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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Request for hospitality, Greeting to friends, and Prayer for their spiritual welfare
Phm_1:22-25
Phm_1:23. There greets [salutes] thee, &c. The same persons are mentioned here as in Col_4:10-14, with the exception of Jesus Justus, whose name is omitted because perhaps he was not present at that moment. The salutation is addressed personally to Philemon. [This explains why Philemon is not saluted in the Epistle to the Colossians: it was unnecessary, as that Epistle and this were received at the same time.—H.]—Epaphras, who as a fellow captive of Paul is mentioned before the other, brethren, is the same perhaps, as Epaphroditus, named in Php_2:25. [The names, it is true, may be interchangeable (see Winer, Realwörterbuch, 1, p. 331); but in this instance they seem to designate different persons. It is against the supposed identity, first, that Epaphras belonged to Colossæ (Col_4:12), and had come thence to Rome (Col_1:1), whereas Epaphroditus belonged to Philippi, and had been sent to Paul with the contributions of the church there (Php_2:25); and second, that, as these facts indicate, the former had his circuit of labor in Phrygia or Asia Minor (Col_4:13), but the latter in northern Greece or Macedonia. Neander thinks (Pflanzung 2. p. 292) that Epaphras was founder of the church at Colossæ (supposing from Col_2:1 that Paul was never there). This Epaphras, at all events, was a faithful preacher of the gospel (Col_1:7, äéÜêïíïò ôïῦ ×ñéóôïῦ ), and, as we see from this passage, was now a sharer of Paul’s captivity at Rome. He was a fellow-captive ( óõíáé÷ìÜëùôïò ), not in a figurative sense, but literally, as would appear from his being named apart from the fellow-laborers ( óõíåñãïß ), and from the subjoined ἐí ×ñéóôῷ Ἰçóïῦ ; in Christ Jesus, which defines the sphere in which he bore this character. Under what circumstances he was imprisoned, is unknown. He may have been held as a witness for the prosecution against Paul, or may have been arrested on his own account as a Christian.
Phm_1:24. Mark is supposed to be John Mark, the writer of the second Gospel, and Paul’s companion on his first missionary tour as far as Perga (Act_13:13). We learn from Col_4:10 that Mark was expecting, ere long, to greet the Colossians in person.—Aristarchus, another of Paul’s associates, was a Macedonian (Act_19:29), who, at a later period, accompanied him on his voyage to Rome (Act_27:2). As he is classed here among the fellow-laborers ( óõíåñãïß ), he appears to be called fellow-captive ( óõíáé÷ìÜëùôïò ) in Col_4:10, because he made himself the Apostle’s voluntary companion in his exile. To remember the brethren in their bonds, was accounted the same thing as being bound with them ( óõíäåäåìÝíïé ); see Heb_13:3. Some think that he may have been put in prison after this letter to Philemon was written. The interval between this and the letter to the Colossians was very brief, and renders that barely possible. Whether Luke is mentioned because he was known at Colossæ personally, or by name only, is uncertain. The traces of him in the Acts never lead him apparently into that region. He and Demas are named together also in Col_4:14. We look into the prison again, after a few years, and but one of these two friends is watching at the side of the Apostle. Paul wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy during his last captivity at Rome, and then he records (2Ti_4:10-11): “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world: only Luke is with me.” We are reminded of Keble’s words in his Hymn on St. Luke:
“Vainly before the shrine he bends
Who knows not the true pilgrim’s part:
The martyr’s cell no safety lends
To him who wants the martyr’s heart.”—H.]
Phm_1:25. The grace of our Lord, &c. A parting salutation, like that in Gal_6:18, is directed here in plurali to the whole church in Philemon’s house. [The pronoun in êõñßïõ ἡìῶí , our Lord, refers to the common Lord of all believers. Ìåôὰ ôïῦ ðíåýìáôïò ὑìῶí , with your spirit, is more impassioned than ἡìῶí simply, and springs naturally out of the affectionate tone of the letter. It is the form of benediction not only in Gal_6:18, but in 2Ti_4:22 and Php_4:23, according to the text of some copies, Ὑìῶí is coextensive with ὑìῖí in Phm_1:22, i. e., those addressed in the letter.
