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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 678. Philemon
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Literature
Bonar, H., Light and Truth: The Lesser Epistles (1870), 204
Brown, H. S., Manliness and Other Sermons (1889), 257, 273.
Deane, A., Friends and Fellow Labourers of St. Paul (1906), 54.
Drury, T. W., The Prison-Ministry of St. Paul (1911), 123.
Henson, H. H., Light and Leaven (1897), 236.
Hiley, R. W., A Year's Sermons, iii. (1897) 305.
Hole, S. R., Hints to Preachers (1880), 105.
Lightfoot, J. B., Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (1879), 303.
Maclaren, A., Colossians and Philemon (Expositor's Bible) (1887), 417.
Parker, J., The City Temple, i. (1870) 405.
Seekings, H. S., The Men of the Pauline Circle (1914), 117.
Thorne, H., Notable Sayings of the Great Teacher, 223.
Vincent, M. R., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon (International Critical Commentary) (1897), 157.
Witherow, J. M., Grapes of Gold (1914), 13.
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, ii. (1916) 212 (H. Cowan).
Dictionary of the Bible, iii. (1900) 622 (W. Lock), 832 (J. H. Bernard).
Expositor, 3rd Ser., v. (1887) 138 (F. Godet).
Our only source of information about Philemon in the New Testament is the short letter addressed to him by St. Paul. He was most probably a native of Colossæ (cf. Philem. 1 with Col_4:17); and in Theodoret's time his house was pointed out in that city. Tradition speaks of him as bishop of Colossæ; and the Menœa of November 22 record his martyrdom there, by stoning, in company with Apphia, Archippus, and Onesimus, in the reign of Nero. In the case of such facts as these, local tradition may generally be regarded as trustworthy; and here it falls in with the documentary evidence, for the idea that Philemon was of Laodicea is a mere guess.
From the letter, brief as it is, we gain a vivid impression of the character of the man to whom it was written.