2 Thessalonians 3:18

2 Thessalonians 3:18

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen

The benediction

I. Its contents. Grace.

II. Its comprehensiveness. It embraces all.

III. Its power. It is yea and amen. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

What Paul calls his “salutation” is the prayer, showing that the whole business they were then about yeas spiritual; and even when he must give a salutation there must go some benefit along with it, and it must be a prayer, not a mere symbol of friendship. It was with this he would begin, and with this he would end, fencing round that which be said with mighty walls on either side; and safe were the foundations he laid, and safe the conclusion that he laid thereon. “Grace to you,” he cries, “and peace”; and, once more, “Peace always,” and “The grace,” etc. (Chrysostom.)

The benediction is the same as in the First Epistle, with the significant addition of “all.” It serves a loving purpose here. Caught up, as it may be, from 2 Thessalonians 3:16, where it is so prominent, it is meant to include the disorderly brethren, regarding whom he had painfully dictated words of severity. He would, indeed, have the censure written; but he would, before he closes, take away its sting. All, without exception, are enfolded in his loving embrace. Upon all he asks the Divine grace to descend. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)

Grace

I. Its source.

II. Its fulness.

III. Its flow.

IV. Its power. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Without the grace of Christ

The late Rev. Mr. Brown, of Haddington, towards the close of life, when his constitution was sinking under his multiplied and unintermitted labours, preached on the Monday after the dispensation of the Lord’s Supper, at Tranent, a serious and animated sermon from these words: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” After the service was concluded by prayer and praise, and he was just about to dismiss the congregation, it occurred to him that he had made no direct address to those who were destitute of the grace of the Lord Jesus; and, though worn out by his former exertions, he at considerable length, and with the most intense earnestness, represented the horrors of their situation, and urged them to have recourse, ere the season of forbearance was past, to the rich and sovereign grace of the long despised Saviour. This unlooked for exhortation apparently made a deep impression, and was long remembered by the more serious part of the hearers. (J. Whitecross.)