Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Philemon | Date: October 11, 2020 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Introduction to Philemon

If you’ll take your Bibles and turn with me to Paul’s brief letter to Philemon, sometimes referred to as Paul’s postcard. I mentioned last time that in conjunction with our new series on Colossians in Sunday school, I would take this morning to look at the companion letter, Paul’s letter to Philemon. We’ll try to make our way through the entire letter. It’s just 25 verses. We’ll hope to do that.

Let’s read through the entire letter. You follow along as I read:

“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the church that is in your house. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I’m sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 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. But I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own free will. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you yet for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it, to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I’m hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we thank you for this letter. It comes from so long ago and into, very obviously in this case, a culture so very different from ours, and yet you have it for us, obviously for good purpose. May we profit from it this morning; instruct our hearts, give us an understanding of how the gospel ought to influence our thinking and our relationships with one another. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Background and Circumstances

As I mentioned last Sunday morning in the Sunday School Hour, for those of you who were there, the background and circumstances of this letter are found in conjunction with studying Paul’s letter to the Colossians. And one of the difficulties we have in looking at this—although God in his wisdom has given us sufficient in the letter itself to know what’s going on—is that there are some details that we just are not aware of. We call it mirror reading. We’re reading one end of the correspondence. The recipients of the letter would obviously read into it more than what we are aware of, but looking at it from our standpoint now with Paul’s letter, we can pick up a few of the important details.

Paul is a prisoner in Rome. We find that in verse 1, again verse 9, also in verse 13. This is one of his four what are called “prison epistles.” Philemon, he mentions as the recipient in verse 1; he’s a prominent member of the Church of Colossae, and in fact the church meets in his house. Onesimus—we have to keep these players in mind here—we have Paul in prison. We have Philemon, a prominent member of the Church of Colossae. The church meets in his house. Onesimus now evidently was Philemon’s slave. It doesn’t quite say that, but the implication, I think, is clear enough, and that has been the understanding for centuries. There’s just not a better guess to say it. It seems to handle all of the details.

And this Onesimus, Philemon’s slave, has been separated from Philemon for a time. He, according to verse 18, has wronged him in some way. And verse 11, he had become useless to him. Evidently, he was a runaway, a runaway slave. Perhaps there was some other offense involved as well, according to verse 18, when Paul offers to repay it. So Onesimus now, the runaway slave, is with Paul in Rome, and now he’s converted. And Paul now is sending him back to Philemon with this letter, writing on behalf of Onesimus, verse 10, appealing to Philemon to welcome him back, verses 15 to 17, and wanting them to be reconciled. That’s the long and short of the letter.

Now, there are some unanswered questions with regard to details around the letter. Why did Onesimus go to Paul in the first place? It is a long way away, something like a thousand miles. And in those days, that’s quite long. So why did he go to Paul? Is he seeking intervention? Is he wanting him to settle the dispute? Is he seeking out Paul for refuge? We’re not told exactly. Another question here is how did he get to Paul? That’s a long way to go. You’ve got land travel. You’ve got probably two sea voyages to get there. How did he get there? One guess is that Epaphras took him there. We know that Epaphras is there from Colossae with Paul as well. Perhaps he did.

Whatever the occasion, and whatever the details, that’s the general occasion of the letter. Onesimus has legal as well as moral obligation to go back to Philemon. And Paul is sending him back for just that. And Paul also writes on his behalf concerning the relationship of Philemon and Onesimus. And he’s requesting that Philemon welcome Onesimus back. And as he says in verse 21, even more than that. So you can only imagine, just on a human level, to see this as it played out. I mentioned it last Sunday, and in Sunday school you can just see with all of this bad history behind Philemon and Onesimus. One day Philemon gets this knock at the door and there’s Onesimus standing there. And you can imagine Philemon is not real happy with Onesimus at this point. And Onesimus is probably saying something like, “Wait, before you say anything, please read this letter.” That seems to be, then, the atmosphere of what’s going on.

Now in this letter we have verses 1 to 7, introductory matters, his greeting and so on. Verses 8 to 20, we have the body of the letter, and here Paul will build his case for his appeal to Philemon, and then some closing remarks in verses 21 to 25.

