I am sending him (Onesimus) 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 accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you 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.” –Philemon 12-16 (ESV. Read 1-25).
Paul’s letter to Philemon was written from Rome about 61 AD. Timothy was with Paul when he wrote. The letter greets Philemon whom Paul terms “our beloved fellow worker” (v. 1), and includes Apphia who was probably Philemon’s wife and Archippus who may have been Philemon’s son. Archippus had a significant ministry in Colosse, as we read in Colossians 4:17. Paul further greets “the church in your house.” Philemon lived at Colosse. In those early years of the church, congregations met in homes. This practice is still followed in our day on the mission field until the number of those added to the church can grow strong enough to secure land and build a house of worship.
In verses 4-7 Paul commends Philemon’s love and faithfulness, noting that “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you” (v. 7). But Paul gets to the heart of the letter with his appeal that Philemon, slave-owner, forgive Onesimus, the run-away slave, whom Paul calls “my child whose father I became in my imprisonment” (v. 10). A marvelous transformation had occurred in Onesimus. He had escaped from Philemon and run away, no doubt with some of his master’s money or goods. Arriving in Rome, he and Paul met. Was Onesimus a prisoner, too? We don’t know. The encounter of the two men led to Onesimus’ salvation. From his former bondage to sin, Onesimus was now a Christian, much beloved by Paul, ‘my very heart,’ and one Paul was returning to his earthly master with the plea that he be accepted back into Philemon’s good graces. Onesimus went away as an escaped slave and a robber; he was returning as a brother in Christ. Paul offered to personally pay any reparations of what Onesimus had taken from his master. The implications of this offer were that Paul would repay whatever Onesimus had stolen from Philemon, but also pay for the period of service and the cost of work lost during the time Onesimus had been away. What was the reunion like between returned slave and his master? We do not have an extant letter from Philemon giving us these details. But we do know that later Onesimus went with Thychius to bear Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae (Colossians 4:7-9). Traditions connect Onesimus with being a bishop of the early church, and also with Onesiphorus in 2 Timothy 1:16: “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day! And you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.” Whether this is the Onesimus, returned to his master and freed, as Paul had pleaded in his letter, we can only imagine. But one thing we know, as the words of a great hymn so aptly describe the transformation in the slave returned to his master: I once was lost but now am found; Was blind but now I see.” Paul was indeed right when he wrote to Philemon that Onesimus “was parted from you for a while that you might have him back forever” (v. 15). Onesimus’ changed status through belief in Christ made him a child of the King and assured him eternal life! From bondage to freedom! To God be the glory!
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