Philemon Philemon
Philemon
Introduction
At a Glance
Author: The apostle Paul
Audience: Philemon, a slave owner
Date: AD 60–61
Type of Literature: A letter
Major Themes: Christian love, Christian belonging, fellowship, and slavery
Outline:
Letter Opening — 1–3
Paul’s Appreciation for Philemon — 4–7
Paul’s Appeal on Behalf of Onesimus — 8–21
Letter Closing — 22–25
About Philemon
Paul’s letter to Philemon is perhaps one of the most fascinating portions of our New Testament. It is a letter written with one purpose—to bring reconciliation between two brothers in Christ. It is a letter that promotes forgiveness as the key to unity and reconciliation. Everyone has experienced being offended, and everyone has offended another person. Yet in Christ, there is enough love to cover all sin and enough forgiveness to reconcile with those who have hurt or wounded us.
Here’s the backstory of this intriguing letter: Philemon had been one of Paul’s numerous coworkers in ministry. There was much history between Paul and Philemon, a person Paul considered a dear and trusted friend. It is believed that Philemon was wealthy and, along with his wife, led a dynamic house church in the city of Colossae, a city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Although Paul had never visited Colossae, there remained a strong bond of friendship between Philemon and Paul.
Apparently, Philemon owned a slave who stole from him and ran away. His name was Onesimus. (Onesimus means “useful” or “valuable.” See Col. 4:9. This reference of Onesimus in Colossians suggests that Colossians was written shortly after Philemon.) By events that only God could orchestrate, the fugitive Onesimus found himself imprisoned next to Paul. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Paul led his fellow prisoner to the Lord.
Paul sent the runaway slave back to Philemon carrying this letter in his hand asking his former master to fully receive Onesimus and be restored to him as a fellow believer. A slave who ran away could be punished by death according to the Roman laws of this era, yet Paul not only said Philemon should forgive him, but also love him as a brother returning home. This made-for-a-movie plot is contained in this very short letter you are about to read.
Orthodox Church tradition tells us that Onesimus served Christ faithfully throughout his life and became the bishop of the church of Ephesus after Timothy’s death. The slave-turned-bishop was later taken once again as a prisoner to Rome where he testified before his judge Tertylus. He was condemned to death by stoning, and afterwards his corpse was beheaded in AD 109.
We should be grateful to God for gifting us this letter, because the dignity of every human being is brought forth powerfully in the story of Philemon and Onesimus—a story of forgiving love!
Purpose
The apostle Paul wrote his friend Philemon, a slave owner, mainly to encourage him to forgive and restore his slave Onesimus—and to do so no longer as a slave but as a brother in Christ. The theme of the book of Philemon is forgiving love. Love forgives, restores, covers sin, and heals broken relationships. The sweetness of reconciliation is an incomparable joy. Only the love of Christ has the power to perform such a glorious restoration of relationships. We can thank God that he has given us this amazing letter to bring hope that forgiveness is waiting—waiting for all of us to experience for ourselves.
Author and Audience
While a prisoner for the sake of the gospel, the apostle Paul wrote to a slave owner named Philemon. Although four names are listed in the letter’s opening, it was customary in ancient letters to list the primary addressee first. It is clear throughout the main body of the letter that Paul singled out a single individual in his appeal: Philemon. This letter was a precious piece of correspondence between brothers bound by Christian love.
And yet it wasn’t entirely private, for two other names and “the church” were also included, revealing the important bond between brothers and sisters in their activities through their common faith in Christ. This letter becomes a window into the heart of God for Christ’s community, urging generous forgiving love.
Major Themes
Christian Belonging in a Common Faith. Mentioning Apphia and Archippus, as well as Philemon’s house church, turned what might have been a private conversation into a public appeal. Though Paul may have been seeking to exert some sort of social pressure on Philemon, one of the enduring, relevant teachings of this letter is that our private business is a matter for the believing community since we belong to one another in a common faith.
Paul’s use of koinōnia (Gr. for “fellowship”) in v. 6 captures this reality. When people commit themselves to Christ, they are also committing themselves to a community. They bind themselves and become identified with one another so that they receive both the benefits and responsibilities of that “belonging.” Paul invited Philemon and Onesimus, in addition to the house church, to think through the radical implications of their belonging to one another as slave and master, as well as a believing community.
The Love of Christ Performed. It is clear from Paul’s entire work, as well as the general tone of this letter, that his appeal was rooted in the love of Christ. Paul wanted Philemon to respond to Onesimus in forgiveness and restoration in the same way Christ has responded to us. The manner in which Paul wrote his appeal and advocated for Onesimus—his tone and tenor, his words and arguments—also reflected the tender love of Christ.
We perform the same love that Christ himself performed. Paul performed Christ’s love when he advocated for Onesimus, and in the way he appealed to Philemon. And he wanted Philemon to follow his performance with his slave-turned-brother.
Slavery and Brotherhood. There’s an obvious facet to the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus: slavery. To our modern ears we think of the antebellum South and the injustices of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet slavery looked quite different in the first century, so Paul wouldn’t have necessarily viewed it as sinister, and he didn’t seem to offer a treatise on abolitionism in his letter.
Still Paul is clearly interested that “we no longer see each other in our former state—Jew or non-Jew, [enslaved or free] . . . because we’re all one through our union with Jesus Christ with no distinction between us” (Gal. 3:28). He wanted Philemon to reflect this common union in how he treated Onesimus: “welcome him no longer as a slave, but more than that, as a dearly loved brother” (v. 16). Onesimus had gone from being a valuable slave to a valuable brother in Christ (vv. 10–11).
This letter, then, seems to be less about slavery and more about the relationship between a slave and his master, now brothers in the Lord, both of whom Paul wants to experience forgiving love.
Philemon
Forgiving Love
Currently Selected:
Philemon Philemon: TPT
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Passion Translation® is a registered trademark of Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc.
Copyright © 2020 Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc.
Learn More About The Passion Translation