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Saint Paul letter to Philemon
This short Letter, full of warm human
feeling, and of lively affection, not without a trace of gentle irony (‘I
will repay it — to say nothing of your owing me even your own self’) was
written by St Paul as a note to accompany Onesimus the fugitive slave, who
was sent back to his master, Philemon at Colossae, together with Tychicus,
the bearer of the Letter to the Colossians. It was thus written towards the
end of Paul’s captivity (about 62-63 A.D.); in it he expresses the hope
of soon being his friend’s guest. Onesimus, the pagan slave of the Christian
Philemon, had fled after having done ‘some injury’. When he arrived in Rome
he had been converted and baptized by St Paul. The latter did not kcep the
fugitive with him, nor does he directly command his friend to free the slave,
but he recommends him to receive him ‘no longer as a slave but.., as a beloved
brother’. So he calls Onesimus
‘my child’, ‘my very heart’; he intervenes with the weight of his friendship
and of the debts of gratitude which Philemon owes him, in order that the runaway
may be pardoned and welcomed with generous kindliness. In this incident may
be seen the influence of Christianity on the institutions of the day. It
does not take up an external position of hostility to the institution of slavery
on which the economy of the GraecoRoman world was based. It does not proclaim
an economic and social revolution, but destroys from within the mistaken
assumptions of this institution, and replaces them by principles which, once
they are understood and welcomed, will cause the collapse of the institution
and in the meantime will radically transform relations between freemen and
slaves in the bosom of the Christian community.
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1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
and Timothy our brother.
To Philemon our beloved
fellow worker 2and Apphia our sister
and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:
3Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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4 I thank my God always when I remember
you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your
love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints,
6and I pray that the sharing
of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ.
7For I have derived much
joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints
have been refreshed through you.
8Accordingly, though I
am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love’s sake
I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an ambassador and now a prisoner also for
Christ Jesus—10 I appeal to you for
my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. 11(Formerly he was useless
to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12I am sending him back
to you, sending my very heart. 13I 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; 14but I preferred to do
nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion
but of your own free will.
15Perhaps this is why he
was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever,
16no 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. 17So if you consider me
your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18If he has wronged you
at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19I, Paul, write this with
my own hand, I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own
self. 20Yes, brother, I want
some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.
21Confident of your obedience,
I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22At the same time prepare
a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted to
you.
23Epaphras, my fellow prisoner
in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 24and so do Mark, Aristarchus,
Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
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