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Introduction
See Philemon.
The context for this letter is that Philemon, who leads a church that meets in his home, has a slave named Onesimus who has run away. Paul and Onesimus bump into each other and the runaway slave gets converted by Paul’s teaching. Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter, requesting Philemon to forgive him and accept him as a fellow believer. In order to keep its slaves in line, the Roman Empire generally executed any who escaped. The form of execution was typically crucifixion in order to discourage all other slaves from attempting escape. What Paul was asking Philemon to do was no small thing in that day and age.
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Philemon 1
Phile 1:1-7 – Paul is writing this letter to Philemon for a specific purpose, but he does not get to that purpose in these first seven verses. He’s just dealing with general things. A few points to consider:
- “a prisoner” – This is another of those epistles Paul wrote from prison. This letter may have been written at the same time Paul wrote Colossians. As described in my notes on Philemon the man, it’s likely that Philemon lived in Colossae.
- “to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier” – It sounds like “Apphia” was Philemon’s wife and “Archippus” his son, but I know of no way to say that for sure.
- “the church in your house” – The churches we read about in the New Testament were congregations (gatherings of people) – not buildings. The church in Colossae, like most NT churches, met in homes. As the church in a city would grow, it would usually be meeting in multiple homes because it wouldn’t take long for a city’s congregation of believers to outgrow the largest available house. There is no way of knowing how many houses in Colossae were being used like Philemon’s was at that time.
- “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother” – May the hearts of your wife and children often be refreshed through you, brother. In other words, may “the church in your house” be blessed.
Phile 1:8-11 – Paul here starts making the request that is the purpose of this letter. He’s asking, in effect, for Philemon to fulfill the role of the father in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15). Everything is written in the confident hope that Philemon will respond favorably to what he’s being asked to do. ***** Notice that the salvation of Christ transformed Onesimus from being useless to Philemon and Paul to being useful to both. And thus does the salvation of Christ transform us and everyone it touches – even our children. We were all dead limbs, but now we can bear fruit for X.
Phile 1:12-13 – Paul’s request is that Philemon’s forgiveness be so gracious as to actually set Philemon free. Thus we are reminded that the apostolic instructions for slaves to obey their masters (such as Paul wrote in Colossians and Ephesians) were not rooted in some affection God had for the institution of slavery. Rather, such instructions were written as God’s accommodation to the evil of men and for the sake of societal peace. God is patient and He deals with us as a wise and loving father deals with his children (Heb 12). That is, a wise dad doesn’t try to correct everything that’s wrong with us all at once. He does triage and focuses on our biggest shortcomings. The Romans biggest sins in those days were of a sexual nature. That’s why the apostles spent so much time teaching about sexual purity and the sanctity of marriage. Slavery was not causing near as much problem in Roman society as sexual indulgence was. Secular society is doubly wrong today by focusing so much on slavery (which doesn’t exist and therefore isn’t causing problems) and not dealing with sexual immorality which is rampant and causing all sorts of problems – most importantly, corruption of the family which is the basic building block of society.
Phile 1:15-16 – When Paul says “perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever” he is reminding us that God can use evil for good – or perhaps it would be more precise to say that God can use our detours to get us to a better place than where we were originally intending to go.
James 4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
James 4:15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
James 4:16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Phile 1:17-19 – This might as well be Jesus talking to each of us when He asks us to forgive others.
Phile 1:20 – Paul’s request for “refreshment” is a tie back to verse 7 above: “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” Paul has completely cornered Philemon; if Philemon has half a heart, he has to accept Paul’s logic as fully compelling. Likewise, Jesus has us cornered. How can we not be like the prodigal son’s father every single time our children come to their senses?
Phile 1:21 – Paul was a motivator par excellence. He must have had a good teacher.
Phile 1:22 – Again, Paul is following in the steps of the Master: offering to dwell with the one who forgives.
Phile 1:23-24 – Two Gospel writers among this group of co-workers.
Phile 1:25 – Grace. His grace.
John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
The Duty of a Man 