I have been doing a study on the epistle of Paul the apostle to Philemon.
I did the study with Tom Wright,A prolific bible teacher.Tom Wright compares this letter with a letter by a contemporary of Paul ,a non believer which writes for the pardon of an individual but not to the extent of restitution .It gives a peek into Paul’s thought process and his beliefs after he met the Lord.
We are looking at a timeline of somewhere between 57 to 59 AD.
It is remarkable that a subject that is so relevant to our times has been addressed by Paul in this letter such a long time ago.
To those of us who are unfamiliar with the book, Philemon is a fellow believer in Christ who lived in Colossae,a small Phrygian city approximately 100 miles from Ephesus where Paul was lodged in prison.
There was the slave trade then ,as would be in the ancient world.Onesimus is a slave who has run away from Philomen’s household ,most probably after doing something wrong.
There was the slave trade then ,as would be in the ancient world.Onesimus is a slave who has run away from Philomen’s household ,most probably after doing something wrong.
Paul is writing this letter to Philomen ,Onesimus’ owner who is a fellow believer from a prison in Ephesus.
Onessimus has run away to Paul and has been with Paul and has accepted the faith that Paul follows.
Paul is sending Onessimus back to his owner with this letter .
Paul writes,’ I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,whom I have begotten in my bonds;
Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me. Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered onto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity but willingly. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever; not now as a servant but above a servant, ‘a brother beloved,specially to me, how much more unto thee both in the flesh, and in the lord?
If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself .if he has wronged thee,or oweth thee aught,put that on mine account.’
Then Paul goes on to request Philemon to organise a lodging for himself so that he can visit him when he is released from the prison.
It could also be a way of making sure that what he had requested would be followed through in good faith.
This letter, like all of Paul’s letters,is phenomenal and revolutionary for all times.
It also walks and addresses that thin line one walks when restitution takes place.
Onesimus could have continued being with Paul because as he writes,he was useful but restitution demands that he be restored to where he had run away from and the people he had wronged,to live with them but now as a believer.
Paul reiterates the same thought in his letter to the Galatians in chapter 3.
‘ 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.’
Why are we so slow in understanding it and internalising it.
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