Philemon: 4-16
When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.
Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.
Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
To recap where we are: This summer we are looking at seven letters, found in the New Testament, and written by St. Paul to various communities and, in today’s case, one individual person. Although there are thirteen letters all together, and biblical literalists claim all thirteen, these seven are accepted by most modern bible scholars as legitimately Pauline. The remaining six are seen as having been written by disciples or followers of Paul, using his name to give themselves legitimacy. Or as outright fakes written by those who want to use the authority of Paul’s name to push their own agendas.
The supposedly Pauline letters appear in most bible translations in no particular historical sequence, but are ordered simply by size - longest to shortest, beginning with Romans and ending with Philemon. We are, instead, using the order proposed by Marcus Borg, and others, based on the chronological order in which, as best we can tell, the letters were actually written. This doesn’t necessarily coincide with the historical record of Paul’s visits to various towns, but instead shows us when an issue arose that Paul felt important enough to answer in letter form.
It also shows us the development of the written record of what would become Christian dogma. These seven letters we are reading this summer are, in fact, the first and for a long time, the only written history of what would become Christianity – being written well before any of the four gospels.
[We must also remember, these are the letters that survived and made it through history far enough to be copied and replicated and handed down through the centuries. We simply have no idea how many other gospels and letters were written that vanished before they could be disseminated throughout the church.]
So far this summer we have studied 1st Thessalonians, Galatians, and most recently, 1st Corinthians. That puts us, today, in the middle of the seven letters.
So – to Philemon, the only one of the seven written to an individual rather than a community. It is only the shortest. It doesn’t even have chapter divisions – it is simply The Letter to Philemon.
It is also one of the trickiest of the letters – especially given our current political climate in which it appears many people would just as soon reduce certain others to the status of slaves once again.
Philemon was a slave-owner. Onesimus was a slave. They have a history between them, but, because this is written as a letter and never meant to be an historical document, Paul is frustratingly vague as to the exact nature of that history. It appears that Philemon once owned Onesimus and for many long years it was assumed by the church at large that Onesimus was a runaway and that Paul was, in fact, returning Philemon’s property to him. If one starts from that assumption then the bible clearly endorses – or at least, allows -- the institution of slavery -- endorses and supports, not simply recognizing it as historical fact.
But Paul’s letter also makes it clear that both these men have been converted as believers and followers of Christ – and that Paul expects them both to act as such. Onesimus is expected to freely return to the man who once “owned” him and Philemon is expected to receive him as a brother – not as a possession. One of Paul’s across-the-board beliefs is that once we have been touched by Christ – however we see that happening – once we begin following the Way of God’s reign on earth – (we have very many different ways of saying this thing) -- once we have been “converted,” we are different people than we were before it happened. We cannot live as is nothing has changed.
Paul reminds Philemon that neither he nor Onesimus is the same person they once were, and then he uses his famous rhetorical skills to put gentle pressure on both men to achieve his desired end. He emphasizes, rather heavily, the good deeds that each man has done since becoming Jesus followers, referring to each as “my son,” and “my brother,” and recalls how helpful they have each been to Paul and to many others around them since they had turned to the Way of Jesus.
There are still so many unanswered questions here. We know Paul was in prison when this was written (Paul’s says so in the letter). Because it was a Roman prison, people have long assumed the letter was written from Rome, but there were Roman prisons all around the empire – and many scholars today believe this particular prison was in Ephesus, not Rome.
Also, prison then was a different prospect than the prisons we know of today. Onesimus appears to have been free to serve Paul in some capacity during Paul's imprisonment, perhaps coming and going, taking care of Paul's physical needs, perhaps acting as Paul's voice in the outside world. However, Paul is confident that he can "send" Onesimus to Philemon, and Onesimus will go.
We also don’t know how this story ends. Did Philemon free Onesimus as Paul expected? Did he do it, but unwillingly, because of Paul’s pressure, or might he have truly done it in love, because of his own conversion?
As interesting side factoid that may apply to this story. There was in later years, a bishop in Ephesus named Onesimus. There is no proof, but these two stories have been associated in the local folklore for centuries.
However the story worked out, Paul’s message is clear, even though some have chosen to misunderstand it. Those who live a life in Christ do not own each other, except in love.
In his lifetime, Jesus had crashed through the rules and standards of the prevailing culture whenever those standards stood in the way of God’s love. As we learned when studying 1st Corinthians, Paul firmly believes there is one virtue, one value above all others - and that virtue is love. Paul insists here that nothing changes, even in a relationship between slave and owner. Those who are part of the new reign of God live by new standards, and those standards have one law – love.
