Read verses 1-3: This is Paul's typical greeting, with one difference. He refers to himself as a prisoner of Christ rather than an apostle of Christ, clearly there must be some reason he identifies himself this way. The letter is also coming from Timothy and it is addressed to Philemon, Apphia (our sister and possible Philemon's wife?), Archippus (our fellow soldier and possible Philemon's son?), and their house church.
In verse three Paul switches from the plural "you" to the singular "you" and is now addressing Philemon specifically.
Read verses 4-7: Paul shares a testimony about Philemon. What do we learn about Philemon's character through this? He has a great love and faith in God and people, he shares his faith and all he does encourages and refreshes other believers (including Paul).
I don't know about you, but if I was Philemon reading this, I'd be wondering what does Paul want that he's buttering me up by saying all these nice things.
Read verses 8-9: As an apostle and church leader, Paul has the authority that he could just make Philemon do what he wants. However, he gives Philemon the option to what he wants. It's in essence a chance for him to put his words into action. When it's going to cost him something, will he still do what it right?
Read verses 10-16: The request comes... Give Onesimus freedom so he can serve Paul, but ultimately Christ. Now who exactly is Onesimus? He's Philemon's former slave, but how exactly did he get separated from Philemon? There are a few thoughts on this. The first option is that Onesimus ran away. This is what I've always been taught, but there are some issues with this idea. First, the punishment for a runaway slave was execution. Paul would've been harboring a fugitive to house him. It's a possibility that Onesimus was jailed and he and Paul became friends in prison, but again, death not imprisonment would've been his punishment. More likely what happened was that Onesimus had made some sort of mistake and had sought Paul out as a third-party to mediate between the two men.
Look back at verses 10-11: Onesimus means "useful," so when Paul says he was useless but now he's useful, it's a play on words. Apparently the word for useless also sounds like Christ-less so lots of double meaning going on there. Paul is just pointing out to Philemon that having Onesimus as a physical laborer is not as important as him being a co-laborer for Christ.
Look back at verses 12-14: Onesimus is with the group of people delivering the letter, can you imagine being him and just sweating bullets as Philemon reads this and wondering what he will do?!
And, again, we see Philemon is being given a choice, Paul isn't assuming "Oh, Philemon will just say it's ok, so I'll keep Onesimus."
Look back at verses 15-16: Paul also reminds Philemon of the crazy way God works sometimes. Who knows but maybe the whole reason why God allowed Onesimus to escape is so that he would get saved.
Read verse 17: Paul reminds Philemon to treat Onesimus as he (Philemon) would treat him (Paul).
Read verses 18-19: If Onesimus stole or damaged anything and owes Philemon, Paul offers to pay for it.
Also, Paul as he got older often had others write his letters as he dictated them. So in verse 19, Paul writes with his own hands to emphasize that he WILL repay any debts Onesimus owes.
Read verses 20-21: Paul's asking Philemon to be a blessing him by doing this. Paul knows Philemon will do the right thing and more.
It strikes me funny that even though Paul is giving him an option, all the extra comments he makes really take the option away from him. Even though Paul is technically giving him a choice, he doesn't really have one.
Read verses 22-25: Paul now makes some concluding remarks as he does in all his letters. In these last few verses, Paul switches back and forth between the plural and singular you.
In verse 22, he says to plural you to prepare a room that he's coming to visit.
In verses 23-24, a few different people send shout-outs to Philemon.
In verse 25, Paul gives a little popcorn prayer asking God to give everyone grace.
In verse three Paul switches from the plural "you" to the singular "you" and is now addressing Philemon specifically.
Read verses 4-7: Paul shares a testimony about Philemon. What do we learn about Philemon's character through this? He has a great love and faith in God and people, he shares his faith and all he does encourages and refreshes other believers (including Paul).
I don't know about you, but if I was Philemon reading this, I'd be wondering what does Paul want that he's buttering me up by saying all these nice things.
Read verses 8-9: As an apostle and church leader, Paul has the authority that he could just make Philemon do what he wants. However, he gives Philemon the option to what he wants. It's in essence a chance for him to put his words into action. When it's going to cost him something, will he still do what it right?
Read verses 10-16: The request comes... Give Onesimus freedom so he can serve Paul, but ultimately Christ. Now who exactly is Onesimus? He's Philemon's former slave, but how exactly did he get separated from Philemon? There are a few thoughts on this. The first option is that Onesimus ran away. This is what I've always been taught, but there are some issues with this idea. First, the punishment for a runaway slave was execution. Paul would've been harboring a fugitive to house him. It's a possibility that Onesimus was jailed and he and Paul became friends in prison, but again, death not imprisonment would've been his punishment. More likely what happened was that Onesimus had made some sort of mistake and had sought Paul out as a third-party to mediate between the two men.
