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20. Salute one another with a holy kiss. The practice of kissing was very common among the Jews, as is manifest from the Scriptures. In Greece, though it was not so common and customary, it was by no means unknown; but the probability is, that Paul speaks here of a solemn kiss, with which they saluted each other in the sacred assembly. For I could easily believe, that from the times of the Apostles a kiss was used in connection with the administration of the Supper; ¹⁷²¹⁷²     “That the Apostle,” says Dr. Brown in his Commentary on 1st Peter, “meant the members of the Churches, on receiving this Epistle, to salute one another is certain; that he meant, that at all their religious meetings they should do so, is not improbable. That he meant to make this an everlasting ordinance in all Christian Churches, though it has sometimes been asserted, has never been proved, and is by no means likely. That the practice prevailed extensively, perhaps universally, in the earlier ages, is established on satisfactory evidence. ‘After the prayers,’ says Justin Martyr, who lived in the earlier part of the second century, giving an account in his Apology of the religious customs of the Christians — ’after the prayers, we embrace each other with a kiss.’ Tertullian speaks of it as an ordinary part of the religious services of the Lord’s day; and in the Apostolical Constitutions, as they are termed, the manner in which it was performed is particularly described. ‘Then let the men apart, and the women apart, salute each other with a kiss in the Lord.’ Origen’s Note on Romans 16:16, is: ‘From this passage the custom was delivered to the Churches, that, after prayer, the brethren should salute one another with a kiss.’ This token of love was generally given at the Holy Supper. It was likely, from the prevalence of this custom, that the calumny of Christians indulging in licentiousness at their religious meetings originated; and it is not improbable that, in order to remove everything like an occasion to calumniators, the practice which, though in itself innocent, had become not for the use of edifying, was discontinued.” — Brown’s Expository Discourses on 1st Peter, volume in. pages 309, 310. “It is remarkable that, by the testimony of Suetonius, an edict was published by one of the Roman Emperors, for the abolition of this practice among his subjects, — perhaps in order to check abuses, for the prevention of which our Apostle enjoins that it shall be a holy salutation.” — Chalmers on the Romans, volume in. page 428. — Ed. in place of which, among nations that were somewhat averse to the practice of kissing, there crept in the custom of kissing the patine. ¹⁷³¹⁷³     By the patine or paten, is meant the plate or salver on which the wafer or bread was placed in the observance of the mass. The term is made use of by Dr. Stillingfleet in his “Preservative from Popery,” (title 7, chapter 5,) in speaking of the practice of the Church of Rome in the adoration of the host: “The priest in every mass, as soon as he has consecrated the bread and wine, with bended knees, he adores the sacrament; that which he has consecrated, that very thing which is before him, upon the patine, and in the chalice; and gives the same worship and subjection, both of body and mind, to it as he could to God or Christ himself.” In Young’s Lectures on Popery, (Loud. 1836,) page 140, the following account is given of the sacrifice of the mass: “Upon the altar is the chalice, or cup, which is to contain the wine, mixed with a little water; and covering the cup is the paten, or plate, intended to hold the cake or wafer. After an almost endless variety of movements, and forms, and prayers, and readings, the priest goes to the altar, and, taking the cup containing wine and water, with the wafer upon the cover, — these having been before consecrated and transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ, — he raises his eyes and says, ‘Take, O Holy Trinity, this oblation, which I, unworthy sinner, offer in honor of thee, of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, for the salvation of the living, and for the rest and quiet of all the faithful that are dead.’ Then, setting down the chalice, he says, ‘Let this sacrifice be acceptable to Almighty God.’” The name paten is preserved in the English Liturgy to this day. In the prayer of consecration, in the communion service — in connection with the words, “who, in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread,” it is said, “here the priest is to take the paten into his hands.” Calvin, when commenting upon Romans 16:16, after having stated that it was customary among the primitive Christians, before partaking of the Lord’s Supper, to kiss each other in token of sacred friendship, and afterwards to give alms, says, “Hinc fluxit ritus ille, qui hodie est apud Papistas, osculandoe patents, et conferendse oblationis. Quorum alterum merae est superstitionis, sine ullo fructu: alterum non alto facit, nisi ad explendam sacerdotum avari-tiam, si tamen expleri posset;” — “From this has sprung that ceremony which is at this day among Papists, of kissing the patine, and making an offering. The former is mere superstition without any advantage: the latter serves no purpose, except to satisfy the greed of the priests, if satisfied it can be.” ­Poole, in his Annotations on Romans 16:16, says, “The primitive Christians did use it” (the holy kiss) “in their assemblies; so Tertullian testifieth, (Lib. Dec.,) and they did it especially in receiving the Eucharist. So Chrysostom witnesseth, (Hom. 77 in John 16,) ‘we do well,’ saith he, ‘to kiss in the mysteries, that we may become one.’ This custom for good reasons is laid down, and the Romanists in room of it, keep up a foolish and superstitious ceremony, which is to kiss the pax in the mass.” — Ed. However this may be, as it was a token of mutual love. I have no doubt, that Paul meant to exhort them to the cultivation of good-will among themselves — not merely in their minds ¹⁷⁴¹⁷⁴     “Par affection interieure;” — “By inward affection.” and in needful services, but also by that token, provided only it was holy, that is, neither unchaste nor deceitful, ¹⁷⁵¹⁷⁵     “Ou consistast en mine seulement;” — “Or consisted in mere appearance.” — though, at the same time, holy may be taken to mean sacred.