One of the oldest subscript notices is ðñὸò ÖéëÞìïíá ἐãñÜöç ἀðὸ Ῥþìçò äéὰ Ὀíçóßìïí , i. e., It Was written to Philemon from Rome through (as the bearer) Onesimus. This notice states undoubtedly what is true respecting the destination of the letter, and the place where it was written. Being ancient, though of course not from the hand of Paul, it has some value as a confirmatory argument in respect to the genuineness and origin of the Epistle. Küster and Mill mention two manuscripts, which record at the end that Onesimus had his legs broken on the rack or the cross at Rome, and so gained the rewards of martyrdom. And with this thought, not, perhaps, historically confirmed, but so entirely in harmony with the vicissitudes of that age of the first confessors, we may turn our eyes from this record of lowly life on earth, upward to tile scene where the Lord’s servants, though they may have been the slaves of men, are exalted and ennobled forever on thrones which He has prepared for them.—H.]
So much the more valuable is an apostolic writing of Paul, out of which so much may be learned for dealing with the question above referred to. The letter to Philemon serves to show how the Apostle, on the one hand, would not violently destroy a legal right of property [i. e., as an individual in opposition to the government or State]; while, on the other, he defends and preaches principles, by the just and equal application of which, slavery loses all that is harsh and unchristian, and at last becomes inevitably extinct. With such an operation a revolutionary interference with the different arrangements and classes of social life is made unnecessary. [Thus it was, as Dr. Wordsworth remarks (St. Paul’s Epitles, p. 328), “by Christianizing the master, that the gospel enfranchised the slave. It did not legislate about mere names and forms, but it went to the root of the evil—it spoke to the heart of man. When the heart of the master was filled with Divine grace, and was warmed with the love of Christ, the rest would soon follow. The lips would speak kind words; the hands would do liberal things. Every Onesimus would be treated by every Philemon as a beloved brother in Christ.”—H.]
Phm_1:2 : It affords us an important help for understanding and appreciating this letter, if we compare it (see Introduction, p. 9) with the extant letters of C. Plinius Cæcilianus Secundus. The first of these (Lib. ii. 21) is as follows:
“
[It is not easy to transfer the peculiar elegance of this composition to another language. The following version (taken from an anonymous source) possesses at least the merit of being somewhat close to the original. There may be a doubt respecting the exact force of two or three expressions:]
“
It appears from a subsequent letter, that this request of friendship was favorably received. Pliny writes again with reference to the same subject:
“Bene fecisti, quod libertum, aliquando tib carum, reducentibus epistolis meis, in domum, in animum recepisti. Juvabit hoc te, me certe juvat, primum quod te talem video, ut in ira regi possis, deinde quod tantum mihi tribuis, ut vel auctoritati meæ pareas, vel precibus indulgeas,” &c.
[“You have done well in receiving back to your house, your heart, a freedman once dear to you, in compliance with my letters. This will gratify you—it certainly does me—first, that I see you to be one who can be governed in anger; in the next place, that you concede so much to me as either to obey my authority or to yield to entreaties,” &c.—H.]
Though this case was that of a libertus, and not a servns, so that there was no actual sending back of a fugitive, but only a reconciliation between the freedman and his master; yet it is evident, from a comparison of the two letters of Pliny with that of Paul, that transactions like the one before us often took place in ancient times; and that the Apostle planted himself on a right and a feeling entirely human in his appeal to Philemon in behalf of Onesimus. At the same time, it is evident that the motives which he employs as a Christian to incite Philemon to perform this duty of love, are far nobler and stronger than those which the philanthropic Roman could urge from his position, when he stood forth as precator.
