Philemon 17-25
Notes
Transcript
vv 17-19)
vv 17-19)
[17] This is such a beautiful verse… Paul request is both startling both in its boldness and in its tenderness. Basically says, “If i am your partner in the gospel, then treat Onesimus like you would treat me.”
Does the bold and tender statement remind you of something else?
It is a powerful statement because Paul stood beside a guilty man and said to the owner of the salve, “I know this man is a criminal and deserves punishment. Yet this slave is my friend, so if you punish him punish me also. I stand beside him to take his punishment.”
This is reminiscent of the Savior’s statement: Matthew 10:40
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Family God has accepted us in the Person of His Son, that we are as near and dear to God as Christ is.
[18] Paul doesn’t state that Onesimus had stolen anything from his master, but this verse suggests such a possibility. Certainly theft was one of the main sins of slaves.
Paul is more than willing to accept responsibility for any loss that Philemon might have sustained. Recognizing the restitution should be made. The conversion Onesimus did not cancel his debts to man. So Paul tell Philemon to put that on his account.
we cannot read this without being reminded of the enormous debt which we had contracted as sinners, and of how it was all charged to the account of the Lord Jesus at the cross.
Jesus paid the debt in full when he died as our Substitute. We are also reminded here of Christ’s ministry as our Advocate. This is one of the main things we have been studying through on Sundays pertaining to the priesthood of Christ.
When Satan, the accuser of the family of God, bringing charges against us for wrongs we have done, our blessed Lord says in effect, “Charge that to My account.”
The doctrine of reconciliation is illustrated in this book. Onesimus had been estranged from Philemon because of wrongdoing. And through Paul’s prison ministry the distance and enmity were removed.
The salve was reconciled to his master. So we were estranged from God because of our sin. but through the death and resurrection of Christ, the cause of enmity has been removed and believers are reconciled to God.
[19] Ordinarily Paul dictated his Letter to someone else, writing only the closing lines with his own hand. We can’t be sure whether he wrote this entire Letter by hand, but at this point at least he took the pen and, in his familiar scrawl, committed himself to pay any debts incurred by Onesimus. He would do this in spite of the fact that Philemon owed him a considerable debt.
Paul had led him to the Lord. He owed his spiritual life to the apostle. But Paul would not press him for payment of the debt.
“Here we see how Paul lays himself out for poor Onesimus, and with all his means pleads his cause with his master, and so sets himself as if he were Onesimus, and had himself done wrong to Philemon. Even as Christ did for us with God the Father, thus also does Paul for Onesimus with Philemon. We are all his Onesimi, to my thinking.–Luther
vv 20-22)
vv 20-22)
[20] Addressing Philemon as brother, the older Paul asks only for some benefit in the Lord, some refreshment in Christ. Pleading that Onesimus be received graciously, and that he be forgiven and restored to his place of service in the household—not now as a slave but as a brother in Christ.
The the root word for the name “Onesimus” is this word benefit in my translation or in others “joy.” This is a not so subtle request to have Onesimus come back to him.
“Refresh my heart” remember earlier in the letter, Paul said that Philemon was a man who refreshed the heart of the saints: Philemon 7
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.
Now, Paul is asking for that same display of love to be lavished upon him.
[21] Paul’s letter, full of appeal, was also full of hope. Philemon was not a bad or harsh man. Paul had ever reason to expect that he would fulfill his Christian duty and do even more.
32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
[22] Verse 22 shows us the close relationship between Paul and Philemon. Paul knew that hospitality always waited for him at Philemon’s home.
Paul also wanted Philemon to pray, and he didn’t think the prayers were mere formality.
Do we treat prayers in that way?
vv 23-24)
vv 23-24)
Epaphras may have the one who planted the assembly in Colosse:
7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. 13 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.
Now a fellow prisoner with Paul in Rome, he joins in sending greetings to Philemon.
With Paul at this time were Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. These names are also mention in Colossians 4:10
10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him),
14 Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.
This tells us that Colossians and Philemon were written together and to the same place.
Mark: proved to be a faithful servant of the Lord after his early failure:
11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
13 Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
Aristarchus: a believer from Thessalonica, accompanied Paul on several journeys including the trip to Rome.
Demas: later forsook Paul, having love this present world: 2 Timothy 4:10
10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
Luke: the beloved doctor, proved to be a faithful companion and helper to the end: 2 Timothy 4:11
11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
v 25)
v 25)
The Letter closes with Paul’s characteristic benediction.
We see some enduring principles from Paul’s letter to Philemon.
Paul never called for an overthrow of the system of slavery, yet the principles in the letter to Philemon destroy slavery. The great social changes come when people are changed, one heart at a time. In our society, racism and our low regard of the unborn cannot be eliminated by laws; a change of heart must occur.
Onesimus was obligated to return to his master. When we do something wrong , we must do our best to set it right. Being made a new creation in Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
doesn’t end our responsibility to make restitution; it increases our obligation, even when restitution is difficult.
Onesimus was morally responsible for his wrongs. The letter to Philemon demonstrates that we are not primarily directed by economics, despite the ideas of Marxists and modern liberals. Whether rich or poor, we are to be directed by the Spirit of God, not our economic status.
“No part of the NT more clearly demonstrates integrated Christian thinking and living. It offers a blend, utterly characteristic of Paul, of love, wisdom, humor, gentleness, tact, and above all Christian and human maturity.”–Wright
Amen The conclusion of the letter can lead us to ask, “why is the letter to Philemon in our Bibles?” In a.d. 110, the bishop of Ephesus was named Onesimus, and it could have been this same man. If Onesimus was in his late teens or early twenties when Paul wrote this letter, he would then be about 70 years old. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, makes mentions of Onesimus, as pastor of Ephesus, after Timothy.
It is said that he was stoned to death at Rome.