Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Aramaic Epistles - Part 4 - The Secondary Greeting

In these epistles there is often a secondary greeting. This greeting (or greetings) usually ask the addressee to pas on the greetings of the writer to others. This secondary greeting does not always immediately follow the initial greeting, but is sometimes found further along in the letter. To this might be compared Paul's letter to the Romans, wherein much of the sixteenth chapter is devoted to these secondary greetings. In that chapter, there are at least sixteen occurrences of the word aspasasthe (greet), as Paul extends the contact to include many specific persons in the church at Rome. For one thing, this indicates a strong personal connection between Paul and the members of that church, even though he had not previously visited Rome. The extent of Paul's personal connection to the church at Rome probably also indicates something of the mobile nature of life in the Roman empire. paul was acquainted with these people, probably through having met them at other churches in other cities. Since Paul's last contact with them, they had moved to Rome. Many of the other letters of Paul have brief secondary greetings, as with Romans regularly appearing at the end of the letter

Part 5: Concluding Formula

Many letters do not have any concluding formula, so at best it could be considered an irregular, and therefore unnecessary part of the epistle. In the hands of Paul, there are concluding remarks to each letter, but they differ so much from one letter to another that they can hardly be called formulaic. In the letters of Paul, we find these concluding remarks in the form of a doxology (Rom 16: 25-27) or in the form of a benediction (2Cor 13:14). Most of Paul's letters conclude with a benediction. Interestingly, the other two New Testament epistles with concluding doxologies are Hebrews and Jude. The remaining New Testament epistles conclude with secondary greetings. In other words, the kind of variety found in the concluding verses of New Testament letters is similar to the variety in the Aramaic epistles, though no Aramaic epistle is found with a concluding doxology. That should not be surprising though, due to the differing nature of the content of the Aramaic epistles (primarily family and business correspondence) and the specifically religious nature of the New Testament letters.

Part 6: The Mention of a Scribe or Secretary

Some of the Aramaic epistles follow the concluding remarks with the mention of a scribe or secretary. Unsurprisingly this is usually the case with official correspondence, as even today official correspondence is carried out by a secretary or administrative assistant, whose initials are usually placed at the end of the letter. There are occasional mentions of scribes in the New Testament epistles. See, for example, Rom 16:22. Paul also specifically refers to his own writing in Col 4:18,2Thess 3:17. A perusal of the KJV shows another interesting element: a concluding colophon. These colophons are found in the KJV and some form of them is found in some few of the New Testament manuscripts, but they are a late and unreliable addition to the text.

Copyright Statement
'Aramaic Thoughts' Copyright 2024© Benjamin Shaw. 'Aramaic Thoughts' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with a link to https://www.studylight.org/language-studies/aramaic-thoughts.html  2) 'Aramaic Thoughts' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.