Salutations from the Saints and Caesar's Household Philippians 4:22

As Paul the apostle closed his letter to the Philippian church, he included several salutations and greetings both to the church and from the brethren who were with him. In chapter four and verse twenty-two Paul writes of a special group of people who greeted the Philippians. We read:

All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.

The verse begins, “All the saints salute you,...” As though he didn't want anyone to be left out in the salutations to the Philippians, Paul included “all the saints” in his last remarks. Let us use our imaginations once again and think about all those who surrounded Paul in Rome who were considered “saints”, not because they had some special recognition or designation by the church, but because they were believers in Jesus Christ. Somehow they were aware that Paul was writing a letter to the Philippians, and they wanted to greet the church members to whom Paul was writing.

The verse goes on to say, “...chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.” After mentioning “all the saints” Paul makes a special recognition of those who were “chiefly” or “especially or most of all” “they that are of Caesar's household”. In other words, there were Christians who were members of Caesar's house. Evidently Paul witnessed to the people who were in Caesar's house about Jesus Christ, and they became “saints” as well. These special people desired that Paul greet the Philippians for them as he ended his letter.

Although salutations and greetings may seem to be nothing more than a tag or benediction at the end of a letter, we have found great insights into Paul's work within them. There were “all the saints” which indicates a number of them, and there were “they that are of Caesar's household” which shows Paul's success in sharing the gospel among them. If we allow ourselves to think about this for a while, we may discover that Paul the apostle took advantage of his every opportunity to share the gospel with those around him. The evidence is clear. His life became a witness and allowed him to share Jesus Christ and His salvation no matter what his outward circumstances might be. Perhaps as we consider this we will be inspired to use our situations and circumstances to share Jesus with others as well, and may the Lord add more “saints” to His church as we do.

Next time we end the book of Philippians with one final blessing from Paul, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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