3. The letter to Philemon is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the character of Paul, and a striking proof how great a proficient he himself was in the practice of the love which he so highly commends in 1 Corinthians 13. It is the apparently little, in fact, which reveals here the truly great. What he says in this letter, as well as what he omits, is alike and specially adapted to the attainment of the object at which he aims. (See the exegetical remarks.) What delicacy not only in conduct, but in speech and thought, is manifest here, and at the same time what hearty earnestness in the cumulative force of his plea in behalf of the fugitive! Yet here, too, he denies by no means his incontestible authority. The thought comes out almost in spite of himself, as it were, between the lines of the Epistle: he who bows himself as a suppliant before Philemon, can as God’s messenger place himself above him. Though he requests now for love’s sake, yet he has great boldness (if he would use it) to enjoin and require that which is right. He does not mention, indeed, his apostolic rank; but he cherishes the lively confidence that his friend will obey him, if he speaks in the spirit of his Master (Phm_1:21); and he terms himself a gift of grace (Phm_1:22) if he is restored to the believers in answer to their prayers. On the other hand, he stoops as low as possible, even to the deep-sunken Onesimus, and with an altogether different feeling in his heart from that with which Pliny pities the guilty libertus of Sabinianus. In all this the Apostle shows how faith bears in itself the power of a true refinement, a culture of heart and character such as need not shrink for a moment from comparison with the boasted model of antiquity (Pliny), and, while it mounts so much higher, includes the homo sum, nil humani a me alienum, in the evident sense of the words. [Dr. Newman (quoted in Howson’s Lectures, p. 78) says, “There is not any one of those refinements and delicacies of feeling, which are the result of advanced civilization, not any one of those proprieties and embellishments of conduct, in which the cultivated intellect delights, but Paul is a pattern of it, in the midst of that assemblage of other supernatural excellencies which is the common endowment of apostles and saints.”—H.]
4. The history of Onesimus is a pertinent example of the power of Divine grace, and of the activity of that all-comprehending Providence which is so entirely special as well as universal. His experience is that of the lost son who was sunk in deep misery, but was rescued in a wonderful manner. He had gone to Rome, in order to find there a safe place of refuge, but finds in Paul, whom he apparently meets by accident, a guide in the way of eternal life, and from a slave of sin becomes at the same time a prisoner and freedman of Christ. Another debt still which rests upon him is cancelled besides that for which Paul stands as surety with his offended master; and the temporal loss of Philemon became for both master and servant an eternal gain. Here again the Apostle’s word is verified (Rom_11:33-36): “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor ? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
5. This little Epistle serves also an apologetic purpose, which adds not a little to its value. The criticism of the Tübingen school affirms still that only four Epistles of Paul at the utmost (Romans , 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians) are raised above all doubt of their genuineness. We will go still further, and for a moment assume that we must even give up these four, and that, instead of them, we have left to us only this short letter to Philemon. Is it not remarkable, that even out of this brief letter relating to a private affair the main contents of the apostolic gospel may in substance be derived? As regards the person of Christ, Paul names Him here also êýñéïò , the same appellative, therefore, which is given to Jehovah in the Old Testament. He implores grace and peace from Him no less than from the Father. So, too, as faith elsewhere is required toward God, here it is as exercised toward Christ; and at the close, it is His grace alone to which Philemon is commended. Truly, no foundation-stones for a Socinian or Arian Christology. The way to eternal life also is no other than that which is elsewhere pointed out to us. Philemon is praised on account of his faith, and the significant expression in Christ Jesus occurs here oftener than any other. And that conversion is absolutely inseparable from this faith,—how clearly does this appear from the little which Paul says respecting Onesimus! He does not appeal to good resolutions which perhaps the fugitive has formed; he has not merely a quiet hope that he has become a better man: no, it is as a new creature whom he himself has begotten in his bonds, that he sends him back to his master. It is only as one converted, that Onesimus is now useful; that he has become a brother, is now united forever with Philemon. All this confirms the truth of the word: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2Co_5:17). And, finally, could the fruit of faith and conversion, the love which embraces all, and never perishes,—could it be made more strikingly manifest than in this brief private letter! So this entire Epistle, brief as it is, is a new witness to the truth of the declaration: “The gospel a power of God unto salvation through faith” (Rom_1:16).
