This precious little letter concludes with a three-fold note. We can summarize it with these familiar Biblical words:
A. Glory
“Now unto God our Father be GLORY forever and ever” (4:20). This doxology bursts forth out of Paul’s gratitude for God’s provision. He realizes all the praise and glory go to HIM.
B. Greetings
“All the saints salute (GREET) you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household” (4:21,22). The believers who were with Paul in his Roman prison had never met the believers in Philippi, yet the tie of the Holy Spirit bound them together. Similarly, many of the readers of these words have never met this writer face to face, but because we are believers and fellow members of the body of Christ, we greet one another and feel a closeness one to another.
C. Grace
“The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (4:23). And so with this closing, which Paul tells us is his “hallmark” (see 2 Thessalonians 3:17,18), he ends his little epistle of rejoicing. May God continue to bless our hearts with its truths.
