The letter ends with two short wish-prayers (see disc. on 1 Thess. 3:6–13) that the peace of the Lord of peace might be with them and that the Lord himself might be with them also. In effect, Paul signs the letter by drawing attention to his own hand in the final verses (see Introduction on The Sequence of the Letters) and closes with a benediction of grace, as he does in one form or another in all of his letters.

3:16 For the emphatic pronoun, himself (standing first in the Greek sentence), see the discussion on 1 Thessalonians 3:11. For peace, signifying well-being in the widest sense, see discussion on 1 Thessalonians 1:1, and for the Lord of peace, see discussion on 1 Thessalonians 5:23. While the earlier discussion suggests that the pronoun may reflect a liturgical formula, Morris o…