Ephesians 4:32
“Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
If you receive our bulletin message in the mail or read it on our website or on Facebook, you might recognize portions of this message of which a similar version was posted on November 2023 concerning the topic “Slavery in the New Testament”. In this message we will be studying about the topic of forgiveness that Paul is asking his friend Philemon to give to his runaway
slave Onesimus who Paul is sending back to him.
Philemon
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul — an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus — 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him — who is my very heart — back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back — not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. 22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Sometimes we need to be careful how we think about some things that are small in size or in content, and also because of how others believe or understand about the significance of something being small. Just looking at the definition of the word small it is easy to understand how easy it is to believe that something small has little significance. Small – “Limited in importance or significance”, “Limited in degree or scope”, “Lacking position, influence, or status”, “Lacking force or volume”.
When “small” relates to the books and letters of the Bible, the letter of Philemon can easily be overlooked and considered insignificant because of its size because it only has only twenty-five verses. As relating to the definition of the word small, the small book of Philemon is not “Limited in importance or significance, degree or scope”, or “Lacking force or volume”. There is much we can learn from this short letter about forgiveness.
The book of Philemon is a personal letter from one good friend to another, the apostle Paul to Philemon. The Spirit filled life study Bible, gives us a very good introduction to this small letter.
This letter is Paul’s personal appeal to Philemon, a wealthy Christian slave-owner. It appears that Philemon had been converted under Paul’s ministry (v. 19), “I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back — not to mention that you owe me your very self.” that he resided in Colosse, and that the Colossian church met in his house (vs. 1b-2), “To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home”. Onesimus, one of his slaves, had fled to Rome, apparently after damaging or stealing his master’s property (vv. 11, 18), “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.” “If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.” In Rome, Onesimus came in contact with the imprisoned Paul, who led him to Christ (v. 10), “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.”
Paul eventually wrote to the church in Colosse and evidently included this letter on Onesimus’s behalf. Tychicus and Onesimus apparently delivered both letters. Colossians 4:7-9, 7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. The close relationship between Paul and Philemon is evidenced by the “open door” hospitality (v. 22), “And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.” Love, trust, and respect characterized their friendship (vv. 1, 14, 21).
Paul wrote to his friend Philemon to deal with the specific issue concerning Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus. According to Roman law, a runaway slave could be punished by death. Paul pleads on Onesimus’ behalf and asks Philemon to forgive and graciously receive Onesimus back as a fellow Christian and as Paul’s ministry companion. He asks Philemon to treat Onesimus with the same love and consideration he would show to Paul himself. However, for Philemon to do this, he needed to forgive Onesimus and not punish him to make him an example to any other slaves Philemon might have owned. For Philemon to forgive Onesimus, it was necessary to put aside his rights as a slave owner to punish Onesimus for running away. If Philemon owned other slaves this would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to them the character of Christ in him and the example the grace and forgiveness of Christ. Philemon also needed to forgive Onesimus for anything possibly stolen, including all financial loss. This is made clear by what Paul told Philemon in verses 17-19, “17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back — not to mention that you owe me your very self.”
There are many things this small letter does not tell us about the intimate friendship between Philemon and Paul, and also the cultural background of slavery and how it related to Onesimus. Concerning slavery one resource tells us; “Slavery was an accepted economic and social reality in the Roman world. Under Roman law, the slave was property not a person.” Our household pets and animals today have more rights than a slave did in the Roman world.
Since Onesimus was a runaway, salve who ended up with Paul in Rome, caused a big challenge for Philemon’s and Paul’s relationship. Paul recognized this and told Philemon concerning Onesimus the following. “12 I am sending him — who is my very heart — back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Philemon 12-15.
Paul also faced a legal challenge knowingly receiving a runaway and fugitive slave while being a prisoner in chains.
It was a great challenge for Philemon was to forgive Onesimus. The Roman society’s mentality and treatment of slaves was accepted and practiced by Philemon towards Onesimus while he was a slave in Philemon’s household, but now for Philemon to be able to forgive him he needed to see Onesimus not the way he did in the past but from God’s perspective. Ephesians 4:32, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Onesimus now being a Christian changed everything. Paul refers to the spiritual change in Onesimus’ life by telling Philemon how he appreciated him. “I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.” Philemon 10.
Paul relates to Onesimus as his “son”, referring to him as his spiritual son, which means Onesimus was a born-again believer in Christ. There are only two other persons in all the writings of Paul that he refers to as his “son”, Timothy, To Timothy my true son in the faith”, 1 Timothy 1:2. And Titus, “To Titus, my true son in our common faith”, Titus 1:4.
Paul also helps Philemon to accept Onesimus from God’s perspective, with a play on the meaning of Onesimus’ name which is “useful” or “profitable”, he says in verse eleven the flowing concerning Onesimus. “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.”
Paul continues to appeal to the new way Philemon needed to accept Onesimus based on forgiveness by what he says in verses fifteen and sixteen. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. Philemon 15-16.
Philemon had to no longer see Onesimus as just a slave, but now he needed to accept him as a forgiven brother in Christ. Because it is on this basis, we as Christians forgive others. Even if the other person does not ask for forgiveness, recognizing the wrong they did, we are to forgive them. Nor forgiving another person does not mean that we are saying that the wrong they did is acceptable.
It is believed that the Church of Colosse was the very church that met in Philemon’s home that Paul referred to in Philemon 1-2, “To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home…”.
Paul writing to the church (Christians) in Colosse who had issues of not forgiving each other told them the following. Colossians 3:13-14, 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
When we are offended, we need to forgive the other person, remembering the way we were forgiven by Christ. How was that? Colossians 2:13, When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
Pastor John
