Why does Paul say he signs all his letters when he doesn’t?

Q. At the end of 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes, “With my own hand I write this greeting. This is the way I sign every letter; this is how I write.” Paul does do something similar at the end of Galatians. He writes, “See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!” But there is nothing like this in his other letters. So why does Paul say that he signs all of his letters when he doesn’t?

We should probably translate the statement in 2 Thessalonians that you’re asking about more like this: “The greeting of Paul, by my own hand. This is the distinguishing mark in all epistles—thus I write.” It’s important to realize that the “distinguishing mark in all epistles” is not an explicit “greeting of Paul,” but rather something he would write “by his own hand.”

In other words, I think that if we had the originals of Paul’s epistles, we would find that he actually did “sign” his letters, in a sense, by hand-writing a short passage at the end of each one for authentication.

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Author: Christopher R Smith

The Rev. Dr. Christopher R. Smith is an an ordained minister, a writer, and a biblical scholar. He was active in parish and student ministry for twenty-five years. He was a consulting editor to the International Bible Society (now Biblica) for The Books of the Bible, an edition of the New International Version (NIV) that presents the biblical books according to their natural literary outlines, without chapters and verses. His Understanding the Books of the Bible study guide series is keyed to this format. He was also a consultant to Tyndale House for the Immerse Bible, an edition of the New Living Translation (NLT) that similarly presents the Scriptures in their natural literary forms, without chapters and verses or section headings. He has a B.A. from Harvard in English and American Literature and Language, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell, and a Ph.D. in the History of Christian Life and Thought, with a minor concentration in Bible, from Boston College, in the joint program with Andover Newton Theological School.

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