Paul’s experience under house arrest at Rome is well described by his frequent companion, Luke, in the last chapter of Acts (cf Phm 24). Paul had to pay his own expenses for the house while being allowed to receive guests and to teach them about Jesus, the Messiah. He wrote this letter to Philemon, who lived in Colossae, Asia Minor. One of Paul’s prison companions, Epaphras, was also from Colossae.
Historical and Cultural Setting
Epaphras was not Paul’s only visitor from Colossae; there was another visitor of quite another kind, a slave named Onesimus (ironically misnamed, as it turned out; Onesimus means “useful”). Onesimus had run away from his master Philemon, lining his pockets for the journey with his master’s goods, as was the usual practice of runaway slaves (Phm 18). Somehow he reached Rome, and somehow he came into contact with Paul. Paul converted him and grew very fond of the young slave who now earned the name “useful” in his ready service to Paul (v 11). He would gladly have kept Onesimus with him, and since the master, Philemon, was also a convert of his, he might have made bold to do so. But Paul honored all legitimate ties, including the tie which bound a slave to his master, as hallowed in Christ (Col 3:22; Eph 6:5). He therefore sent Onesimus back to Colossae with Tychicus, the bearer of his Letter to the Colossians (Col 4:7–9), and wrote a letter to Onesimus’s master in which he anticipated for the runaway a kindly and forgiving reception. We can measure the strength of the bond between the apostle and his converts by the confidence with which Paul makes his request, a request all the more remarkable in the light of the fact that captured runaways were usually very harshly dealt with. Paul goes even further; he hints that he would like to have Onesimus back for his own service (Phm 13–14; 20–21).
Author
The apostle Paul, a Jew from Tarsus who studied under the Rabbi Gamaliel at Jerusalem, was regarded as the author of the letter by early Christians.
Date of Composition
The letter was likely written during Paul’s captivity at Rome, c AD 60 (cf Ac 28:30).
Purpose/Recipients
Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, had run away with stolen money. Somehow he had made contact with Paul in prison and had been persuaded that his duty as a Christian was to return to his master. Paul tactfully urges Philemon, his dear friend, to receive the runaway back “no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother” (v 16).
Summary of Philemon
Philemon 1–3 Paul begins with a short (compared to his other letters) and yet personal greeting. His greeting begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the focus of Paul’s life.
Philemon 4–22 Paul gives thanks for his friend Philemon’s love and faith. Apparently, he has heard enough to know that this is real and not for show. He makes a plea for the freedom of Onesimus and bases his case on grace, love, and friendship.
Philemon 23–25 Paul mentions five friends who serve with him or support him in the Gospel ministry. This is only part of the network of God’s people, which includes Onesiumus and Philemon.
Specific Law Themes
Paul describes his imprisonment and suffering for the Gospel as a basis for shaping Philemon’s attitude toward his runaway slave. He calls believers to a life of service, to a sense of debt to one another, and he fosters a partnership among people in all estates of life.
Specific Gospel Themes
Philemon offers comfort and refreshment to Paul, as one believer to another. The letter provides for reconciliation and forgiveness between brothers, as the Church is a brotherhood in Christ.
Specific Doctrines
Luther portrays Paul in this letter as being a “Christ” for Onesimus, pleading his cause with his master as if he had no rights; “What Christ has done for us with God the Father, that St. Paul does also for Onesimus with Philemon. For Christ emptied himself of his rights [Phil. 2:7] and overcame the Father with love and humility, so that the Father had to put away his wrath and rights, and receive us into favor for the sake of Christ. … For we are all his Onesimus’s, if we believe” (AE 35:390). All men are runaway slaves of God! Only such a man who has come back to God as God’s runaway slave and has been welcomed like a son—only a man like Paul—can write a letter like the Letter to Philemon.
Personal letter though it is, the Letter to Philemon is an important document to illustrate the early Christian attitude toward social problems. It is noteworthy that Paul does not plead for Onesimus’s liberation; whether he stays with Philemon or returns to Paul, Onesimus is to remain a slave. There is nothing like a movement to free slaves, even Christian slaves of Christian masters, either here or elsewhere in the New Testament. But a Gospel which can say to the master of a runaway slave that he is to receive him back “forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother” (vv 15–16) has overcome slavery from within and has therefore already rung the knell of slavery.
Paul established the essential principle that Christians must regard other Christians as men and women “in Christ,” and that this view must override every other question of social status or condition. But it is also true that Paul did not launch a frontal attack on the institution of slavery. Paul’s confidence rested in the power of the Gospel, working as a leaven in society through the influence of committed and persistent Christians.
Martin Luther on Philemon
This epistle gives us a masterful and tender illustration of Christian love. For here we see how St. Paul takes the part of poor Onesimus and, to the best of his ability, advocates his cause with his master. He acts exactly as if he were himself Onesimus, who had done wrong.
Yet he does this not with force or compulsion, as lay within his rights; but he empties himself of his rights in order to compel Philemon also to waive his rights. What Christ has done for us with God the Father, that St. Paul does also for Onesimus with Philemon. For Christ emptied himself of his rights [Phil. 2:7] and overcame the Father with love and humility, so that the Father had to put away his wrath and rights, and receive us into favor for the sake of Christ, who so earnestly advocates our cause and so heartily takes our part. For we are all his Onesimus’s if we believe. (AE 35:390)
Scripture: ESV®.
The quotation marked AE in this blog is from Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 35 © 1960 by Augsburg Fortress. Used by permission of the publisher.
Blog post adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary © 2014 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Read the Lutheran Bible Companion to find more commentary on Philemon and every other book of the Bible.