When next we meet – in two weeks -- we will turn to Philippians – Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, Macedonia.
The supposedly Pauline letters appear in most bible translations in no particular historical sequence, but are ordered simply by size - longest to shortest, beginning with Romans and ending with Philemon. We are, instead, using the order proposed by Marcus Borg, and others, based on the chronological order in which, as best we can tell, the letters were actually written. This doesn’t necessarily coincide with the historical record of Paul’s visits to various towns, but instead shows us when an issue arose that Paul felt important enough to answer in letter form.
It also shows us the development of the written record of what would become Christian dogma. These seven letters we are reading this summer are, in fact, the first and for a long time, the only written history of what would become Christianity – being written well before any of the four gospels.
[We must also remember, these are the letters that survived and made it through history far enough to be copied and replicated and handed down through the centuries. We simply have no idea how many other gospels and letters were written that vanished before they could be disseminated throughout the church.]
So far this summer we have studied 1st Thessalonians, Galatians, and most recently, 1st Corinthians. That puts us, today, in the middle of the seven letters.
So – to Philemon, the only one of the seven written to an individual rather than a community. It is only the shortest. It doesn’t even have chapter divisions – it is simply The Letter to Philemon.
It is also one of the trickiest of the letters – especially given our current political climate in which it appears many people would just as soon reduce certain others to the status of slaves once again.
Philemon was a slave-owner. Onesimus was a slave. They have a history between them, but, because this is written as a letter and never meant to be an historical document, Paul is frustratingly vague as to the exact nature of that history. It appears that Philemon once owned Onesimus and for many long years it was assumed by the church at large that Onesimus was a runaway and that Paul was, in fact, returning Philemon’s property to him. If one starts from that assumption then the bible clearly endorses – or at least, allows -- the institution of slavery -- endorses and supports, not simply recognizing it as historical fact.
But Paul’s letter also makes it clear that both these men have been converted as believers and followers of Christ – and that Paul expects them both to act as such. Onesimus is expected to freely return to the man who once “owned” him and Philemon is expected to receive him as a brother – not as a possession. One of Paul’s across-the-board beliefs is that once we have been touched by Christ – however we see that happening – once we begin following the Way of God’s reign on earth – (we have very many different ways of saying this thing) -- once we have been “converted,” we are different people than we were before it happened. We cannot live as is nothing has changed.
Paul reminds Philemon that neither he nor Onesimus is the same person they once were, and then he uses his famous rhetorical skills to put gentle pressure on both men to achieve his desired end. He emphasizes, rather heavily, the good deeds that each man has done since becoming Jesus followers, referring to each as “my son,” and “my brother,” and recalls how helpful they have each been to Paul and to many others around them since they had turned to the Way of Jesus.
There are still so many unanswered questions here. We know Paul was in prison when this was written (Paul’s says so in the letter). Because it was a Roman prison, people have long assumed the letter was written from Rome, but there were Roman prisons all around the empire – and many scholars today believe this particular prison was in Ephesus, not Rome.
Also, prison then was a different prospect than the prisons we know of today. Onesimus appears to have been free to serve Paul in some capacity during Paul's imprisonment, perhaps coming and going, taking care of Paul's physical needs, perhaps acting as Paul's voice in the outside world. However, Paul is confident that he can "send" Onesimus to Philemon, and Onesimus will go.
We also don’t know how this story ends. Did Philemon free Onesimus as Paul expected? Did he do it, but unwillingly, because of Paul’s pressure, or might he have truly done it in love, because of his own conversion?
As interesting side factoid that may apply to this story. There was in later years, a bishop in Ephesus named Onesimus. There is no proof, but these two stories have been associated in the local folklore for centuries.
However the story worked out, Paul’s message is clear, even though some have chosen to misunderstand it. Those who live a life in Christ do not own each other, except in love.
In his lifetime, Jesus had crashed through the rules and standards of the prevailing culture whenever those standards stood in the way of God’s love. As we learned when studying 1st Corinthians, Paul firmly believes there is one virtue, one value above all others - and that virtue is love. Paul insists here that nothing changes, even in a relationship between slave and owner. Those who are part of the new reign of God live by new standards, and those standards have one law – love.
When next we meet – in two weeks -- we will turn to Philippians – Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi, Macedonia.
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