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The Epistle to Philemon is a private letter written by the Apostle Paul. Along with the letter, Paul is sending Onesimus, a slave who ran away, back to Philemon. This letter appeals to Philemon to free Onesimus, but it speaks volumes to us today about how to live our daily lives.
Meet the principals
- Paul – also known as Saul – is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He wrote this letter during his first Roman imprisonment approximately 60-62 AD.
- Paul is sending Tychicus with this letter to Philemon plus the letters to the Ephesians and Colossians and the run-away slave, Onesimus.
- Philemon is a wealthy member of the church at Colossae who was came to believe in the gospel as a result of Paul’s preaching.
- As a slave, Onesimus belonged to Philemon. But he escaped to Rome where he met Paul and came to believe the gospel.
Passage
1:1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 7For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. 8Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you–I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus– 10I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) – Philemon 1:1-11 ESV
- Philemon 1:1-2 follow the typical formula for opening a letter at the time: Author, recipient(s), greeting, body of letter.
- Timothy is mentioned because he is with Paul and knows the recipients, but he is not a co-author.
- According to tradition, Appia was Philemon’s wife and Archippus either his son or one of the leaders of the Colossian church.
- Paul omits his claim to apostolic authority in the greeting because he does not intend to appeal to Philemon on that basis.
- Paul prays that Philemon’s faith would continue to make a difference in his choices as he faces the decision about how to treat Onesimus.
- Paul, as an apostle and Philemon’s spiritual father, could command Philemon to respond with mercy but he prefers that Philemon make the right choice of his own free will.
For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.
Next: 02 Philemon: How to be a hero, part 2
Series: Philemon
Study: Philemon Resources
Photo by Steven Libralon on Unsplash
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