6. In the same impressive way this letter sets before us what the communion of the Holy Spirit is, and how much this communion may effect. In a prison the Apostle feels himself happy; and precisely there where one would expect to find so many endless causes for complaint, joyful thanksgiving is the offering of his lips. While he bears upon his heart the needs of the whole Jewish and heathen world, there is still room in his heart for a single fugitive slave, whom he commends with the warmest love, and at the same time, though without wishing it directly, he by his own conduct presents himself as the most shining example of love to those whom he incites to proofs of love. Among the inmates of the house of Philemon, on the other hand, by the presence again of the same spirit, a church has been founded, of which the different members form the living members,—a church, the like of which there has never been in the heathen world. Between this family at Colossæ and that prisoner at Rome exists an inner community of faith, love, and prayer, by which their hearts meet each other and flow together, although as to the body they are separated by seas and mountains. Is not all this an excellent proof of what the fellowship of the Holy Spirit ( êïéíùíßá ôïῦ ἁãßïõ ðíåýìáôïò ) avails in houses and hearts (in Häusern und Hertzen)?
7. “Just as Christ has done for us toward God, so Paul does for Onesimus toward Philemon. For Christ also has emptied Himself of His right, and with love and humility overcome the Father, so that He must lay aside His anger and right, and receive us to favor for Christ’s sake, who so earnestly represents us, and receives us so heartily to Himself. For we are all like Onesimus, if we believe” (Luther’s Preface).
8. What is said of Onesimus, that before his conversion he was very unprofitable, but afterwards was very profitable, applies still, mutatis mutandis, to every converted sinner.
Starke: Langii Op.: Anti-Christian Rome (see RePhm Phm_1:17-18) still does that which heathen Rome did; and Paul has yet many brethren among the witnesses of the truth who are in chains and bonds for the name of Christ. That the Lord suffers all this to take place belongs to the mystery of the cross.—Children of God have among them no name which recognizes more distinctly the ground of their common kindredship, or is dearer to themselves, than the name of brethren! But how few are such true brethren in spirit! All public teachers call one another by this name; but notwithstanding the outward appellation, how far from the reality are they for the most part; so that Paul and Timothy, if they should come among such, would not recognize them as brethren.—Paul acknowledged his own weakness, since he did not trust himself to do everything alone, but employed others also, humble persons, for the service of the church. So at the present day there are such true helpers, out of the teacher’s office, in other situations, who make it a joy to themselves to assist in various ways to promote the honor of God.—A Christian should no more be ashamed of the bonds of Christ, than a soldier is of the wounds which he has received in battle.—Teachers especially should not shun to confirm their testimony by suffering.—Christians are workers, and not idlers.—Paul terms Apphia the beloved as well as Philemon, which shows that they lived in holy wedlock, and both feared God.—Women art often the instruments of winning unbelieving husbands to Christ: how much more can they be helpers to strengthen those who believe, and encourage them in what is good.
Osiander: The preacher’s office is a spiritual knighthood, by which Christ’s kingdom is enlarged, but that of Satan assaulted and destroyed. So Christians also are fellow-combatants, who by hearty prayer help forward the kingdom of the Redeemer.—It is a duty which rests on all fathers of families, so to instruct those under them in the knowledge of God, that their house may rightfully be named a church.—Every one should strive that the house in which he dwells may be a Bethel, a house of God, and not a Bethaven, a house of sin.—Grace and peace belong together, and cannot be separated.
Langii Opp.: Paul teaches by his example that one may mention particular persons and churches by name in prayer before God. If the Apostle had not been in the true spirit of love, it would have been irksome to him to repeat so many names when he prayed. This intercession is a special part of the communion of the saints, and secures this blessing, that we may have in return the comfort of the prayers of other Christians, and especially of the great intercession of Christ: for we are often in such circumstances that we can hardly pray ourselves.—Hast thou, believing Christian, no lands, goods, money, friends of thine own, yet thou canst call God thy possession, and sing with David (Psa_16:5-6): “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”—Children of God hear the praise of another not only with patience, but with pleasure, and praise the Lord for such grace; comp. Phm_1:4 and Gal_1:23-24.
