Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Finally - Λοιπον· All that remains for me now to write is, to wish you all manner of happiness, and so to take my leave.
Farewell - A good wish, from our old mother tongue, compounded of to go, and fairly, properly, or with felicity; go on prosperously! This is the spirit of this good wish.
The Greek χαιρετε signifies nearly the same thing. Χαιρω means to be very joyous; χαιρετε, be joyous and happy, be ever prosperous; this was among the last words which Cyrus, when dying, spoke to his friends.
Be perfect - Καταρτιζεσθε· Be compact; get into joint again; let unity and harmony be restored. See the note on 2 Corinthians 13:9.
Be of good comfort - Παρακαλεισθε· Receive admonition; for παρακαλεω signifies to admonish, beg, entreat, and also to comfort. Receive admonition, that ye may receive comfort. If ye take my advice, ye shall have consolation; if ye do not, ye will have nothing but misery and wo.
Be of one mind - Το αυτο φρονειτε· Think the same; let there be no dissensions among you. Be of the same creed, and let disputes about that religion which should be the bond of peace for ever subside.
Live in peace - Ειρηνευετε· Cultivate peace; or, as he says elsewhere, Follow peace, and pursue it, Hebrews 12:14. Cultivate a peaceable disposition, and neither say nor do any thing which has a tendency to irritate each other.
And the God of love and peace shall be with you - While ye are full of contentions, dissensions, and discord, peace can have no place among you; and as to love, the fulfilling of the law, that worketh no ill to its neighbor, it has necessarily taken its flight. Love cannot live, neither exist, where there are brawls, contentions, and divisions. And where neither peace nor love is to be found, there God cannot be. And if He be not there, yourselves and the devil make the whole assembly.