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Greet every holy one in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you. (Philippians 4:21)

Paul encourages the believers to welcome and embrace other believers. This is an imperative, or command, that calls us all to welcome and encourage one another. The word translated “holy one” is the Greek word “hagios,” which means to be separate from common or dedicated to,^[1] and it means to be set apart under the Holy Spirit who is making the believer reflect the character of God. (See chapter 1, verse 1).

The word used here for brothers (ἀδελφός adelphos) carries the meaning of someone of the same nature, one of equal rank, an associate, or a member of the Christian community.^[2] Paul, while in prison, had a group of fellow believers around him. Some had come to him (such as Epaphroditus) and others became believers by spending time with Paul. They sent their greetings to the Philippian believers. The word used here (ἀσπάζομαι aspazomai) is a technical term for conveying greetings at the close of a letter.^[3]

More in-depth Insights

Greet every holy one in Christ Jesus. It was common for Paul to close his letters with warm salutations to numerous members of the congregations to which he was writing. In many of the letters, Paul gets specific and mentions members by name that may be the overseer there, a person he intimately knows, persons who have played a role in his ministry, etc. See Romans; 1 Corinthians; Colossians, and 2 Timothy. Here in Philippians and a few other letters, Paul’s salutation is more general. There could be any number of reasons why he does not get more specific sometimes. But it would be total speculation to guess.

The brothers who are with me greet you. The word brothers (ἀδελφός adelphos) here undoubtedly refers to his fellow workers and members of the congregation in Rome, who were viewed as holy ones (ἅγιος hagios) in verse 22. In the next verse, we will delve into the term hagios means more fully.

[1] Wesley J. Perschbacher, ed., The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, ed. Wesley J. Perschbacher (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1990).

[2] Wesley J. Perschbacher, ed., The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, ed. Wesley J. Perschbacher (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1990). Page 6.

[3] W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1996). Page 281.