Philemon

While not the shortest text in the NT, Philemon is Paul’s shortest letter.  For that reason alone, I like it!

In terms of the social-historical background: it seems that Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, ran away (as slaves were sometime wont to do) and met up with Paul, who led him to Christ.  Paul then sent Onesimus (with this letter) back to his master, Philemon—as the Roman law required.  But Paul makes an appeal to Philemon: that he should treat Onesimus lovingly and not according to the rigour of the Roman law.  Paul wrote this letter from prison, either from Rome (thus dating it to the early 60s), or from Ephesus or Colossae (dating it to the late 50s).

The basic structure of the letter is as follows: the opening (vv. 1-3), an expression of thanksgiving and confidence (vv.4-9), an appeal for Onesimus (vv. 10-20), and closing remarks (vv. 21-25).  So, let’s follow the flow of Paul’s thought . . .

In his opening salutation, while the letter takes its name from the lead recipient (Philemon), Paul actually addresses 3 people: Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus (as well as the members of their house church).  Paul begins the body of this letter by offering a prayer of thanksgiving for Philemon (Phil 4-7).  Paul is thankful for Philemon’s love for and faith in Jesus, and he’s thankful that his love and faith in Jesus are expressed by his love for all the believers; he then prays that the generosity of his faith might become even more active through the knowledge of the blessings Christ offers believers.

Now we know that Paul is going to make an appeal for Onesimus’s freedom (vv. 10-14).  But before he makes his actual appeal, he “softens” Philemon up for his request.  How does he do this?  Look carefully at vv. 4-9.   Paul has acknowledged Philemon’s great love for all believers; he has prayed that this love for others would become especially active/effective; he has acknowledged how Philemon has refreshed other believers; he appeals to him in love not apostolic authority; Paul acknowledges his own agedness (i.e., he’s nearing the “end of the line”); he expresses his confidence that Philemon will do what he asks him.  And oh yeah, remember the salutation?  The letter is addressed to 2 other people (and their house church).  In other words, Paul let’s everyone in one the request he’s about to make of Philemon.  Talk about pressure!

Now to Paul’s plea for Onesimus’s emancipation (Phil 10-14): Paul grounds his appeal in 4 factors.  1^st, Onesimus’s newfound usefulness to Paul: Paul tells Philemon of his slave’s usefulness to him in prison. Paul has led him to Christ, and he has now proven himself to be extremely dear to Paul (Phil 10-14).  2^nd, divine providence: Paul suggests that maybe Onesimus’s running away was ultimately part of God’s plan to convert him to Christ (Phil 14-16).  Question: Can you think of a time/situation in your life where God turned a negative into a definite positive? 3^rd, Paul’s relationship with Philemon: he acknowledges that they have a close relationship, and that Philemon owes his own conversion—like Onesimus—to Paul (Phil 17-19).  4^th, Philemon’s love-ministry to other believers (v. 16, 20): Onesimus is now a believer—hence, an eligible recipient for Philemon’s love-ministry; moreover, Philemon can now minister to Paul in this way—that is, if he grants him this one request.  In his closing remarks, Paul offers a final expression of his confidence in Philemon to do the right thing (Phil 21).  Question: In the end, do you think Philemon granted Onesimus his freedom?

Paul has often been misunderstood on the issue of slavery.  Numerous people (e.g., Christian slave owners of yesteryear and other pro-slavery proponents) argue that Paul never spoke out against slavery.  In fact, in a couple of instances where he addresses this institution he seems to condone it (e.g., Eph 6; Col 3).  This implies (they argue) that he was pro-slavery—otherwise, if Paul was against slavery why did he not explicitly speak out against it?  This is a hard question, but let me try to address it in brief.  1^st, this letter clearly shows Paul’s heart in the matter: he believed a slave should be granted his freedom—otherwise, why else would he say what he said?  2^nd, while slavery was not the ideal, the emancipation of slaves was probably not a priority for Paul b/c it wasn’t crucial for the proclamation of the gospel or for the establishment of churches.  And 3^rd, Paul probably believed that this was Jesus’ call: in other words, when Jesus returned he would be the one to overturn all evil institutions and establish his kingdom.

That’s it for the letters of Paul.  Now we move to the explicitly non-Pauline letters of the NT.