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Many epistles written by St. Paul end with a brief note about where or by whom it was written. What is the correct term for such a note?

Question #77448. Asked by picqero.
Last updated Nov 01 2016.

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lanfranco
Answer has 2 votes
lanfranco
20 year member
4170 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
Well, there are five Pauline epistles that include what has been termed Paul's "personal signature." The example in 1 Corinthians 16:21 reads: "I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand."

The closest I can come to a term for this would be the Latin "manu propria," though in Middles Ages, the abbreviation M.P. was actually used to authenticate a letter or other document. Its sense was more or less "Yes, this really did come from me."



link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manu_propria

Mar 19 2007, 8:44 AM
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star_gazer
Answer has 1 vote
star_gazer
22 year member
5236 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians that it was he who actually penned the letter it was not dictated by him to a scribe.

Mar 19 2007, 2:30 PM
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picqero star
Answer has 1 vote
picqero star
21 year member
237 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
That isn't what I mean. Taking the example of 1 Corinthians for instance, after verse 24 there is a sentence added which states "The first epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi ....... etc".
What is the correct terminology for such a sentence?

Mar 19 2007, 3:32 PM
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lanfranco
Answer has 1 vote
lanfranco
20 year member
4170 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
Verse 24 in what chapter?

Mar 19 2007, 4:20 PM
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star_gazer
Answer has 1 vote
star_gazer
22 year member
5236 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
And why would Paul be saying "The first epistle to the Corinthians..."? How could he know that they would be a second?

Mar 19 2007, 4:56 PM
queproblema
Answer has 1 vote
queproblema
19 year member
2119 replies

Answer has 1 vote.
All James Strong calls them in his Exhaustive Concordance is "subscript." Seems like somewhere sometime I heard another word for them, though. They're not exactly glosses, and not commentaries, either, and are quite ancient, though not original.

Many Bibles do not include them. Cambridge University Press usually or always does.

Paul did not title his letters, but started them out with greetings.

Mar 19 2007, 6:52 PM
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lanfranco
Answer has 2 votes
lanfranco
20 year member
4170 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
"Subscripts" works, but they do not appear in the Scofield Reference edition, the New Oxford Annotated, or the New English Bible. For example, the site below claims that "subscripts" appear at the ends of Timothy both 1 and 2, but they are not included in the three editions I've listed above.

I wouldn't call them "glosses" at all, since they involve no scholarly commentary, Instead, they were simply additions made for putative clarification purposes but later dropped in modern editions. There is a scholarly view that they were made by Euthalius or people associated with his activities.

By the way, qp, do you actually own a copy of Strong's Concordance? I'd love to have one of my own, so tell me where you got yours!


link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euthalius


Mar 19 2007, 8:04 PM
What-A-Mess
Answer has 1 vote
What-A-Mess

Answer has 1 vote.
It is assumed that only after the second Epistle was the first called the first.

As with Timothy and John and Samuel and Kings and Chronicles and Macabees and Esdras and Peter and Thessalonians.

All of this depends upon which version one ascribes to.

Mar 19 2007, 9:32 PM
queproblema
Answer has 3 votes
Currently Best Answer
queproblema
19 year member
2119 replies

Answer has 3 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Yes, I do, Frankie. They're readily available at Amazon or christianbook.com.

link http://www.amazon.com/New-Strongs-Exhaustive-Concordance-Bible/dp/078526096X

link https://www.christianbook.com/page/academic/bible-reference/concordances

Also, I've discovered those notes are properly called "subscriptions" and are considered bogus by major Bible commentators. "It has already been noted that the subscriptions to the sacred books are of little or no authority, all having been added in latter times, and frequently by injudicious hands." From link http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkerom16.htm

Response last updated by satguru on Nov 01 2016.
Mar 20 2007, 1:11 AM
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picqero star
Answer has 1 vote
picqero star
21 year member
237 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
Apologies, I should have stated it's the King James Version I'm referring to. The edition I'm using was printed in 1859, but modern editions show similar 'end notes' to Paul's epistles.
Clearly they weren't written by or on behalf of Paul, but were added at a later date. I'm certain there is a specific term for them, and 'subscriptions' is as good as anything I suppose :)
Thanks for the interest.

Mar 20 2007, 10:15 PM
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