BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesusਨਮੂਨਾ

Imagine working for a wealthy man who legally owns you. Leaving him would also be considered stealing from him. As a slave, you cannot legally marry, you cannot legally own things, and you don’t even have legal authority over your own body—your master owns it. Imagine then, starving for your own freedom, you finally escape!

But the wise, trusted friend with whom you take refuge says, “Actually, you should go back.” What? “Oh, and please deliver this letter to your owner.”

Today, we’re reading Paul’s letter to Philemon, a household patriarch who owned slaves, as all Roman patriarchs did back then. Onesimus is a runaway slave and mail carrier. The letter paints a scene. We’re watching the Gospel drive roots into Rome’s cultural bedrock, disrupting every assumption about human value.

Philemon trusts Jesus. Paul writes not to criticize, but to build up. He wants to see Philemon’s instinctive allegiance to the Roman way transform into loving allegiance to Jesus and his way. According to Roman law, Onesimus harmed Philemon by running away, a punishable crime of theft. But Jesus’ law of love says Onesimus and Philemon are mutually one, united as true family.

Remember the famous Christmas song, "O, Holy Night"? “Truly he taught us to love one another; his law is love, and his Gospel is peace. Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name, all oppression shall cease.” That’s basically Paul’s letter in a nutshell. It’s brief but explosive. Paul is asking Philemon to welcome Onesimus home—not as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a brother. Modeling Jesus’ law of love for Philemon, Paul promises to fully repay any debt still owed by Onesimus for any harm done. This is the way.

This is what Gospel partners do. They recognize their mutuality before God—no person greater, no person lesser, equally one, and equally free in the Messiah. Today’s video explains more about Onesimus and Philemon’s backstory. It further explores the letter’s radical heartbeat born from a love that breaks chains, sees slaves become brothers, and makes all oppression cease.

Reflection Questions

• Deuteronomy 23:15-16 prohibits returning a slave to his master. Why do you suppose Paul takes this route to bring Onesimus and Philemon back together?
• Paul’s letter to Philemon shows that the good news of the Gospel creates more than private implications. It results in public changes, too. How does this bring about goodness and peace to the new humanity created by Jesus?