Onesimus: A Changed View

Introduction

Do we obsess too much over what kind of society we live in? Where does the thought originate that we must change our society (I know where this originates. It comes from a persistent thought within Christianity that human society must be improved to prepare the way for the coming of Christ - see Tom Holland’s recent book Dominion for confirmation) or protect our nation? I’m not talking about the obligations of citizenship. Rather, I speak of the place or role of being representatives of Jesus Christ in the world.

What would your concern be if you were in prison?

Would it be appealing to someone for action based on love?

Would you be concerned with how a slave owner received his slave?

Last week, we saw that Paul made his appeal in light of Philemon’s practice of love not based upon his authority as an apostle.

This imitates the love of God.

This follows Paul’s consistent pattern of writing.

A Bird’s Eye View: What we know so far

What do we know thus far?

A situation has developed that calls for a specific kind of action. What that is, Paul has not yet disclosed.

For the proper response to the situation, Paul has appealed to Philemon’s love. The situation, then, calls for love to be present and to form the foundation of other actions.

Notice from this point that love itself is not the end goal.

Paul isn’t going to call upon him to “show love” but to act where love is the foundation upon which other actions are based. Only when those actions are present can love be known.

Notice the repetition of “bowels.”

Philemon 7, 12, 20

Onesimus’ New Relations in Christ.

Paul refers to him as “my child.”

Paul’s uses of “my child.” He is particularly fond of it in the pastoral epistles where he uses it nine times. But there are others:

1 Cor 4:17

Gal 4:19

Notice the repetition of the relative pronoun “ON.” Paul repeats it three times to say of Onesimus:

“Whom I begat in my chains (Philemon 10).

“Whom I sent to you” (Philemon 12).

“Whom I am wanting to keep for myself” (Philemon 13).

Paul uses the language of “begetting” to follow up referring to Onesimus as “my child.” He could mean that Onesimus had become a believer during a meeting with Paul while the latter was under house arrest. To the Philippians, Paul made a point of saying that the gospel was not bound even though he was in chains. But, he could also have in mind the bond between them especially because that is how Paul seems to use this phrase in other places. This might suggest that he had spent some quality time with Onesimus, Philemon’s slave. But, the context also points to tension between the master and slave. Something had happened to cause Paul to describe Onesimus as “useless” to Philemon.

Paul plays upon the name “Onesimus” which itself means useful.

See the point in Philemon 11.

Most likely, he means that Philemon and he now see Onesimus in his fullness, not just as a useless slave. His rank and person has changed.

Thoughts - Overview

Because Paul refers to Philemon as “my bowels,” (Philemon 13) and he calls up on Philemon to “refresh my bowels in Christ” (Philemon 20), we get some kind of picture of a play on words. For example, Paul could be suggesting that he is worried (see Philemon 7) about how the master will treat the slave when he returns. Furthermore, Paul identifies or equates Onesimus with his bowels, which might suggest Onesimus, too, was worried what might happen once he returned to his owner. Paul shows more concern for how Philemon would act than he does for his own status as a prisoner.

Paul’s letter does not call for destroying the fabric of society. Instead, faith in Christ transcends the existing social order and can superimpose behavior that would be unexpected given that relationship. Are we the ones who struggle to appreciate society as it is? We see it as needing to improve. In Paul’s world, most everything was fixed. The goal was to keep everything stable.