I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.

 Good morning. Paul ends Colossians by mentioning a number of people who are coming to them or who send the Colossians their greetings. One of the ones coming is Onesimus. He is the slave that Paul writes about in the book of Philemon. This is the place where Luke is referred to as the beloved physician. Paul directs that after the Colossians have read this letter, to have it also read in the church at Laodicea, and for them to read his letter coming from Laodicea. This was a common practice for the churches to share letters coming from Paul. He ends by saying: I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my imprisonment. Grace be with you. In first Corinthians, Paul says “the greeting is in my own hand“. Paul did not personally pen all of his letters. In fact in Romans there is a verse that says: I, Tertius, who write this letter, greet you in the Lord. They were, however, dictated by Paul. Unfortunately, back then they did not have dictation machines or phone apps like Pages, which I use, where you can speak, and the app writes what you say (more or less 😇). Father go with the reader and help him/her to make the important decisions that are ahead of him/her.

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