique way. The democracy of Christianity is seen both in the inscriptions or opening words of the Epistles and in tlie greetings at the cIo.se, where mention of ministers or officers is generally absent, in a way impossible after A.D. 80 or later. But in Hebrews we have: 'Salute all them that have the rule over you [better, ' all your leaders,' i]-Yovij.i>>ovi], and all the saints' (IS-''). The author is determined, as in desperation over theological and other (v.'') dangers (cf. the Epistles of Ignatius), to refer the believers again (see v.') to their guides and other helpers, of whose correctness he is con- vinced. Even their salutations must first be given to them. The personal touch is in 2 Jn'- and more remotely in 3 Jn'^. James, 2 Peter, 1 John, and Jude omit greetings at the end.
Of greetings in practice, the kiss, well known in Oriental lands, is urged five times, besides being mentioned in Ac 20^' — ' Salute one another with a holy kiss' (1 Co IG^", 2 Co W\ Ro 16'«, 1 Th 5=" ['all the brethren'], and I P 5^* ['Salute one another with a kiss of love ']). The thought at the back of it in ancient folklore was the communion of soul with soul, or the forming of a covenant, for the soul flows out of the nose or mouth. This significance held long in magic. When the sorcerer attempts to awaken the dead by a kiss, he will pour his own soul into hira (cf. 2 K 4^), as Jahweh makes man a living soul by breathing (Gn 2').t In ancient Rome the kiss was a sign of family relationship, so that there developed a formal law of the kiss {ius osvuli) between relatives, going as far as those between whom marriage was forbidden. It was also a sign of peace or agree- ment. The salutation by the kiss was taken over under Christianity as a matter of course, but, like everything else, purified and sanctified. Refer- ences in the NT presuppose an assembly for wor- ship, where the Epistles are read, the kiss being