Excerpts in italics from “The Daily Bible Study” by Willian Barclay
What can Christian’s learn today from the very short and personal letter that Paul wrote to Philemon?
- The influence of Paul’s personal letter not based on his apostolic authority or Roman legality but on the love of Christ and friendship.
Ver. 1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, …To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker”
“The beginning of the letter is unusual. Paul usually identifies himself as Paul an apostle; but on this occasion he is writing as a friend to a friend and the official title is dropped. He is not writing as Paul the apostle but as Paul the prisoner of Christ. Here at the very beginning Paul lays aside all appeal to authority and makes his appeal to sympathy and to love alone.”
- The love of Christ is expressed and experienced by others by a Christian’s many different expressions of generosity. This is what Paul remembers about Philemon.
Vers. 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.
“Obviously Christian generosity was a characteristic of Philemon; he had love to God’s people and in his home, they were rested and refreshed. And now Paul is going to ask the generous man to be more generous yet. There is a great thought here, if this interpretation is correct. It means that we learn about Christ by giving to others. It means that by emptying ourselves we are filled with Christ. It means that to be open-handed and generous-hearted is the surest way to learn more and more of the wealth of Christ. The man who knows most of Christ is not the intellectual scholar, not even the saint who spends his days in prayer, but the man who moves in loving generosity amongst his fellow-men.”
- A request asked of a friend, with the love of Christ in humility by Paul, an old man who is in prison.
Vers. 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 —
“Paul, being Paul, could have demanded what he wished from Philemon, but he will only humbly request. A gift must be given freely and with good-will; if it is coerced it is no gift at all.”
“For in this letter Paul is appealing all the time, not to any office he holds or to any authority he enjoys, but only to love. It is not the ambassador who is speaking, but the man who has lived hard and is now lonely and tired.”
- Paul, the spiritual father, making an appeal for his spiritual child, Onesimus.
Ver. 10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains.
“Paul calls Onesimus the child whom he has begotten in his bonds. To lead a man to Jesus Christ is as great a thing as to bring him into the world. Happy is the parent who brings his child into life and who then leads him into life eternal; for then he will be his child twice over.”
- Before we had Christ in our lives, we had little value from the world’s perspective. Receiving Christ as our Savor, we are of greater value to God.
Ver. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
“It is significant to note that Paul claims that in Christ the useless person has been made useful. The last thing Christianity is designed to produce is vague, inefficient people; it produces people who are of use and can do a job better than they ever could if they did not know Christ. It was said of someone that “he was so heavenly-minded that he was no earthly use.” True Christianity makes a man heavenly-minded and useful upon earth at one and the same time.”
- Doing the right thing in love and with respect in spite of the possible consequences.
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.
“Then comes the appeal. Paul would have liked to keep Onesimus but he sends him back to Philemon, for he will do nothing without his consent. Here again is a significant thing. Christianity is not out to help a man escape his past and run away from it; it is out to enable him face his past and rise above it. Onesimus had run away. Well, then, he must go back, face up to the consequences of what he did, accept them and rise above them. Christianity is never escape; it is always conquest.”
- All are equal in Christ Jesus.
- Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Vers. 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.
“But Onesimus returns with a difference. He went away as a heathen slave; he comes back as a brother in Christ. It is going to be hard for Philemon to regard a runaway slave as a brother; but that is exactly what Paul demands. “If you agree,” says Paul, “that I am your partner in the work of Christ and that Onesimus is my son in the faith, you must receive him as you would receive myself.”
- Forgiveness and asking forgiveness are the proof of character and the evidence of Christ in us.
- Matthew 6:14-15, 14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Ver. 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.
“Here again is something very significant. The Christian must always welcome back the man who has made a mistake (sinned). Too often we regard the man who has taken the wrong turning with suspicion and show that we are never prepared to trust him again. We believe that God can forgive him but we, ourselves, find it too difficult. When a man has made a mistake (sins), the way back can be very hard, and God cannot readily forgive the man who, in his self-righteousness or lack of sympathy, makes it harder.
- Paul, the spiritual father, personally taking the responsibility of the debt owed by his spiritual son, Onesimus.
- Romans 13:8, Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. New Living Translation
Ver. 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.
- Because of who Christ is in our lives, our acts of love should always supersede the expectations of others.
Ver. 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
“This is typical of Paul’s dealings with people. It was his rule always to expect the best from others; he never really doubted that Philemon would grant his request. It is a good rule. To expect the best from others is often to be more than half-way to getting it; if we make it clear that we expect little, we will probably get just that.”
- The optimism of what other Christians will do is not blind faith, but it is the knowledge of the character of Christ and anticipation of the faith of Christ in them to express itself in every opportunity.
22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
“Even in prison Paul believes it possible that through the prayers of his friend’s freedom may come again.”
The Bishop Of Ephesus
Let us move on about fifty years. Ignatius, one of the great Christian martyrs, is being taken to execution from Antioch to Rome. As he goes, he writes letters–which still survive–to the Churches of Asia Minor. He stops at Smyrna and writes to the Church at Ephesus, and in the first chapter of that letter, he has much to say about their wonderful bishop. And what is the bishop’s name? It is Onesimus; and Ignatius makes exactly the same pun as Paul made–he is Onesimus by name and Onesimus by nature, the profitable one to Christ. It may well be that the runaway slave had become with the passing years the great bishop of Ephesus.
Pastor John
