The owner of the slave *ONESIMUS and almost certainly a resident of Colossae (*PHILEMON, EPISTLE TO, for other views). Though Paul had not himself visited Colossae (Col. 2:1), Philemon was apparently converted through him (Phm. 19) and had been a colleague (the normal meaning of ‘fellow-worker’, Phm. 1, RSV)—both, perhaps, in Ephesus, the provincial capital (cf. Acts 19:31). The argument of J. Knox (who applies Phm. 19 to Archippus), that Paul would regard the work of any of his associates as his own, is hardly borne out by Col. 1:7f., which he cites, nor is Phm. 5 (‘hear of your love’) incompatible with past acquaintance.
