Kingpin Leadership Essence 오네시모
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Philemon was a devout Christian, a leader of the church in Colossae, and apparently a friend and companion of Paul. He, like many Christians of the time, owned slaves.2
One of his slaves, Onesimus, had run away, apparently after stealing from his master to finance his escape. He met Paul and was converted to Christianity, becoming an important helper and companion to Paul who, at the time, was in prison.3
Paul wrote Philemon an elegant letter of only twenty-five verses, in which he said that his relationship to Onesimus had become like that of father and son (Philem. 10). He besought Philemon to accept Onesimus back into his household, free him, and welcome him as a brother in Christ. He pointed out that he had the apostolic authority to order him to do so, but he preferred to let him do it of his own free will. An important theme of Paul’s theology was that the Christian should do what is right voluntarily, not because it is a rule or requirement (Philem. 14). In Greek, onesimos means “useful.” Paul played on the name when he wrote, “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me” (v. 11).
Paul sent Onesimus back to Colossae with Tychicus to deliver the epistle to the Colossians as well as his letter to Philemon. It is not known how the story ended, but it is reasonable to assume that Philemon heeded Paul’s request.
It is possible that this Onesimus may be the same as Onesimus the Bishop of Ephesus, who is praised by Ignatius of Antioch. If Onesimus were a boy or very young man when he fled to Paul, as is entirely reasonable, he would have been in his seventies when Ignatius wrote of him. Again, for a bishop with an extraordinary record of accomplishment, this would also be a reasonable age.