Holy Kiss
The holy kiss was a culturally meaningful greeting of Christian love, unity, and peace in the early church. The New Testament commends it as a sincere expression of fellowship among believers.
At a Glance
The holy kiss was a culturally meaningful greeting of Christian love, unity, and peace in the early church. The New Testament commends it as a sincere expression of fellowship among believers.
Description
The holy kiss is the New Testament practice of greeting fellow believers with a kiss as a sign of Christian affection, peace, and shared holiness. Paul and Peter both refer to it in closing exhortations to the churches, showing that outward greetings were to match the inward reality of love and unity in Christ. Scripture clearly presents the practice positively within the cultural setting of the early church, but interpreters differ on whether the exact form is binding in every culture or whether the abiding requirement is the principle it expresses. The safest conclusion is that Christians should receive these texts as a call to sincere, pure, and brotherly fellowship, while the physical form of greeting may vary according to culture and wise Christian conduct.