Technically speaking the benediction of vv. 20–21 ended the epistle—or at least could have ended it. But the author kept writing. I can’t say for sure why he did so (even after the “amen” of v. 21), but it seems that he still had a few matters on his heart.
These closing words (vv. 22–25) point us to at least three things that are necessary if we will run the race through the finish line. As Raymond Brown puts it “there is instruction to heed, fellowship to cherish and grace to appropriate.”
Technically speaking the benediction of vv. 20–21 ended the epistle—or at least could have ended it. But the author kept writing. I can’t say for sure why he did so (even after the “amen” of v. 21), but it seems that he still had a few matters on his heart.
These closing words (vv. 22–25) point us to at least three things that are necessary if we will run the race through the finish line. As Raymond Brown puts it “there is instruction to heed, fellowship to cherish and grace to appropriate.”