Theopedia

Epistle to Philemon

“For perhaps he was for this reason parted from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother.”

— Philemon 15-16

Overview

Philemon is the shortest and most personal of Paul’s letters, a single chapter written to an individual believer rather than to a church.1 Paul sent it, along with the letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians, during the same imprisonment; all three were carried by the same messengers, Tychicus and Onesimus, the runaway slave whose case the letter takes up.1 Though brief, it is a genuine epistle of Paul, not a private note appended to his other correspondence: his direct, personal appeal for the reconciliation of a master and the slave who had wronged him.

Author and Date

The letter names Paul as its author (Philem. 1) and was written during one of his imprisonments, alongside Colossians and Ephesians, with which it shares its occasion, its messengers, and much of its list of greetings.1 Which imprisonment produced the letter, Paul’s Roman custody or his earlier detention at Caesarea, cannot be settled with certainty; the common opinion has long favored Rome, placing the letter in the early 60s.2

Historical and Literary Context

Onesimus belonged to Philemon, a believer at Colossae whose house hosted a congregation (Philem. 1-2). At some point Onesimus fled, apparently after wronging or robbing his master (Philem. 18), and in the course of his flight was thrown into the same prison as Paul, where Paul became the instrument of his conversion.3 Paul calls him “my child, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment” (Philem. 10), the same language he uses elsewhere for those he brought to faith. Once converted, Onesimus became useful to Paul in prison (Philem. 11, 13), but Paul chose to send him back to Philemon rather than keep him, attaching this letter as a personal appeal that Philemon receive him well.

Structure

The letter follows the pattern of a short, single-purpose appeal rather than a doctrinal treatise:

  • Greeting (1-3): Paul, with Timothy, to Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and the church in Philemon’s house.
  • Thanksgiving (4-7): Paul gives thanks for Philemon’s love and faith and for the refreshment his love has brought to other believers.
  • Appeal for Onesimus (8-20): Paul asks Philemon, on the ground of love rather than by command, to receive Onesimus back “no longer as a slave” but “as a beloved brother” (Philem. 16), and offers to cover personally whatever debt or wrong Onesimus caused.
  • Closing (21-25): Paul expresses confidence in Philemon’s obedience, requests lodging for a future visit, and sends final greetings.

Major Themes

The gospel reorders a social relationship without simply abolishing it by decree. Paul does not order Philemon to free Onesimus outright; he asks him to receive his slave back “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother” (Philem. 16). Ken Magnuson identifies this as the clearest New Testament instance of the gospel’s practical effect on slave and master alike: slave and free stand equal in Christ (Gal. 3:28), and “the impact of this is seen in Philemon, where Paul encourages Philemon to receive his servant Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, and not merely as a bondservant.”4 Magnuson notes that the New Testament authors do not reject slavery outright, “perhaps because of the various types of slavery and the good standing that many slaves had within their household,” even while requiring masters to treat their slaves well and condemning the slave trade (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:10).5

Paul’s offer to settle Onesimus’s debt pictures the imputation at the heart of the gospel he preached. Paul writes, “if he has wronged you or owes you anything, charge that to my account” (Philem. 18), and confirms it with his own signature: “I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it” (Philem. 19). John Gill takes this exchange as a plain illustration of forensic imputation, one person’s debt legally reckoned to and answered for by another, apart from any change in the debtor’s own character: “an instance of this we have in the apostle Paul, who said to Philemon, concerning Onesimus, ‘If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account.’”6 Gill draws the same scene out further as a picture of Christ’s own suretyship: “just as when the apostle Paul became a surety for Onesimus; supposing him accepted as such by Philemon, Onesimus was set free; the apostle taking the whole debt and wrong upon himself, and promising to repay and make satisfaction.”7 As Paul assumed Onesimus’s debt so that Philemon might receive him freely, Christ assumed his people’s debt so that the Father might receive them as righteous.

Christian love expresses itself in a concrete, costly action, not merely in warm sentiment toward a fellow believer. Paul commends Philemon’s love and faith “toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints” (Philem. 5) before asking him to extend that same love to Onesimus in a specific, practical way: welcoming back, and forgiving, a slave who had wronged him. The appeal itself, resting on love rather than apostolic command (Philem. 8-9, 14), models the same pattern the letter commends: reconciliation carried out voluntarily, as an act of love, rather than merely complied with under authority.

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References

  1. Elijah Porter Barrows, Companion to the Bible (New York: American Tract Society, 1867), 462: “These three epistles are contemporaneous, in the sense that they were written on the same general occasion, and forwarded at the same time… They were all written when Paul was a prisoner… and all sent virtually by Tychicus; for Onesimus, a servant whom Paul sent back to his master, Philemon of Colosse, with a commendatory letter, went in company with Tychicus.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Barrows, 463: “It is agreed that these three epistles were written during the apostle’s imprisonment in either Cesarea or Rome; but from which of these two places is a question on which biblical scholars differ… though the common opinion has been that the apostle wrote from Rome.” ↩

  3. John Gill, A Body of Doctrinal Divinity; or, A System of Evangelical Truths, Deduced from the Sacred Scriptures, 2 vols. (London: Printed for the Author, and Sold by George Keith, 1769), book III, chap. 4, “Of the Providence of God”: “Very remarkable and uncommon was the conversion of Onesimus, a fugitive servant, who ran away from his master, was taken up and cast into the same prison where the apostle Paul was, by whom he was begotten in his bonds, through the ministry of the gospel to him.” ↩

  4. Ken Magnuson, “16. Race Relations,” in Invitation to Christian Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2020): “Most significantly, and radically, slaves and freemen are equal in standing before God and in receiving the gospel (Gal. 3:28). The impact of this is seen in Philemon, where Paul encourages Philemon to receive his servant Onesimus back as a brother in Christ, and not merely as a bondservant (v. 16).” ↩

  5. Magnuson, “16. Race Relations”: “The New Testament authors do not reject slavery outright, perhaps because of the various types of slavery and the good standing that many slaves had within their household. Yet masters are required to treat their slaves well and not threaten them (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1), and kidnapping and the slave trade are condemned (1 Tim. 1:10).” ↩

  6. Gill, book III, chap. 10, “Of the Imputation of Adam’s Sin to All His Posterity”: “An instance of this we have in the apostle Paul, who said to Philemon, concerning Onesimus; ‘If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee anything,’ ellogei, ‘let it be imputed to me,’ or placed to and put on my account.” ↩

  7. Gill, book II, chap. 12, “Of Christ the Surety of the Covenant”: “Just as when the apostle Paul became a surety for Onesimus; supposing him accepted as such by Philemon, Onesimus was set free; the apostle taking the whole debt and wrong upon himself, and promising to repay and make satisfaction, and which he wrote and signed with his own hand.” ↩