Introductory Matters

We’ve got a lot of ground to cover then. Verses one to three: here we have Paul’s greetings, a greeting to Philemon. Philemon is, as I’ve mentioned, a wealthy, evidently prominent member of the church there. Apphia, probably his wife; Archippus, probably his son; and the church that meets in their house. Now, what’s striking here, first of all, is that Paul does not present himself in his letter to Philemon as an apostle. That’s his normal practice. There are some other exceptions, but that’s his normal practice—to present himself as an apostle. But he doesn’t do that here. Although many details in the letter smack with the ring of apostolic authority, and Paul even makes a point of that at some points, instead he’s addressing him as a fellow worker.

That term, “fellow worker,” is a word that Paul uses often in his letters to refer to those who are associated with him in his gospel ministry. It’s a term of affection; it’s also a term of respect; and he’s appealing to Philemon now as a fellow worker of his in the gospel ministry. And in verses eight and following, we’ll find that he wants to make his appeal based on considerations other than Paul’s apostleship. He’ll make his appeal based on gospel considerations. He’ll make his appeal based on their fellowship in gospel ministry and so on. And in fact, it’s written not just to Philemon, but we find in verse two, it’s also written to the church—the church that meets in his house. So here we have a personal letter from Paul to Philemon about a personal situation, and yet Paul expects this letter to be read to the congregation as well. And what he’s doing then is instructing not just Philemon, but the entire congregation, how the gospel is intended to have impact on relationships.

So we come to verses four to seven: “I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective in the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 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 verse six, notice the expression; he prays “that the sharing of your faith may become effective.” That word “sharing” there is an important word. Paul will come back to it again later in the letter. It’s that famous word that many of you, I’m sure, have heard in the Greek even. It’s been made a lot of in popular Christian circles. It’s koinonia—the sharing, the fellowship, the sharing. It has to do, it’s really in some respects and in some context, a little difficult to translate. We don’t have an exact equivalent. It has to do with a partnership and things that you have in common. “Sharing” is a very good translation in that respect. It has to do with a togetherness that’s based on considerations that you share in common. And so “fellowshiping” is another translation—something that you share in common, a relationship that’s characterized by sharing things in common, or a togetherness that’s grounded in considerations that are of mutual interest. In this case, it’s the faith. It’s an important word for Paul. It’s an important word for the apostle John as well. They share their faith together.

And so he says here, he’s praying that the sharing of your faith will become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. So we want the faith that Christians share, that you and I share together and participate in together, to be effective in your ministry in this regard as well. Now verses 5 to 7 then, he says, “I hear of this with regard to others. The hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” And now he prays that that fellowship would become effective in this case in particular. So he’s setting the context then for the appeal that comes now beginning in verse 8.

The Body of the Letter

Verses eight to 20, we have the body of his letter. He’s making an appeal now on behalf of Onesimus. He doesn’t actually get to the appeal until we get to verse 17, actually. But verses eight through 17, he’s building his case. It’s a carefully, very carefully, very diplomatically constructed argument, building his case for the appeal that he wants to make for Onesimus.

So verses, let’s look at verses 8 to 11: “Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.”

So verse 10, “I appeal to you for Onesimus.” Now we know the subject of the letter. Onesimus is standing there handing the letter to Philemon probably, so I imagine Philemon is catching on anyway. But Paul is eager in verse 10 to tell Philemon that Onesimus is now a believer. “He’s become my child. I became his father in my imprisonment.” How did Onesimus become to be there in prison with Paul? Don’t know. It’s not likely that Onesimus was arrested and imprisoned. One, Paul sends him back; obviously, he’s not a prisoner. Two, Paul at this time is in a hired house, not in a common dungeon where a runaway slave would be. But he’s with Paul somehow. Perhaps Epaphras has taken him there, and during his stay with Paul there, through Paul’s witness, Onesimus has come to Christ.

And he says then in verses 8 and 9, “I could just require this of you, pull rank, but I love you too much to do that, so I’m just going to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man, and a prisoner of the gospel, for which you share real interests.” Well, the net effect is the same. Whether Paul orders him or not, the gospel responsibility is becoming clear for Philemon.

