Philippians: Greet Every Saint
Philippians 4:21-23 - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
Philippians 4:21-23 NASB1995
Paul ends his lovely epistle with a greeting to every saint who is in Christ Jesus at Philippi. Some of his epistles ended with specific greetings to individuals, but in this case he wants all of the believers there to receive this greeting. The brethren who are with Paul also greet them, as do the saints in the area of Rome, especially those of Caesar’s household.
So what does it mean to greet someone? Let’s do a word study!
Greet comes from the Greek verb ἀσπάζομαι or aspázomai (Strong’s G782) with the following Biblical usages:
to draw to one's self
to salute one, greet, bid welcome, wish well to
to receive joyfully, welcome
Our believers in Philippi in the AI image Steve created at the top are doing those very things - hugging and greeting others in their congregation. In Precept Austin, Charles Spurgeon comments on this greeting:
The religion of Christ is full of courtesy, and it is full of generous thoughtfulness. I do not think that he can be a Christian who has no knowledge nor care about his fellow church-members.
Paul tells the Philippians that the saints in Caesar’s household send them greetings. This is quite revealing. In a previous devotional, I speculated about how the Good News of the Gospel message would move like a wildfire through the people that Paul interacted with, like Roman soldiers and officials. Here’s commentary from F.B. Meyer from his devotionals about Philippians quoted in Precept Austin:
The great commentator [note: Not sure who this is in reference to] already referred to has shown that the household of Caesar was a term embracing a vast number of persons, not only in Rome, but in the provinces, all of whom were either actual or former slaves of the Emperor, and filled every possible description of office. There is every reason to believe that this term included household slaves who were in immediate attendance upon the Emperor; soldiers who through being attached to the prisoner had been constrained to hear the story of salvation, and yielded to the claims of Jesus: and perhaps beyond, there was a still wider circle of senators and knights, men of intellectual power and large wealth, who composed the Imperial retinue and court.
The household of Caesar was constituted by a vast concourse, many of whom were the agents of murders, bitter cruelties, and licentious intrigues, but large numbers of whom were men of upright character, who found it possible, amid such surroundings as those of Nero's palace, to be simple followers of Jesus. It is as possible to be a Christian in a royal court as in a slum, in a fashionable circle as amongst peasants and labourers, amongst rulers as amongst the poor and destitute. Character may be independent of circumstances. Joseph may pursue his life of purity amid the corruption of Egypt, and Daniel his life of prayer amid the idolatry of Babylon.
Circumstances may differ; in some cases they are more, whilst in others they are less favourable to the growth of Christian character, but Christianity is indigenous to all climates, and will flourish on any soil. It is like the corn plant which grows alike upon the alluvial soil of the Nile Delta, and the broad expanse of Western prairies.
There’s an important point in this commentary - Your character (and your faith) is independent of your circumstances. As Meyer says, Christianity is indigenous to all climates. There are faithful believers in North Korea and on the faculty at Harvard. There are faithful saints working at a major Hollywood studio and in a village besieged by Islamic terrorists in northern Nigeria. There are faithful people studying the sciences and working the trade floor on Wall Street. The believers in Nero’s household had a profound impact on historical events, although they may not have seen the outcomes in their lifetimes and probably suffered persecution.
Paul ends his letter with a beautiful and short (but very meaningful) benediction: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. F.B. Meyer has a great commentary on this, again on Precept Austin:
The Epistle begins with grace (Phil. 1:2) and with grace it ends. It is impossible to define all that is meant by this comprehensive prayer. Illumination for the soul, love for the heart, strength for the mind, purity for the character, help in every time of need, direction in all perplexity and difficulty--all these are included in the word grace. It was impossible for the Apostle to know in detail all that his friends might be passing through amid the temptations and perils of Philippi, but he wished that always and everywhere they might be conscious that the grace of the Lord Jesus beset them behind and before, encompassed their going out and coming in, enwrapped them in their lying down and rising up, canopied them with skies opening Godward, and was their shield and their exceeding great reward. (F. B. Meyer. The Epistle to the Philippians - A Devotional Commentary)
My next devotional summarizes what we learned from Philippians. Then I will have an introduction to Psalm 34, followed by devotionals on each verse in that beautiful psalm of David.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Thank You for guiding me through the epistle to the Philippians. This epistle is all about the joy we can receive from our faith in You! Amen
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 08/09/2025 to review the lexicon for greet.
Precept Austin was accessed on 08/09/2025 to review commentary for Philippians 4:21-23.