Spiders Are Bad Kissers: The Kiss of Love and the Holy Kiss in Early Christian Writings

This article examines the oft-overlooked New Testament commands to “Greet one another with a kiss of love” (1 Pt 5:14) and a “holy kiss” (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thes 5:26), considering their meaning in the earliest Christian communities and their potential significance for the Church today. For Paul and 1 Peter, the kiss functions as an embodied act of reconciliation, unity, and hospitality that is both risky and transformative. Early Christians received this command with seriousness, developing practices and introducing restrictions and ritual that reinforced communal solidarity while navigating anxieties about intimacy, gender, and reputation. In conversation with early Christian texts, this article explores what today’s church might learn from ancient debates about the apostolic command to kiss one another. The kiss challenges Christian communities to consider how embodied acts of peace and reconciliation can confront divisions, particularly around intimacy and inclusion.