And then verse 11 has some wonderful puns. Onesimus, his name means “useful.” And so Paul says, “He was formerly useless to you, but now indeed useful to you and to me.” A wonderful pun. He hasn’t lived up to his name, but now he is. He is indeed useful. There may be some other puns going on in here as well with the Greek that some have suggested, but at least this much is clear: Useful has left you, Useful has become useless, and now Useful is useful again for me and for you.

And then verses 12 to 14, Paul begins to express his own feelings about Onesimus and his motives in returning him: “I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 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. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord.”

So verse 12, “I’m sending my very heart.” Actually, the Greek term here is not heart, but it’s your entrails, your inner being. That was their word for what we say “heart.” “I love you with bowels of affection,” the old expression. It’s best to translate it “heart.” But he is emphasizing it’s a term that is used to express his deepest affections. Evidently, Onesimus has served Paul in prison in a wonderful way. And in becoming a Christian, a believer himself, and in serving Paul in the prison, chained to his guard in his hired house, evidently, Onesimus has just won Paul’s heart and won his affections. And Paul says, “I’m sending him back. I’m sending my very heart to you.”

Verse 13, “What I actually would have preferred was to keep him with me.” And notice how he says it: “In order that he might serve me on your behalf.” No doubt you’d want him to do that, right? Hint, hint. And that, he says, verse 13, “during my imprisonment for the gospel.” Onesimus’ service to Paul was actually a gospel service. In serving Paul, he had served to the advance of the gospel. And so he lays all this on Philemon right up front. It is just packed with appeal. “I’d prefer to do that. I’m sending you my very heart. I’d rather keep him, but I know you would rather, too, that he serves me.” So verse 14, “No, no, no, I wouldn’t do that without your consent. That wouldn’t be good for you. I send him back to you, even though, understand, it’s very painful for me to send him back.”

And with all of that in the background, then verses 15 to 17, Paul finally gets to the heart of his request: “For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever. No longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me as your partner, receive him as you would receive me.”

Verse 15, Paul asks Philemon to view the situation from the standpoint of divine providence. This wasn’t a happy thing that he’s run away, he’s wronged you, but let’s look at it from the big picture. God had a purpose in that as well. Yes, he has run away from you for a time, but God has a purpose, and that purpose is now you can have him back, not just for a time, but you can have him forever. And then the twist, verse 16: “No longer as a slave, but as a brother.”

Well, if Philemon hadn’t caught on before this point, the penny is surely dropping here. Okay, I see what Paul is coming after. Now, if you will, keep your hand here. We’ll be right back. But look back a few pages to the book of Colossians. Remember the companion letter. And notice what Paul writes to the Colossians as a congregation in regard to the relationships of slaves and masters. Remember at the very end of Colossians chapter four and into Colossians chapter three and then the beginning of chapter four, he gives specific duties. But look at verse 11, Colossians 3:11. Here there is not Greek—that is, in this church, in Christ—there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. But Christ is all and in all.

Those old distinctions, he says, they don’t matter here. They no longer apply here. Rich, poor, slave, master, circumcised, uncircumcised, black, white, cultured, uncultured. Those distinctions don’t apply here. In Christ, we’re all in Christ. The master-slave relationship in Paul’s society was by no means an equal relationship. Philemon and Onesimus were by no means socially equal. But notice that Paul is leveling the field. In verse 16, receive him no longer as a servant, but more than a servant; receive him as a beloved brother. In fact, he’s a beloved brother, and notice how Paul says it: “especially to me. No, no, no, no, wait. Even more so to you, a brother.” And not just in the flesh, but in the Lord. There’s some tight relationship now that’s been established because of Christ. In fact, verse 17, Onesimus is a partner in the gospel. “If you receive me or consider me as a partner in the gospel, consider him one as well.”

