Sermon Tone Analysis

Teaching Notes

Outline

Philemon 1-3 - Greetings

Philemon 1 - Author

Philemon 1-2 - Recipients

Philemon 3 - Grace & Peace

Philemon 4-7 - Philemon’s Character

Philemon 4-5 - Philemon’s Character

Philemon 6 - Paul’s Prayer

Philemon 7 - Saints Refreshed

Philemon 8-16 - Paul’s Request

Philemon 8-12 - Paul’s Appeal

Philemon 13-14 - Paul’s Vision for Onesimus’ Future

Philemon 15-16 - Slave to Beloved Brother

Purpose of Philemon

Paul wrote Philemon requesting a transformed relationship between him and Onesimus

Main point of Philemon 8-16

Paul appeals (not commands) to Philemon to consider Onesimus a beloved brother not simply a slave

Philemon 8-12 - Paul’s Appeal

This statement could simply be summarizing this subsection, but since it is a restatement after the reference to Onesimus, it includes Onesimus as one of Paul’s emissaries.

If so, the honorable status of Onesimus is implicitly asserted, a move that may have been intended to influence the audience in their perception and eventual reception of Onesimus.

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required

Accordingly

Conjunction connecting thoughts

Paul begins with the Greek conjunction dio (“accordingly”), indicating that the strength of the relationship between Philemon and Paul just described is the foundation for how he is going to address this potentially awkward situation.

Bold enough in Christ

1. boldness — the trait of being willing to undertake activities that involve risk or danger; especially that involve being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech.

To command you

1. to order — to give instructions to or direct somebody to do something with authority.

Required

1. to be proper — to be or become marked by suitability, rightness, or appropriateness.

Yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you

Love’s sake

Prefer to appeal

③ to make a strong request for someth., request, implore, entreat

— I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus —

Prisoner

I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.

The name Onesimus is the 145th word of the 335 Greek words in the letter, meaning that 43 percent of Paul’s letter has been spent setting up the situation before even getting to the point of mentioning the name of the person he is supporting.

Appeal to you

③ to make a strong request for someth., request, implore, entreat

My Child

ⓑ of a spiritual child in relation to master, apostle, or teacher

Onesimus

Name means “useful”

Father I became

ⓑ by exercising the role of a parental figure,

(Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Formerly

Useless to you

pert. to not serving any beneficial purpose

Useful to you and to me

pert.

to being helpful or beneficial, useful, serviceable

I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

Sending him back

Sending my very heart

1. compassion ⇔ bowels — a deeply felt compassion; characteristic of the psychological feature understood as the bowels.

Philemon 13-14 - Paul’s Vision for Onesimus’ Future

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,

Glad to keep him

① to desire to have or experience someth., with implication of planning accordingly, wish, want, desire

Serve me

1. to serve (minister) — to attend to the wants and needs of others.

On your behalf

Paul is letting it be known that Onesimus’s assistance was deemed by Paul to be attributable to Philemon himself.

It was a popular view that a servant could represent his master, standing in the master’s stead.

In accordance with this view, Paul suggests that whatever assistance Onesimus had provided Paul in the service of the gospel was, in a sense, an extension of Philemon himself.

Even without knowing it, Philemon had been benefiting from Onesimus’s association with Paul.

The implication is that the same would be true if Philemon agreed to return Onesimus (whether freed or otherwise) to Paul once again—a request that Paul does not make explicitly but strongly hints at.

For the Gospel

1. gospel of Jesus — good news concerning the now present instantiation of Jesus’ divine dominion and way of salvation by His death and resurrection.

But I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord.

I preferred

1. to desire — to feel or have a desire for; want strongly.

Consent

1. agreement — harmony of people’s opinions, actions, or characters.

Goodness

1. good (moral concept) — moral excellence or admirableness.

Compulsion

1. necessity — the state of being absolutely required.

Own accord

pert to doing someth. of one’s own volition

Philemon 15-16 - Slave to Beloved Brother

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while,

Perhaps

Parted from you

2. to be separated (state) — to be or become a distance away from something else and thus not associated.

That you might have him back forever,

Have him back forever

No longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother

Bondservant

① male slave as an entity in a socioeconomic context, slave

1. slave — a person who is legally owned by someone else and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by their master.

Beloved brother

② pert.

to one who is dearly loved, dear, beloved, prized, valued

3. believer ⇔ brother — a male (believer) understood as one’s own sibling in God’s family; sometimes used of any sibling (regardless of gender) in God’s family.

On three occasions prior to verse 16, Paul has made use of the root word adelph- (i.e., “brother” or “sister”), using it to refer to Timothy (v.

1), Apphia (v. 2), and Philemon (v.