Philemon 1:1-7

Philemon 1

1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:

3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

4I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6I 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. 7Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.



Dig Deeper

One year, while coaching high school basketball, I had a student who had transferred in to our school to be our point guard. He was a very talented point guard who had some difficulty in getting along with students and teachers in his previous school. In particular, he had really caused some problems with the basketball coach at the previous school. He had transferred in to play basketball at our school and I had spent a lot of time early in the year, mentoring him and helping to learn how to deal with disagreements and get along with people. Here’s where it gets interesting. I had also brought in a new assistant coach that the players had not yet met. You guessed it, it was the same guy who had been his head coach the previous year. This coach really liked what we were doing at our school and wanted to be a part of it. He had bought into our system and ideology and would now partner with us in implementing it. What would come next, though, had to happen; it wasn’t something that I could protect or shield either person from. The two had to reconcile. The player needed to demonstrate that he was really learning how to behave in a different way, and the coach needed to show that he really was a partner in what we were doing by putting in the past the old problems and truly forgiving this young man. Only if that happened, would both guys show that they grasped the unity and family environment we were trying to create on this team.

Onesimus (pronounced Owneesimus) had been a slave in Colosse, owned by Philemon. This was such a common part of Roman society that no one even stopped to consider that there might be something morally wrong with it. It was just part of the culture. Because it was so vital to the economy and way of life, it was a capital offense for a slave to run away. Onesimus, whose name interestingly meant "useful," had become anything but useful to Philemon. He had run away to Ephesus (it is speculation that he ran to Ephesus and some experts believe differently, but it is most likely that this is where Paul was when he wrote Colossians, and Philemon, and thus, the city to which Onesimus ran). Evidently, while he was in Ephesus, Onesimus had met Paul. It is possible that he had heard such positive things about Paul from Philemon and his family, that he actually sought Paul out. However it happened, it is clear that Onesimus had become a Christian. He heard the gospel and was deeply effected by it, to the point that he laid down his own life and entered into the Messiah’s. Not only had he learned about being a Christian from Paul, he had acted upon his Christianity, becoming a great source of comfort and joy to Paul. Now, though, Paul is writing this letter because it is time for reconciliation. If God’s people are going to be engaged in the ministry of reconciliation for the whole world (2 Cor. 5:17-19), they certainly must demonstrate how to be reconciled to one another. Paul cannot protect or shield them from what must come next. Onesimus must go back to Colosse and demonstrate that his new-found faith is genuine, while Philemon must demonstrate that he really was Paul’s partner in the gospel and had taken this way of life seriously.

Paul knows that what he is going to write Philemon about is going to be extremely challenging in its counter-cultural nature. He knows, as he will state explicitly in verse 8, that he could simply order Philemon to treat his run-away slave, Onesimus, as a brother in Christ, but that would run counter to the very sort of thing that Paul has been trying to teach the young Christians in Colosse and elsewhere. Paul doesn’t want them to view Christianity as a bunch of spiritual rules that must be followed without any real thinking or discernment on their part. So, although, he could, as an apostle and leader in Christ’s church, order Philemon into action, he will not. Rather, he appeals to him as a dear friend and fellow worker, a term which literally meant "partner" or even "business partner." This view of Philemon is, in a very real sense, the key to this entire brief letter. In Paul’s eyes, Philemon was a partner in the work of the gospel, not some subordinate. As partners, they share the common bond of the life of Christ and the responsibility to call one another to live it out, even under the most difficult of circumstances.

Although this is usually seen as a personal letter, and it no doubt was in a sense, Paul, along with the witness of Timothy, addresses the church that met in the home of Philemon, indicating that this may have been a matter of interest for the entire group and not just Philemon. Thus, although this was a personal letter, Paul may have intended for the fact that it would be read publicly as well. He certainly sends personal greetings to Apphia, who very likely was Philemon’s wife, and Archippus, who some scholars think may have been Philemon’s son, although that is speculative and cannot be proven absolutely, but it is likely that he was part of Philemon’s household in some form. Whatever, the case, Paul wishes the two great gifts of the Christian life, grace and peace.

To further strengthen the already strong bonds between Paul and Philemon, he reassures Philemon of the deep feelings he has about the partnership in the gospel that they share. Paul prays consistently for Philemon and the other believers in Colosse, a sure sign of their partnership. Paul doesn’t just pray, though, he actively seeks to get word of how things in Colosse are going, and everything he has heard has been encouraging. He knows that Philemon has been a faithful partner and leader by displaying his faith in the Lord Jesus and his love for all the saints. In fact, Philemon’s work has brought Paul great joy and encouragement. Paul doesn’t specifically state what actions Philemon has taken as he refreshed the hearts of the saints. He seems, instead, much more concerned with the heart behind Philemon’s actions than the actions themselves.

Paul singles out one thing in particular that he prays for when it comes to Philemon and the others. The NIV’s, "that you may be active in sharing your faith," is somewhat misleading. Paul is not talking specifically about evangelism here. The TNIV (the newer version of the NIV) has fixed this misleading rendering: "I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. " With this better translation we see that Paul is referring to the corporate life of Christ to which all Christians share. His prayer is that Philemon and the other Christians don’t take the community of the life of Christ for granted, but that they would take hold of it. He doesn’t want them to miss out on anything, but wants them to to live out the life of Christ, sharing it with all those around them and coming to a full understanding of every good thing we share. Certainly, this act of living out the life of Christ amongst others will have the effect of proclaiming the gospel to non-believers but Paul is not calling them to an afternoon of inviting people to church; he wants them to live lives that are characterized by doing God’s will at every turn.



Devotional Thought

In the face of a tricky situation that could turn quite difficult quickly, Paul was able to appeal to their partnership in living the life of Christ? To what do you appeal when you face tricky situations with other believers? Do you share your lives of faith with one another to the point that you could appeal to one another as fellow partners in the faith and gospel?