²³ Take notice that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I will see you. ²⁴ Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. ²⁵ Grace be with you all.

Final words of a letter usually carry personal comments to or about friends and significant individuals. The author has not written a generic letter, but to specific individuals who have identifiable leaders, whom he knew personally. He refers to Timothy with the familial term “our brother” and indicates the young man’s anticipated arrival to where the writer currently resides. Judging from the salutation, “Those from Italy greet you,” the place of the writer’s residence was somewhere in Italy. Apparently Timothy had been in prison, but was now freed. The plan is for both the author and Timothy to travel together to visit the readers.

The way these verses read leads many to believe the author was the apostle Paul. They certainly sound like something he would have written, and indeed he spent a number of years in Italy, himself imprisoned. We do know that he was later arrested and had an ongoing relationship and correspondence with Timothy. The early church of the 2^nd and 3^rd century believed Paul to be the writer, but few today hold to that thinking. In truth, we really don’t know the authorship for certain. However, the book of Hebrews has from the beginning been held to be divinely inspired Scripture with the same authority as the rest of the NT writings.

These final verses demonstrate for us that Biblical truth was not meant for the dusty towers of academia, but for the people living out their lives in the course of daily affairs. Being followers of Christ and recipients of His grace and once-for-all-time sacrifice for sins, we encounter many difficulties (like Timothy who was imprisoned for his faith) and trials (like the temptations to go back from following Christ to the lesser things of legalistic living). As Christians we are to gather together in local churches (as implied in the greeting to “all of your leaders and saints). We have longings for those to whom we minister and are ministered by, longings to see them. Fellowship that is forged by shared suffering, persecution, trials and struggles runs deep and we stop at nothing to be with our fellow believers.

In the end it is all about grace, and sharing that grace. So, the faithful writer of the book of Hebrews signs off with an invocation of grace. It is therein we found life and it is therein we stand. Therefore, “Grace be with you all.”

Lord, I rest in You and your grace that has come to me through the Lord Jesus and brought complete forgiveness for my sin, once for all and forever. Amen!