Now again, we have this koinonia word here, “partner.” Here’s a different form of the noun, but here it is again. How to translate it? A “partner,” I guess, is the best way. That’s a little bit cold. “Partner” sounds like a business relationship. “Friend” would be a little too warm, probably, and it implies affection, and that’s not really the point either. A fellowshipper, a sharer. If you consider me a fellowshipper or sharer in the gospel, consider him one as well. We have something in common, that’s the basis of our togetherness, and that thing that we have in common is faith in Christ. It is Christ we have in common. So if you consider me a fellowshipper, a partner, a sharer in the gospel, recognize Onesimus as one also. Receive him as you would receive me.

And so finally, Paul has gotten to the point of his letter. Stated plainly: welcome him back, not as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a brother. So Paul has leveled the field indeed. Now he hasn’t quite, hasn’t quite asked Philemon to free Onesimus. Not quite. But he does expect and direct Philemon to recognize Onesimus—that because of Christ, their relationship has been fundamentally changed.

As I said earlier, it’s, I think, just moving to imagine the moment Onesimus arrives with this letter from Paul. Philemon begins to read it. Keep in mind, in those days, there’s no such thing as silent reading. Nobody thought of that yet. So he’s reading aloud this letter from Paul about Onesimus, reading it back to Onesimus, who’s probably standing there listening.

Now that raises a question, and I’m just going to mention it for a second here. What does all this tell us about Paul’s view of slavery? In fact, during the days of the old South in the United States, this letter was appealed to by the South and slave owners saying, “See, Paul didn’t abolish slavery and he didn’t command Philemon to free Onesimus.” And so this was used by the slave owners as defense of slavery.

A couple of considerations quickly. Number one, the slavery in view here, as I mentioned, I think a couple of weeks ago in Sunday school, is not the slavery of 18th century America. It was not race-based and it was not always so cruel. Most all slaves would have an expectation that at some point they would gain their freedom depending on the reasons for which they were a slave. Sometimes it could be very cruel, but that was not necessarily always the case. And in fact, Colossians 3, we will see in our Sunday school hour, Paul gives some commands to the slaves and how they are to conduct themselves in working for their masters. And he also gives commands to the master on how they are to treat their slaves equitably and justly as well.

But here, specifically, the appeal is to forgive Onesimus and to welcome him back, not as a slave, but as a brother. Now, once you’ve said all of that, along with it, by the way, the subtle hint—maybe not so subtle hint—that “I’d really like you to send him back to me,” this letter, as some have said it (I think the best way), creates an atmosphere in which the institution of slavery could not but wither and die. And in fact, this letter of Philemon, though it was used in an attempted way by slave owners in the South in America, it played a huge role, massively influential in the Christian movement to abolish slavery. And I think once you capture the spirit of the letter, you cannot help but see that. What Paul is doing, he’s not writing about slavery. But what he says to the slave owner about the slave is a complete subversion of the societal structure in place in that day. And in fact, notice again verses 1 and 2. This is written to the church, not just to Philemon. Paul wants the entire congregation to hear this. This letter was not about slavery, but eventually it played its role in Christian hands to abolishing slavery.

Well, then we come to verses 18 to 20. And here Paul offers some further incentive to grant his request: “If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand.” There he’s verifying it. Not just a secretary, an amanuensis, writing this for him. “I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I’ll repay it. To say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.”

So Paul is reasoning with him. Not only will you have gained a brother forever, but you’ll have lost nothing in the process. I’ll pay it back. “If he’s wronged you in any way,” and note the language verse 18, “charge that to my account.” Now that of course is exactly the kind of language the Lord Jesus used in saving us. He came to us in our sin and he said in effect, “Charge that to my account. I’ll pay it. I’ll pay the penalty of their sin so that they can go free.” Now that’s not exactly what’s going on here because Paul’s a third party in the dispute. He’s not asking Philemon to absorb the cost himself and to pay it himself. So it’s not an exact equivalent. But a Christian at least just can’t read these kinds of words without hearing gospel overtones.

What Paul is doing is asking Philemon to apply the gospel to this relationship and this breached relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. He’s asking him to act in a way that’s in keeping with the gospel that he’s embraced. And that, of course, is one of the great lessons of this letter. Nothing can preserve relationships, nothing can heal broken relationships like the gospel rightly applied. Recognize that you’ve been forgiven. Recognize your obligation to forgive. Absorb the loss. Restore the relationship.

