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be to all intents his signature. What he wrote with his own hand at the close of
II Thessalonians was:
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (II Thess. 3: 18).
It will therefore be a simple matter to look at the close of Paul's epistles and see
whether this holds good.
Galatians. "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."
I Thessalonians. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
II Thessalonians. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
I Corinthians. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in
Christ Jesus. Amen."
II Corinthians.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen."
Romans. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all." (Rom. 16: 24).
Ephesians. "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen."
Philippians. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."
Colossians. "The salutation by the hand of me Paul. Remember my bonds. Grace be with
you. Amen."
I Timothy. "Grace be with thee. Amen."
Titus. "Grace be with you all. Amen."
II Timothy. "The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen."
Philemon. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."
Here are the salutations of Paul, appended to thirteen of his epistles. They vary in
their wording, but use the words "Grace be with you" as the basis of every benediction.
We turn to the close of Hebrews, and there we see with our own eyes "the salutation of
Paul with his own hand"
"GRACE BE WITH YOU ALL. AMEN."
As a matter of curiosity and obtaining a negative witness, we look at the epistles of
James, Jude, John and Peter, seven in all, in none of them do we find the words "Grace be
with you" in the salutation. In the presence of this testimony, it matters little what the
early fathers thought, or what the opinions of scholars may be, so far as we are
concerned, the internal evidence of the epistle itself is all sufficient. We shall therefore
speak of the writer of the Hebrews, as Paul, without further proof or apology, and accept
as true that fourteen (7*2) epistles from his pen form part of Holy Scripture.