A Short Doxology
Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
Phil 4:20
Final Greetings
Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people—all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings. And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Phil 4:21-23
I have deliberately set the remaining verses in the way I have above because of the challenge they present. Most translations place verse 20 at the end of the section before it . Then they separate off the last three verses as Final Greetings. But do you see the remaining verses contain a typical spiritual close or doxology to one of Paul’s letter to a Christian church? Notice that the last three verses are a combination of closing greetings and doxology. In essence there appear to be two doxologies at the end of the Philippian letter. (See below)
A Survey of Paul’s Doxologies
Romans
Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says.
This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him.
All glory to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, forever. Amen.
Rom 16:25-27
1st Corinthians
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.
1 Cor 16:23-24
2nd Corinthians
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Cor 13:14
Galatians
Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Gal 6:18
Ephesians
Peace be with you, dear brothers and sisters, and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 6:23-24
Philippians
Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen. . .
. . . May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Phil 4:20, 23
Colossians
HERE IS MY GREETING IN MY OWN HANDWRITING—PAUL. Remember my chains. . .
. . . May God’s grace be with you. (the doxology)
Col 4:18
1st Thessalonians
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
1 Thess 5:28
2nd Thessalonians
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
2 Thess 3:18
1st Timothy
. . . May God’s grace be with you all.
1 Tim 6:21
2nd Timothy
May the Lord be with your spirit and may his grace be with all of you.
2 Tim 4:22
Titus
. . . May God’s grace be with you all.
Titus 3:15
Philemon
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Plm 1:25
Do you see that this contrasts with the close of the letter to the Romans? Both letters, Romans and Philippians appear to have a doxology sandwich. Or put in another way, two doxologies with other comments between. That is not strictly true from a purists sense in the standard close of a letter from Paul is not a true doxology.
May God’s grace (or the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all is not strictly a doxology.
Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen. . . (Philippians)
Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. (Romans)
Doxologies are segment which give glory and honour back to God or Christ where the praise and honour belongs. Whereas, ‘May God’s grace be with you’ is more the pronouncement of blessing and or peace over the recipient and is the close of a standard Greek letter as I have indicated before. (Gems 134, 724, 1904) If you want to know more about this simply type ‘standard Greek letter’ into the Search this website slot.
Although Romans and Philippians both have this feature which I am calling a doxology sandwich, a comparison of this feature in these two different letters shows two different things are going on. At the end of the letter to the Romans Paul is doing a typically Paul thing. (See the Roman ‘doxology’ at the top of the list above). Paul mentions ‘my Good News’ referring to the Gospel, the Good News, but which in this case he calls his Good News. Then he goes off on a tangent, elaborating on the nature of this Good News.
- This message about Jesus Christ
- revealed to you Gentiles
- kept secret from the beginning of time
- now foretold as God commanded
- a message made known to Gentiles everywhere
- so they might believe and obey.
That is hardly a doxology. Rather it’s an example of Paul’s thoughts spontaneously running off on the details of this Gospel. However, the doxology sandwich we have in Philippians is very different. The first hint of a doxology in verse 20 belongs with the Gem of Philippians 4:19 and even more than that. What exactly does “Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever Amen’ refer to? Surely to the wonder and majesty of Paul’s statement in verse 19!
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:19
But do you see that there is more to this than meets the eye? I think Paul has in mind far more than just this one statement. I think the wonder and majesty of the statement covers all Paul has just been talking about from Phil 4:10 onwards. In other words the Philippian Christians’ partnership with him in Gospel from the beginning until ‘now’. The fact that God takes care of him when they can’t and the fact that God will take care of them too if and when they may think they are disadvantaged (Indonesian “rugi”) because they gave out of meagre resources. No no no, a thousand times No. I think Paul is saying in effect, in all givings and receivings God is present to supply all our needs in all circumstances – yours and mine. We will never be ‘rugi’ as long as God is YHWH JIREH! Now you have to admit that is a powerful message. But to really test this thought of mine you will have to ask Paul when you see him, “Paul I have one question . . . Ian Vail says this is what you meant, ( . . . ) was it really what you were meaning?” My feeling is that it was exactly what he was meaning. The so called first doxology, in fact the only real doxology, relates to all of what went before it and not just the gem of Philippians 4:19.
I gained this perspective not from my fanciful imagination, but from:
- a thorough analysis of the words of the text,
- the flow of the text in context,
- the fact that there is some confusion in the division of the text at the end of the letter,
- the two doxologies which really aren’t,
- my own perspective on being a recipient of the generosity of the Saints of God for over 40 years in this ministry from the saints in:
- Matamata Baptist, Eltham Christian Church, Papatoetoe Baptist, Manukau City Baptist, Jakarta Praise Community Church
- and other saints scattered around the world – you know who you are!
- It makes me want to say All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who makes all this possible and
- May all of you who have given to God’s work through us for over 40 years be able to grasp the enormity of what you have been a part of
- may the peace and grace of God keep your hearts and minds fixed on Him, and may you KNOW the peace and assurance which keeps you moving toward gaining
- the fruit of your salvation, even the resurrection from the dead and the prize of the LIFE OF THE AGE TO COME.
This really is a remarkable book of the Bible, worthy of a re-read when we have finished these Gems on Philippians.
The Bible doesn’t need to be re-translated but it does need to be re-read.
Dr Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
Heavenly Father, make me a billboard of your grace, a living advertisement of the glorious riches which flow from a passion for Your Word.
Ian Vail
Making me indeed a walking Bible virus, with a heart to know You more and a passion to see more people come to stand in awe and wonder at what is written in Your Word.
Ian Vail
All of the above makes me want to continue to give people everywhere a new perspective on the Bible through Deeper Bible:
We have been Christians for many years and Bible reading had become a bit stale and repetitive. DB looked interesting and different so we decided to commit to it. To our delight it opened up to a whole new way of reading the Bible.
Terry & Helen Bellamy
I anticipated getting a lot out of Deeper Bible when we began. I was not prepared for the extent it would transform how I read the Bible! DB renewed my thirst for the Word. It was like being given the ability to unlock a door.
Fiona Taylor
I had been to two Bible colleges, one in Jakarta and one in Australia but I finally found what I was looking for in Deeper Bible. DB inspires, encourages and challenges you to fall in love with the Word of God like never before. It transforms the way you read and study the Bible and takes you deeper than you can imagine.
Thio Yansen