Should we greet each other with a holy kiss?

Paul commands Christians to greet each other with a holy kiss? Is this morally binding for today?

In the ancient world, it was common for family members to kiss one another (Luke 15:20; Genesis 27:26–27; 29:11, 13; 33:4; 45:15; Exodus 18:7).

In Roman culture, women were forced to kiss their husband and immediate family members on the lips. This was called “the right to kiss” (ius osculi). This practice was a way for the husband (and other men) to detect if the woman had drunken wine, which was forbidden (Plutarch, Moralia, Question 6).

In the Jewish and Christian culture, it was common for members of the same sex to kiss one another. For instance, Jesus expected a kiss from his hosts (Luke 7:45), Judas greeted Jesus was a kiss (Mark 14:45; Luke 22:48), and the Ephesian elders said goodbye to Paul by kissing him (Acts 20:37).

In early church history, Justin Martyr (AD 150) refers to greeting “one another with a kiss” (1 Apology 65), and he doesn’t discriminate between men and women. Tertullian (AD 200) gives some evidence that Christian women exchanged “the kiss” with Christian men (Tertullian, To His Wife 2.4). Clement of Alexandria wrote about some people who didn’t really love others, but they kissed them anyhow. He wrote that these people “make the churches resound with a kiss, not having love itself within.” He states that “the shameless use of a kiss, which ought to be mystic, occasions foul suspicions and evil reports” (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 3.12). This implies that the “holy kiss” had become an “unholy kiss,” and a way for men to gratify themselves by kissing women.

In western culture, if we began to kiss fellow Christians (even in an innocuous way), this would lead to many problems. However, we shouldn’t ignore the spirit of this passage—simply because it doesn’t “fit” in our modern culture. If we began doing this, we could very quickly gut the NT of many imperatives that are needed in our warped culture. While we shouldn’t kiss fellow Christians in our culture, we should follow the spirit of this passage by being affectionate to one another. While this might not mean “kissing” each other in our culture (although it still does in other cultures), this would mean showing affection by hugging, smiling, shaking hands, and being overall warm and affectionate to fellow Christians. For a similar example, see comments on 1 Corinthians 11:5-6.