And Paul presses that further in verse 19. This must have been powerfully felt: “To say nothing of your owing me your own self.” Okay, Philemon, whatever Onesimus owes you, I’ll pay it. And I won’t even mention that if it weren’t for me, you’d still be lost. Thank you, Paul, for not mentioning that. That would be a little over the top. But I think in doing this, Paul’s pressing another point. He’s pressing Philemon to recognize that he himself has been forgiven a huge debt. And he’s asking him to respond accordingly to this one who has become indebted to him.

And that is exactly what the Lord Jesus says in Matthew chapter 18, the parable of the unforgiving servant. Recognize that you have been forgiven an enormous and incalculable debt. And recognize that having asked for and received forgiveness from God, you are implicitly obliged to be forgiving to others. To be otherwise would be a denial of who you are in Christ.

And so he says in verse 20, “Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.” A few observations here. One, he sets it up with “brother.” That’s not political posturing. He wants him to know his affection with him. And then once again, the pun: “Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord.” And here he uses the verb form of the name Onesimus. “Benefit,” “useful.” I want something beneficial from you. And then he says, “Refresh my heart in Christ.” And there’s that word again, those entrails, the inner beings, the deepest affections. “Refresh my affections in Christ.” That is, if you will do this, it will just mean the world to me.

Closing Remarks

And so we get through verse 20. Paul has finished his appeal to Philemon. Essentially it is: God has received Onesimus in grace; please receive him in grace yourself. And then verses 21 to 25, we have his closing remarks:

“Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I’m hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends his greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

Just a few things here. Paul, in verse 21, affirms his strong confidence in Philemon. He evidently sees him as a mature brother in Christ, one that he respects. And he said, “I’m sure you’re going to do what I ask. And in fact, it won’t surprise me at all. You’ll do even more than I ask.” That is, “I haven’t asked that you send him back, but I kind of think you will.” But it’s one of those situations where I think you’re sure that he’s going to do something, but you’ll really be glad when you hear that he actually has. And that’s the tone, I think, of verse 21. And there he leaves the matter.

Verse 24, the reference to Mark. John Mark, I think, might entail another subtle note of incentive. You remember Mark; he’s the one that abandoned Paul and his mission work at one point. There’s a rift, and now Mark is back with him. The rift has been healed.

Verse 25, Paul’s familiar benediction, appropriate here, if anywhere: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” To comply with Paul’s request, what Philemon needed was a fresh sense of the grace of God by which he himself has been forgiven, and what he needs also is enabling grace to forgive this one who has wronged him. And Paul very appropriately writes, “Let grace reign.”

Major Lessons

Now a few questions to wrap up. First, what was Paul asking for in this letter? Well, at the very least, he’s asking that Philemon and Onesimus be reconciled. But he’s pretty clearly asking for more than that. Not only pardon Onesimus, not only give him a Christian welcome, but implied: send him back, that he might minister to me on your behalf. He never says that quite outright. He wants Philemon to do it freely, but it seems obvious that’s what he’s after. Verse 13, “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.” Verse 14, Paul wants Philemon’s consent for what? Evidently to send him back.

Next question then: did Paul get what he asked for? Well, it seems he did. Verse 21, “I’m confident you’ll do even more than I ask.” And there might be another hint that Paul got what he asked for. And that is the simple fact that the letter was preserved. Philemon didn’t suppress it from the congregation. And here we have it still today.

Well, then that raises the next question. What came of Onesimus? The answer, first of all, is the New Testament doesn’t tell us. But there is strong tradition from church history that confirms that Philemon did, in fact, forgive Onesimus, sent him back to Paul in Rome, where he ministered to Paul and, in fact, later ministered to other apostles as well.

A few decades later, a prominent pastor from Antioch by the name of Ignatius—this is the year 108—he’s arrested for his faith. He’s taken to Rome for execution. Ignatius will be eventually thrown to the wild beasts, presumably in the Colosseum there in Rome. En route to Rome, Ignatius writes seven epistles, seven letters to various churches in this region. And he writes one to the church at Ephesus. And he mentions in that letter to the church at Ephesus, Ignatius mentions Onesimus had come to visit him.

