Mention of the scribe or amanuensis and closing salutations. These words may (as sometimes with Paul) have been in the author's own hand. He probably calls the letter brief in view of what he had it in his heart to say. Silvanus can supplement the written message, and they may trust him as one who knows and can express all that is in the writer's mind. Silvanus is generally identified with the person of the same name in Paul's letters (1 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:19) and the Silas of Acts. It is thought by some that he was more than a mere amanuensis of this letter, and was given much freedom in its composition, and by many who deny the Petrine authorship his name is chosen as the most likely substitute.
The greeting from her of Babylon may refer to an individual or to a church. It may be Peter's wife who sends the greeting, a theory confirmed by the consideration that the other greetings are from individuals. Most agree that it refers to the church but where? The usual answer is In Rome, since apocalyptic writers use the name so frequently for that city. Mark is almost unquestionably the early companion of Paul and Barnabas of whom we read in Acts. That book places him in close relation with Peter, and so does later tradition when it asserts that the Gospel written by him preserved the form of Peter's version of his Master's ministry. Son is no doubt a title of affection, similar to that used by Paul of Timothy, Titus, and Onesimus, and may denote a special spiritual relationship. The kiss of love was a practice of the early Church, modified at a later time, but still retained in some Eastern churches. The form of the final benediction is more Jewish than we find in Paul's letters.