Philemon/ Hebrews Bible Class
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Session 12: Philemon, Hebrews
PHILEMON: EVERYTHING CHANGES WHEN SOMEONE BECOMES A FOLLOWER OF JESUS
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1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and 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 when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 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. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I 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.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want 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 say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
1 This letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the Good News about Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
I am writing to Philemon, our beloved co-worker,
Philemon seems like a strange letter to include in the Bible. It is a letter from Paul to a leader in a local church (almost certainly Colossae), and it deals with very personal matters. Paul does not address false teaching or what church life should look like, as he does in his personal letters to Timothy and Titus. Instead, he addresses the issue of a runaway slave.
Philemon had every right to expect justice from Onesimus, who had wronged him; but something important had happened that changed everything. Onesimus ran away and became a follower of Jesus Christ. That made him Philemon’s brother in Christ! “Slave-master” no longer fully defined their relationship. In fact, there is a question concerning whether Paul intended it to continue to define their relationship at all. (The question of whether or not Paul was subtly asking Philemon to give Onesimus—his new brother in the Lord—his freedom must be read in light of passages like .) Whatever the case, Paul is clearly asking Philemon to “deny himself” by casting aside his rights to justice and instead treating his slave as a brother.
LONG COURSE: Philemon and Colossians
Although it has no bearing on how we understand the message of the letter, it is worth noting that the letters to Philemon and the Colossians are closely related. Eight of the ten people mentioned in Philemon are also mentioned in Colossians (Timothy, Archippus, Onesimus, Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke).What does this tell us? It makes it likelythat the letters were written and delivered to the same general group of people at about the same time. Philemon likely worshiped in one of the house churcheslocated in Colossae or nearby.
Imagine- Philemon receiving this letter.
Onesimus shows up. Walking down the road to the house.
And Philemon maybe hasnt hear the story of the returning prodigal son yet!!
He is angry and ready to bring down justice. And Onesimus cowers and says, Master…I know I deserve punishment. I now I deserve wrath. I know what you do to run away slaves.
But please before you do anything to me, please read this letter.
1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and 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 when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 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. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I 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.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want 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 say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
NOTE TO TEACHER: You may choose to read through the entire letter or simply summarize what the letter is about. The course on interpreting the Bible will take a closer look at this letter.
Discipleship in Philemon
This short letter has some very important things to teach us about the nature of the Body of Christ, the nature of the gospel, and the nature of discipleship. Although we may not live in a country where slavery is part of our experience, we do live in a land where “fighting for our rights” is expected. This little letter from Paul to Philemon reminds us that the gospel changes everything. Those who have committed wrongs against us can quickly go from being enemies to being a brother or sister in Christ. When that happens, we should be quick to lay aside our rights or our pursuit of justice and praise God that someone else has found the grace of God rather than facing his justice. This little letter beautifully illustrates Paul’s words in : “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.” The things that matter in the world, the things that determine our relative status in society, have no place in the Body of Christ. We all have equal access to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. And within the family of God everyone is to be treated as family.
to being a brother or sister in Christ. When that happens, we should be quick to lay aside our rights or our pursuit of justice and praise God that someone else has found the grace of God rather than facing his justice. This little letter beautifully illustrates Paul’s words in : “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.” The things that matter in the world, the things that determine our relative status in society, have no place in the Body of Christ. We all have equal access to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. And within the family of God everyone is to be treated as family.
Onesimus shows up. Walking down the road to the house.
And Philemon maybe hasnt hear the story of the returning prodigal son yet!!
He is angry and ready to bring down justice. And Onesimus cowers and says, Master…I know I deserve punishment. I now I deserve wrath. I know what you do to run away slaves.
But please before you do anything to me, please read this letter.
Reading through. The rainbow of emotions that he must have gone through.
And you would imagine that the it might hurt, but Philemon, being a man of God, having had the gospel at work in his own life, seeing the gospel at work in his family, in his community, in the people of the church tt met in his house.
You would imagine that he would say to Onesimus.
Onesimus,.....all is forgiven. Go inside, wash up, get some food, sleep, head back into the fields tomorrow. It’s like it never happened.
And maybe Apphia or Archipus (or both) are reading over his shoulder and they say.....um.....honey or dad?
Thats not what Pal said....he said here “receive him as you would receive me.”
If Paul came,....would we tell him to wash up get a good sleep and head out into the fields in the morning?
And Onesimus would say of course we wouldn’t I’d give him the best room the best food!
Paul is like family!!
And I can imagine that the truth of hit him pretty hard.
Reflection and Response
1. Is there anyone in your life, perhaps in your church, that you view in light of their worldly status rather than in light of their status as a brother or sister in Christ?
2. Can you think of times in your life when you have put your desire for personal justice above treating someone as a member of the family of God?
HEBREWS: DON’T ABANDON THE NEW AND BETTER COVENANT
Assignment: Read Paul’s letter to Philemon. What does this letter teach you about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Read with a least one other believer. Identify at least three features of genuine faith from this chapter. Then, discuss ways that you can practically integrate at least one of those features of genuine faith into your daily life.