"OVERVIEW OF PHILEMON"
Notes
Transcript
What do you know about the book of Philemon?
Background info -
Author – Paul
Date – 61 AD
Written from – Rome
Audience – Specifically Philemon (vs 1b - 2)
Did you notice that this letter, like the letter to the Colossians, is full of people? You can count twelve different people in the twenty-five verses of this brief letter. In addition to Paul, Philemon, and Jesus, you have Timothy, Apphia, Archippus, Onesimus, Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. Dever, M., & MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2005). The Message of Philemon: Forgiveness. In The message of the new testament: promises kept (p. 399). Crossway.
Theme – “From Bondage to Brotherhood in Christ”
This is the last of the prison epistles. (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon)
Philemon 1–25 (NASB95)
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker, 2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints;
6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,
11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel;
14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever,
16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me.
18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well). 20 Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. 22 At the same time also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you. 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Before we dive into the text we must gather some information about Philemon as well as Onesimus.
WHO IS PHILEMON?
WHO IS PHILEMON?
Thankfulness for Philemon – 4-7
4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; 6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Thankful for His Love - vs. 4-5
5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints;
Vs 5 - Love - Brotherly love
Thankful that you are showing brotherly love to the saints
Thankful for His Faith
“Faith”
the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G4102
Thankful that you have placed your faith in Christ alone
Read 6-7 – this is Paul’s prayer for Philemon
6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. 7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
Your Faith will be effective (active) for all the saints
That it will be contagious Paul says I have great gladness and encouragement b/c you show brotherly love to all the saints and as result of this the saints are being refreshed.
Philemon –
Resident of Colosse Firm Believer in Christ Probably held some office within the church Took part in sharing the Gospel He demonstrates brotherly love He lives out his faith in Christ He was a manger of at least one slave. [2]Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G3870
Now let’s talk about Onesimus -
Onesimus – Slave vs 18 (means “Profitable or useful”)
Onesimus – Slave vs 18 (means “Profitable or useful”)
Slave to Philemon - Owned by him (Philemon) Vs. 18 – indicates that he may have done something wrong
18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account;
Onesimus was a slave of Philemon. Philemon owned him and Onesimus owed him loyalty. At some point in time Onesimus ran away from his master.
There is some speculation as to why he ran away –
Some say that he ran away b/c he stole stuff, others say that he ran away because he was in a difficult situation and wanted to seek advice from Paul. (why would seek advice from Paul when your not a believer?)
I personally believe that Onesimus ran away b/c he did something that he should not have done and as a result of that he was fearful of what his master would do to him.
How do you think Philemon felt about Onesimus running away?
The Plead for forgiveness – 8-16
The Plead for forgiveness – 8-16
Philemon 8–16 (NASB95)
8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—
10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,
13 whom I wished to keep with me, so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.
15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
The Promise of faithfulness – 17-25
The Promise of faithfulness – 17-25
Philemon 17–25 (NASB95)
17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account; 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well).
20 Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. 22 At the same time also prepare me a lodging, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers. 25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Do you see how Onesimus went from bondage to brotherhood?
He started out as a slave, he then ran away, and then came to Salvation in Christ and returned back as a brother in Christ to Philemon.
SO WHAT??
How can we seek the forgiveness of others? Fundamentally, by recognizing our need for forgiveness from God. One modern author has written,
When you get what you want in your struggle for wealth
and the world makes you king for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
and see what that guy [or gal] has to say.
For it isn’t your father or mother or wife
who judgment upon you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
is the guy staring back from the glass. Dever, M., & MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2005). The Message of Philemon: Forgiveness. In The message of the new testament: promises kept (p. 408). Crossway.
Forgiveness – “Allowing room for error”
Are there people that you need to forgive?
Maybe they have done or said hateful things about you
Maybe they gossip about you
Maybe they just hate your guts
I ask you have you forgiven them?
Are there people that you need to ask forgiveness of?
Have you said hateful things about someone?
Are you gossiping about someone?
Have done evil against people?
I would like to leave you with this quote -
Martin Luther said, “All of us are Onesimuses!”