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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Philemon 1:11 - 1:11
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Unprofitable (ἄχρηστον)
A play on the word Onesimus profitable. Compare unprofitable (ἀχρεῖος) servant, Mat 25:30. These plays upon proper names are common both in Greek and Roman literature. Thus Aeschylus on the name of Helen of Troy, the play or pun turning on the root ἑλ, hel, destroy: Helene, helenaus, helandras, heleptolis: Helen, ship-destroyer, man-destroyer, city-destroyer (“Agamemnon,” 671). Or, as Robert Browning: “Helen, ship's-hell, man's-hell, city's-hell.” So on Prometheus (forethought): “Falsely do the gods call thee Prometheus, for thou thyself hast need of prometheus, i.e., of forethought” (“Prometheus Bound,” 85, 86). Or Sophocles on Ajax. Aias (Ajax) cries ai, ai! and says, “Who would have thought that my name would thus be the appropriate expression for my woes?” (“Ajax,” 430). In the New Testament, a familiar example is Mat 16:18; “thou art Petros, and on this petra will I build my church.” See on Epaenetus, 2Co 8:18.
Now profitable
“Christianity knows nothing of hopeless cases. It professes its ability to take the most crooked stick and bring it straight, to flash a new power into the blackest carbon, which will turn it into a diamond” (Maclaren, “Philemon,” in “Expositor's Bible”).
And to me
The words are ingeniously thrown in as an afterthought. Compare Phi 2:27; Rom 16:13; 1Co 16:18. A strong appeal to Philemon lies in the fact that Paul is to reap benefit from Onesimus in his new attitude as a christian brother.