John Dominic Crossan in In Search of Paul writes “Modern letters usually have some rather formulaic beginnings(“Hope you are well”) and endings (Best wishes”) and so do ancient ones…Here is a medley for the starting (“grace and peace”) and finishing phrases (“peace”) of those seven genuine Pauline letters (only the starting formula is in Philemon)…”grace and peace” summarizes the core of Paul’s message and mission, faith and theology. The usual salutation in a Greek letter was chaire or “greetings,” but in a novel, clever, and profound wordplay, Paul switches that to the similar-sounding but theologically more significant term charis, “grace” or “free gift.” Think, for example, of the air all around us. It is there as charis, or gift. You do not earn it, deserve it, or gain it by any personal or even communal effort, But you do have to accept it and cooperate with is by breathing. You could also, of course, refuse it and die by suffocation. To charis, or “grace,” he adds the traditional and also more theologically significant Jewish greeting, “peace,” shalom in Hebrew or irene in Greek. And that sequence is important. It is a free gift that God offers peace to everyone, everywhere.”
John Dominic Crossan in In Search of Paul writes “Modern letters usually have some rather formulaic beginnings(“Hope you are well”) and endings (Best wishes”) and so do ancient ones…Here is a medley for the starting (“grace and peace”) and finishing phrases (“peace”) of those seven genuine Pauline letters (only the starting formula is in Philemon)…”grace and peace” summarizes the core of Paul’s message and mission, faith and theology. The usual salutation in a Greek letter was chaire or “greetings,” but in a novel, clever, and profound wordplay, Paul switches that to the similar-sounding but theologically more significant term charis, “grace” or “free gift.” Think, for example, of the air all around us. It is there as charis, or gift. You do not earn it, deserve it, or gain it by any personal or even communal effort, But you do have to accept it and cooperate with is by breathing. You could also, of course, refuse it and die by suffocation. To charis, or “grace,” he adds the traditional and also more theologically significant Jewish greeting, “peace,” shalom in Hebrew or irene in Greek. And that sequence is important. It is a free gift that God offers peace to everyone, everywhere.”
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