Hedinger: Faith without love is only a conceit, and love without faith is a mere work of nature.—Bibl. Würt.: He who loves one and hates another, has not a pure love, but is partial (Jam_2:1).—Believers have much good within them, and much also externally among them. God be praised, who creates and works all good everywhere.—Believers have, in their suffering, no better consolation than that which they receive from the love and good conduct of others.—Under trials of the cross, God raises up a Philemon to refresh the believer, or a Simon to bear the burden with him.—[Onesiphorus sought out the captive Paul at Rome, and “was not ashamed of his chain,” and had as his reward the prayers of an Apostle (2Ti_1:16).—H.]—He who bears the teacher’s office, should reprove and teach, not in his own name, but in the name of Jesus Christ.—Love binds together more than commands.—Christian prudence requires that we consider not only what is allowed, but also what is useful (Phm_1:8; 1Co_10:23).—An old man, long tried in the service, who still follows Christ and suffers persecution on that account, deserves, above others, that we honor and obey him (1Pe_5:6).—[Rev. J. Trapp: Old age and honor are in the Greek tongue very near akin: ãῆñáò et ãÝñáò . The old, when found in the way of righteousness, are like flowers which have their roots perfect when themselves are withering; like roses, that keep a sweet fragrance though they lose their color.—H.]—The sufferings of a servant of Christ should increase rather than diminish the respect due to him.—Teachers have a hearty affection for those who have been won to Christ through their labors.
Hedinger: A sinner converted—where? In bonds. Happy change! Deed worthy of all praise! Such is the power of God’s love, and the love of a true teacher. The former receives willingly the penitent offender; the latter seeks to save the lost on every occasion, most of all in prison, in the face of death itself.—Bibl. Würt.: Men may bind and fetter the body, but the word of God cannot be bound (2Ti_2:9).—No place is so inconvenient that one should not find an opportunity to speak or write a word of exhortation (Act_28:31). Christ preached on the cross, and converted a malefactor.—In what was Onesimus useful to Paul? (1) In this, that he made him happy by his conversion; (2) because he served him with Christian fidelity in the bonds of the gospel (Phm_1:13); (3) Onesimus could now, by his consolation, quicken and support the Apostle after the example of the Romans (Rom_1:12).—If sin has been strong in a man before conversion, grace must be still stronger after conversion.—Grace must be acknowledged in the poor as well as in the rich; faith suffers no respect of persons. The diamond retains its lustre, though it lie on a dunghill.—In the church there should be a mutual coöperation between the highest and the lowest members (1Pe_4:10).—Though servants of the gospel are bound, the gospel has yet a free course (Php_1:14).—[Judson had hardly begun his labors in Burmah, before he was cast into prison, and was kept six months in three pairs of fetters, two months in four, six months in one, and was two months a prisoner at large. And to-day Burmah has the Bible in its own language; churches are springing up in every province, and native preachers are the pastors and missionaries. We may already count the converts, who are the fruits of this fettered ministry, by thousands and tens of thousands.—H.]—Harmony of will between believers is praiseworthy and beautiful, and serves to edify and establish in the Lord.—God sometimes takes away a little comfort, that He may give back to us one better and more abiding.—Spiritual fellowship and union have a great advantage over that which is natural.—In the kingdom where Christ is Head and King, all distinction ceases, and in the body of Christ the greatest has no more dignity on worldly grounds than the least.—A great saint in his humility will be no more than one who stands far below him (Luk_22:26).—He who sincerely loves Christ, loves Him as well in Onesimus as in Paul; and he who does not love him in Onesimus, does not love him in Paul.
Cramer: Every Christian should pray for every other, and take him to his heart, not in word merely, but in deed. If it were possible to save him at that expense, his own blood—life itself—should not be grudged.—[Some of the Moravian missionaries sold themselves into slavery, that they might preach to slaves.—H.]
Hedinger: True love is prodigal. Mark you what I mean? It gives, lends, promises, is often willing, if good may be done, to be cheated.—Bibl. Würt.: It is a sacred obligation which binds the convert to him who has converted him, and cannot be discharged by worldly goods (Gal_6:6-7).—Food and drink cannot so refresh a hungry man, as the true teacher is refreshed when he sees his word bringing forth fruit in others.—Believers stand in the closest and most intimate communion with Christ: they in Him, and He in them, and with al their works (Joh_17:21-23).