Is that the Onesimus? Well, he mentions Onesimus and he describes him as “a man of inexpressible love and your bishop.” The Onesimus, now pastor in Ephesus. And in fact, in Ignatius’ letter, there are many allusions and echoes of Paul’s letter to Philemon. And there’s even that wordplay on “useful” and “useless” and “profitable.” Evidently it was the Onesimus who’s now then pastoring the church in Ephesus. And in fact, there’s more confirmation from church history, some traditions that Onesimus indeed became a minister of the gospel himself. He was active in various ways and in various places and finally became bishop then in Ephesus. Eventually he was arrested for his faith under the emperor Trajan, the year 109, and refusing to recant his faith, he was beaten and then finally stoned and beheaded.

Another question: how is this letter preserved? This is not Romans, after all. It’s not like it’s the most significant theological letter that Paul wrote. How did this little postcard get preserved? Well, some have argued that actually Luke, Paul’s companion, who Paul mentions here in verse 24—that Luke, Paul’s traveling companion, author of the Gospel of Luke, author of the Book of Acts—that being Paul’s traveling companion and sometimes perhaps even his amanuensis, his secretary, writing some of them for him and Paul signing them, perhaps he preserved copies of Paul’s letters. There’s some hint of that in the early church because we have the Gospel of Luke grouped with Acts and the letters of Paul. Luke, Acts, and Paul grouped together as a body of literature. Before they had the whole New Testament like you have, you find this bound copy of Luke, Acts, and Paul. Well, perhaps that was Luke.

Others have argued that the early collection of Paul’s epistles came decades later and from Ephesus—Ephesus, where Onesimus served as the pastor. And no doubt Ephesus had treasured this letter to Philemon as his, what, charter of liberty. Well, in any case, however it was preserved, clearly the letter was recognized as important for all of the church.

Last question then. What is the major lesson of this letter? What’s this letter really, what’s this letter all about? What’s the basic theme? Now you might think the basic theme is forgiveness. And certainly that’s huge. That is a huge theme throughout the letter here that he writes to Philemon. But I don’t think it quite gets to the bottom.

If we’re gonna get to the bottom of it, I think we have to point to this word “fellowship.” The sharing of faith. That’s what seems to be basic in Paul’s thinking. He mentions it in verse 17, “the partners in the gospel,” a relationship that’s built on common interests that are shared. Verse six, “the sharing of the gospel.” This is the foundation of Paul’s appeal. That’s a very important concept for Paul in the letter. Our fellowship that’s grounded in Christ, our mutual faith, our mutual salvation, and that in turn is what dictates forgiveness and reception of Philemon.

It has to do more with how we view one another in Christ. And in Christ, men and women of all walks of life are brought together from whatever kind of culture, whatever kind of background, whatever kind of ethnicity, whatever social level. None of those distinctions matter in Christ. Whatever differences among them, one consideration rises above them all and determines all the others, and that is we are together in Christ. So strong and so basic is that idea of our fellowship in Christ that it overcomes even breaches of relationship and offenses like this one on the part of Onesimus.

And so if one in our fellowship wrongs us, what do we want? “I’ll get him back”? If someone in our fellowship wrongs us, what we want above everything else is for that fellowship to be restored. Why? Because that’s just what the Lord Jesus has done for us. Paul, Philemon, Onesimus—they all had one thing in common, and that’s Christ and salvation in him. And whatever the past problems, whatever the offenses, all had embraced the gospel; all were seeking to advance the gospel. They were not only seeking to see it advanced in the lives of others, they wanted to see that gospel brought to bear on their own experience.

And I think that then is the theme of his letter to Philemon. And with that, although this is written about a rift between a slave and a slave owner so long ago in a culture that’s so different from ours, this brief little postcard is relevant to the church of every age. Together, we share in Christ’s lesson. Work that out in your relationships.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you for Christ, and we’re grateful for what we have in him. We’re thankful for the wonderful fellowship we have with one another in Christ. It is a treasured thing. We pray that you would preserve that among us. Help us, Lord, each to recognize that what we are and what we have in Christ matters supremely. May that be the consideration in our relationships with one another. We pray in Christ’s name and for his glory. Amen.