Hebrews 13:24 - Exposition

Salute all them that have the rule over you ( τοὺς ἡγουμένους , as before), and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. The fact that no names are here mentioned, as is usual with St. Paul in sending salutations to Churches he was personally well acquainted with, leads us to infer that there had been no such close association, at any rate recently, between the writer and the readers in this case; or else that a circle of Churches in some locality is addressed. Nothing certain can be concluded as to the writer's whereabouts at the time of writing from the expression, "they of Italy ( οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς ἰταλίας )," though it seems to favor the idea, rather than otherwise, that he was in Italy at the time, possibly at Rome. For the phrase means simply "natives of Italy" (cf. Acts 10:23 ; Acts 10:38 ; Acts 12:1 ; Acts 17:13 ; Acts 21:27 ; Acts 18:13 ; all these being, we observe, expressions of St. Luke's); it by no means implies that they had left Italy. In fact, as Delitzsch observes, "if the author was then in Italy, and at the same time was not a native of Italy, he could not have selected a more appropriate designation for the Italian Christians." The Epistle is concluded by St. Paul's accustomed words, which, with some variations, seem to have been appended to all his letters as his authenticating autograph (see 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 ., etc)—