ACC ~ Romans 16 v16

HOLY KISSING, NOT SHAMELESS. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: If we are called to the kingdom of God, let us walk worthy of the kingdom, loving God and our neighbor. Love is not proved by a kiss but by kindly feeling. But there are those who do nothing but make the church resound with a kiss, not having love itself inside them. For this very thing, the shameless use of a kiss, which ought to be mystic, occasions foul suspicions and evil reports. The apostle, however, calls the kiss holy. CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 3.11.

TERTULLIAN: What prayer is complete if it is divorced from the holy kiss? ON PRAYER 18.

SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF ALL THE CHURCHES. ORIGEN: From this and other statements like it, it appears that it was the custom to greet one another with a kiss after the prayers. The apostle calls this a holy kiss. How could Paul write that all the churches sent greetings, when he was only in one of them at the time? I think we have to understand this to mean that there was one spirit common to Paul and to all the churches, so that he could speak on behalf of them all. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

ALL THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST GREET YOU. AMBROSIASTER: Paul asks that all those to whom he has written and whom he names be greeted with a holy kiss, that is, in the peace of Christ, not in the desire of the flesh, because these kisses are spiritual, not physical.

By saying “churches of Christ” Paul is saying that there is a church which is not Christ’s. For David called the company of evildoers an assembly of the wicked. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

KISS AS A SYMBOL OF EQUALITY BEFORE GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: By this salutation Paul intended to cast out of them any reason for pride. The great were not to despise the small, nor were the small to envy the great, but pride and envy were to be banished by the kiss, which made everyone equal. Therefore, he not only asks them to greet each other in this way, but he also sends them this greeting from the other churches. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 31.

THE KISS OF JUDAS AND THE KISS OF PEACE. PELAGIUS: Not with a false and treacherous kiss, of the sort with which Judas betrayed the Savior. For in the church the peace is proclaimed first, so that we may show that we are at peace with all who are about to partake of the body of Christ. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.