Sermon Tone Analysis

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal.

3:27-28).

[You] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all (Col.

3:10-11).

There is neither slave nor free.

What does this statement mean?

I think we often misread these verses, and I think, for the first time, I understand why.

When Paul writes “there is neither slave nor free,” I think we read him as though he said “there is neither slave nor master.”

We then get caught up in taking this as evidence that Paul really thought the institution of slavery was evil, and certainly Christians shouldn’t ideally be engaged in it in any way.

(I do think that these statements make that implication, but it wasn’t even close to Paul’s point in these verses.)

Was Paul saying that no human being, or at least no Christian, should be a slave, or should be treated as a slave?

If he was, we’d have to also conclude that he’s saying no human being, or at least no Christian, should be free.

“There is neither slave nor free.”

I’m not sure that makes any sense.

So, what do these verses mean?

Well, let’s pull Paul’s own explanations front and center.

In Gal.

3:28, after he says “there is neither slave nor free,” he says “for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Slave and free are one in Christ.

Slave and free are united together as they are united to Christ.

In Col. 3:11, after he says “there is not...slave, free,” he says “but Christ is all, and in all.”

A few weeks ago, Pastor Barry unpacked this verse beautifully for us, and he showed how Paul is painting a picture of the new humanity that God is creating, and Paul is saying that what formerly might have divided us—things like ethnicity or social status—no longer should divide us.

Instead, “Christ is all,” meaning Christ is the determiner of our relationships; Christ is the one who maintains our unity and prevents these “old humanity” distinctions from actually dividing those who are in Christ.

Most of you know I have a tattoo on my arm.

Many of you have asked me what it means; it is two Greek words taken right out of Col. 3:11: Χριστός πάντα, which translates to “Christ is all.”

I don’t recall anyone here asking me why I got this tattoo, so I’ll take this opportunity to tell you!

After graduating from LeTourneau and just before deciding to continue my studies at Wheaton College, I was emboldened by my best friend to get a tattoo, and my wife offered to let that be my graduation present from her.

Why did I want a tattoo?

(And this is not an encouragement to anyone to go out and get one!)

I wanted a permanent reminder of the permanent change God had accomplished in me.

Why did I choose these two words from Col. 3:11?

I wanted a reminder of what’s most important; I saw this verse as a call to identify myself as a Christian and to have Christ alone dictate how I view people.

It reminds me to pursue unity with every Christian I engage, regardless of what differences or disagreements we may have.

Paul’s shortest letter, addressed, it seems, to a Christian slaveholder named Philemon helps us see how Paul expected Col. 3:11 to be lived out in a particular relationship.

As we unpack the message of this letter, I think we’ll be able to see how each of the individuals in this story have been radically transformed by the gospel.

The letter can be broken down into four basic sections:

1. Paul’s greeting to Philemon and the Colossian church (vv.

1-3)

2. Paul’s thanksgiving and prayer for God’s work in Philemon (vv.

4-7)

3. Paul’s appeal to Philemon concerning Onesimus (vv.

8-20)

4. Paul’s concluding expectations and greetings (vv.

21-25)

So, let’s see what God has for us in this letter.

In verse 1, Paul introduces himself as “a prisoner for Christ Jesus.”

Normally, in his letters he introduces himself as an apostle, an authoritative spokesman for God, but here we’ll see that Paul wants to appeal to Philemon in a way that doesn’t directly exercise his authority over him.

He also mentions “Timothy our brother,” and calling Timothy “brother” actually sets the stage for the way this letter unfolds; the whole letter works under the assumption that Christians are brothers and sisters in the household of God, and that reality governs the way we ought to relate to each other.

Paul addresses the letter primarily to Philemon “our beloved fellow worker,” but notice that the letter is also addressed to “Apphia our sister,” and to “Archippus our fellow soldier,” and to “the church in your house.”

So, while we can say that this is a personal letter from Paul to Philemon, it is not considered to be a private matter.

Indeed, we might say that this issue concerning Philemon and Onesimus is “family business.”

Archippus was mentioned at the end of Colossians, as was Onesimus and several folks Paul greets at the end of this letter to Philemon, so we are on solid ground in concluding that the church Paul refers to in verse 1 is the assembly of believers in Colossae who meet together in Philemon’s house.

The address to the whole church helps us see that Paul intends for this “personal letter” to be read at the public gathering of the believers.

In verse 3, he offers his usual blessing, asking God to grant them grace and peace.

In English we can’t see that the “you” in verse 3 is plural; beginning in verse 4 and going all the way down to verse 21, however, all of the verbs and all of the pronouns referring to the addressee will be singular.

“God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” together are the only true source of grace for Christians, and Paul wants the Colossian Christians to experience God’s grace, and he particularly wants Philemon to experience God’s grace and then express that grace toward Onesimus.

“God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” have also provided peace for Christians, peace with God that should also transfer into peace between Christians.

