We greet one another in obedience to our Lord’s instruction as an expression of love. This love is to be shown even to enemies, for he says, ‘If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?’ (Matthew 5:47). If we are to greet even our enemies, then certainly we are to greet those who belong to the household of faith, whom we have a specific commandment to love and to whom that love must be expressed. Who is more important to us on earth than fellow believers, fellow travellers to heaven? They like us have been awakened to see the real purpose of life, and we share with them a knowledge of Christ that has transformed our view of the world. The newly converted Christian now sees people in a radically different way, and understands that the most basic distinction between human beings, and the only one that really matters, is the difference between those who know Christ and those who do not. A fellow-believer is one like him who has received the gift of eternal life, and the temporary meetings and partings of this present life will be replaced by an uninterruptable fellowship in the world to come.