Look back at verses 10-11: Onesimus means "useful," so when Paul says he was useless but now he's useful, it's a play on words. Apparently the word for useless also sounds like Christ-less so lots of double meaning going on there. Paul is just pointing out to Philemon that having Onesimus as a physical laborer is not as important as him being a co-laborer for Christ.
Look back at verses 12-14: Onesimus is with the group of people delivering the letter, can you imagine being him and just sweating bullets as Philemon reads this and wondering what he will do?!
And, again, we see Philemon is being given a choice, Paul isn't assuming "Oh, Philemon will just say it's ok, so I'll keep Onesimus."
Look back at verses 15-16: Paul also reminds Philemon of the crazy way God works sometimes. Who knows but maybe the whole reason why God allowed Onesimus to escape is so that he would get saved.
Read verse 17: Paul reminds Philemon to treat Onesimus as he (Philemon) would treat him (Paul).
Read verses 18-19: If Onesimus stole or damaged anything and owes Philemon, Paul offers to pay for it.
Also, Paul as he got older often had others write his letters as he dictated them. So in verse 19, Paul writes with his own hands to emphasize that he WILL repay any debts Onesimus owes.
Read verses 20-21: Paul's asking Philemon to be a blessing him by doing this. Paul knows Philemon will do the right thing and more.
It strikes me funny that even though Paul is giving him an option, all the extra comments he makes really take the option away from him. Even though Paul is technically giving him a choice, he doesn't really have one.
Read verses 22-25: Paul now makes some concluding remarks as he does in all his letters. In these last few verses, Paul switches back and forth between the plural and singular you.
In verse 22, he says to plural you to prepare a room that he's coming to visit.
In verses 23-24, a few different people send shout-outs to Philemon.
In verse 25, Paul gives a little popcorn prayer asking God to give everyone grace.
A few questions and comments about the passage:
**All Scripture is quoted from the English Standard Version.
- The letter is clearly directed to Philemon, yet addressed to a few others as well. Why? Even though Paul knew Philemon is a solid guy and that he'll do the right thing, he's bringing this issue out in the open so that everyone knows and it adds accountability to the situation. The fact that Paul also plans to come and visit adds an additional level of accountability as well. The decision will not be made in a vacuum, people will know what happened.
- Do we know what Philemon did? No, we don't know for sure. Based on what Paul says about Philemon, it seems like he would've given Onesimus his freedom. Also, in Colossians 4:9, he mentions that Onesimus is bringing information along with Tychicus. This would certainly make it seem like Philemon must have released him. However, the two books were written right around the same time, so it's unclear which one was first. All that to say we can't know for sure what decision was made, we can only speculate.
If you were Philemon, what would you do? Ultimately the question isn't about what Philemon did. The questions is what will you do when the choice to be obedient costs you something significant. We recently completed Priscilla Shirer's study on Jonah and this is the same conclusion she drew. It doesn't matter what decision that Jonah made, but what decision will you make. - What is your character like? Would someone writing you a letter be able to say things about you like Paul said about Philemon? Is your life an encouragement to others?
- Do you practice what you preach? Showing up to church and Bible study and what not is easy. Do you live out what you learn all week long? at home? at work? while driving?
"A reputation is like fine china-easily chipped and difficult to repair."-a source I forgot to write down :( - The last thing I want to point out is one I think is pretty cool. This entire letter is a glimpse of the Gospel. Paul, who has done nothing wrong, is offering to pay Onesimus' debt. Onesimus doesn't deserve it and couldn't pay it himself. This is what Jesus has done for us-paid a debt He didn't owe to cover us when we couldn't pay.
**All Scripture is quoted from the English Standard Version.
hey .... i'm many steps behind you, LOL since you're now in Philemon & i'm still responding to Judges (where you were) .... hey, I have a question, I know you read the bible then get your guidance from God's Holy Spirit ... do you skip others commentary? Cuz if you do, that's excellent ... I do the same sometimes when I am led .... there are times it seems as individuals we get specific revelation & to read commentary would rob the Holy Spirit of talking to us directly .... anyway, after saying that .... I was reading some commentary in Judges about Deborah, and I know you were just in Judges .... so here's the link if you want to check out!
ReplyDeletehttp://newlife.id.au/equality-and-gender-issues/deborah-and-the-no-available-men-argument/?subscribe=success#blog_subscription-2
If I am preparing to teach, I read commentaries because there are cultural things I may not understand. And they may give further insight about things that I didn't realize. However, commentaries can give you lots of additional material so it's definitely the Holy Spirit who guides when determining what information to share or not and how to make things applicable.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not totally done with Judges. I taught on Philemon for Ladies Bible Study, not for youth group. Tomorrow in Sunday School we do finish up Judges and are playing a review game.
O I C ..... makes sense .... :-) ... so interesting, all you do with kids .... after my relationship with my Savior, and with my family, the most important thing to me is contributing positively to the lives of kiddos .....
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