In fact, it’s peace that Paul is pleading for between Philemon and Onesimus, peace that can only come because of their relationship with God as Father and Jesus as Lord.

Moving into his direct concern for Philemon specifically, Paul expresses his gratitude to God every time he prays for Philemon.

Verse 5 tells why Paul thanks God: because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.

The way the ESV words this, it sounds like he is thanking God because Philemon has love for Jesus and faith in Jesus, and also love for all the saints and faith in all the saints.

However, this is an occasion where translating literally and following the word order of the Greek is confusing and misleading in English.

A Greek reader would recognize that Paul intends for love to go with “all the saints” and faith to go with “the Lord Jesus.”

The NIV makes this most clear: because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

But, the shape of the sentence in Greek is actually important, as he puts love for all of God’s people centered around faith in Jesus, as you can see illustrated on the screen.

Thus, we might say that faith is the hub or the center out of which love for God’s people flows.

In verses 6 and 7, Paul will mention faith and love again, as he highlights what he continually prays for Philemon.

But, before we move there, notice two things about this thanksgiving in verses 4 and 5. First, notice that he thanks God because of Philemon’s faith in Jesus and love for God’s people.

I think that rightly implies that God is the one who should get the credit for Philemon’s faith in Jesus and for his love for God’s people.

At first glance, we might take this as a commendation for Philemon, and I suppose it is, but it is primarily drawing attention to the source of Philemon’s faith and love.

Second, notice that Paul has heard about Philemon’s faith and love.

Who did he hear it from?

Two specific possibilities present themselves; Paul had used almost this precise language back in Col. 1:4: since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, and there he was talking about the whole Colossian church which he heard about from Epaphras, the one who had preached the gospel to them at first (Col.

1:7-8).

So, it’s possible that Paul also heard specifically about Philemon’s faith and love from Epaphras.

In our study of Colossians, we noted how Paul had never met these Christians in Colossae; does that mean that Paul had never met Philemon?

We’ll come back to that question in a few minutes, but it’s at least possible that he had not, in fact, met Philemon.

The second possibility is that Paul heard about Philemon’s faith and love from Onesimus.

Paul hasn’t yet mentioned Onesimus, but we will discover that he is Philemon’s slave who has somehow come into contact with Paul.

We’ll talk more about that in just a few minutes as well, but, for now, we can hold out the possibility that Onesimus has been commending Philemon as a faithful Christian master, a faithful Christian slaveholder.

The question Paul’s already moving toward, however, is: since God has enabled you to express such love for “all the saints,” how then should you express love toward your slave Onesimus?

In verse 6, Paul begins telling Philemon what he’s been praying for, and “this verse is universally recognized as the most difficult in Philemon.”

The ESV says, and 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.

To illustrate the main ways this verse can be understood, on the screen you’ll see the ESV rendering that I just read along with the NIV rendering of this verse, which says, 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.

The most significant difficulty is the underlined phrase.

The Greek word translated “sharing” in the ESV and “partnership” in the NIV is koinōnia, a word that usually is translated “fellowship.”

Now, in English, we often speak of “sharing our faith,” and we are usually talking about telling people who don’t know Jesus about Jesus, or telling other people what we believe about Jesus.

So, this verse is sometimes used to inform our praying for Christian outreach events and personal evangelism.

However, I think the NIV has it right in this case.

Later, in Philemon 17, Paul is going to refer to himself as Philemon’s “partner,” and the Greek word is koinonos.

A koinonos is one who engages in koinōnia with another person or group of people.

Paul’s definitely concerned to highlight his partnership with Philemon in this letter.

One commentator puts it like this: “The faith that Christians share produces a fellowship, or participation with one another, that Paul is praying might become effective in Philemon’s case.”

Paul’s praying that their partnership or their fellowship that is produced by their common faith in Jesus may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.

The word for knowledge here probably indicates an experiential knowledge, so that Paul is asking God to cause their partnership to enable Philemon and Paul together to experience every good thing God has for them, and we’ll see a little later that Paul has a particular “good thing” that he wants to happen.

And don’t miss that he wants all this for Christ’s sake, not simply for Philemon’s benefit.

Paul explains, in verse 7, why he is praying for Philemon this way: For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Notice three things.

First, Paul has experienced joy and comfort or encouragement, even while he is in prison, because of the report of Philemon’s love for all the saints.

Second, see that Paul experienced this joy and comfort or encouragement “because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.”

The word translated “hearts” is translated as “bowels” in the KJV, and this is literally what Paul refers to.

He’ll use this phrase again in verse 20, and it becomes a very important part of his appeal.

We tend to translate the word as “heart,” because in our culture today “heart” communicates the idea of the seat of the emotions, the place where deep feeling and impulses come from.

We speak of loving someone from the bottom of our hearts.

Well, the Greeks would have spoken of loving someone with their guts or bowels.