Starke: There must be confidence and trust in all prayer and petition: doubting obtains nothing (Jam_1:6-7).—Bibl. Würt.: Sincere love does more good than is desired (Phm_1:21): it lets its rivulet flow more richly than the thirsty need (2Co_8:3-4).—Every one should so exemplify his Christianity, as not to cause others, especially honest teachers, to be put to shame for the good opinion which they have formed of him (2Co_9:3-4).—Christians should be lovers of hospitality (Heb_13:2); should also entertain and assist preachers (Mat_10:14).—An honest teacher is a gift of God’s-grace (Eph_4:8-11).—It is a great consolation, if we are put in prison, that it is not for any misdeed, but the testimony of Christ.—The preacher’s work is heavy to bear; happy they who have true helpers!—In the matter of Christianity, all depends on the grace of the Lord Jesus; Christ all and in all (Col_3:11).
Lisco (Phm_1:1-7): In what way a Christian seeks to make a request heard by a Christian (Phm_1:9).—How the communion of saints consists in the common unity of a faith which is active in love.—An acknowledgment of the good which we have in Christ, an important means of strengthening faith (Phm_1:8-10).—From what motives Paul desires the pardon of Onesimus.—The work of redeeming love: (1) It seeks the lost sinner; (2) it represents him with the Father; (3) it brings him back to the arms of the Father.—Interceding love: (1) How love prays; (2) what it secures.—Christians left to act freely (Phm_1:14), and yet bound to each other as brethren; and, because they trust in Christ (Phm_1:5), may trust each other (Phm_1:21).
Lavater (Sermons on the Epistle to Philemon, St. Gallen, 1785, in two volumes): The different kinds of greetings and salutations: (1) Joab-greetings and Judas-kisses; (2) greetings of derision and scorn; (3) cold, empty-hearted greetings; (4) greetings and wishes of natural love; (5) Christian greetings.—Palmer: Theme for a funeral discourse (Phm_1:15).—F. W. Krummacher (Sabbathglocke, 1, S. 209): a sermon on the whole Epistle, with the theme: Primitive Christianity.—What this letter teaches: (1) Concerning the person of Christ; (2) concerning the salvation of the world; (3) the way of salvation; (4) the kingdom of Christ; and (5) the authority of the apostolic word.—J. J. Van Oosterzee: The Epistle to Philemon an important contribution: (1) For our Christian knowledge, (a) respecting a little church, (b) respecting a great Apostle, (c) respecting a relation altogether peculiar, which existed between the two; (2) for our Christian faith, (a) in the operation of God’s providence, (b) in the divinity of the gospel, (c) in the powerful working of the Holy Spirit; (3) for our Christian life, and especially (a) for our personal, (b) for our domestic, and (c) for our social or common life.
Rochat (Phm_1:4): “La disposition de rendre grace à Dieu pour les autres est une des marques des plus sûres de la charité. Dans les actions de grace, que nous rendons pour le bien, que Dieu nous fait ou qu’il fait par notre moyen, il peut facilcment se glisser un sentiment d’egoisme ou d’orgueil. Mais quand nous pouvons sincérement rendre grace à Dieu pour les dons, qu’il a fait à nos frères, lors méme que ces dons nous laissent en arrière de ceux auxquels ils ont été accordés, alors nous pouvons croire, que nous avons véritablement la charité, qui n’est point envieuse, et que nous avons vraiment cœur l’avancement du regne de Dieu, puisque nous sommes aussi contents de le voir dans les autres et par les autres, qu’en nous et par nous.”
[Translation: “The disposition to give thanks to God for others is one of the surest marks of a true love, or charity. In the giving of thanks, which we render for good which God does to us, or which He does through our means, it is easy for a feeling of egoism or of pride to insinuate itself. But when we are able to give thanks to God for the gifts which He has granted to our brethren, even when these gifts cause us to fall behind those on whom they are bestowed, we may then believe that we have truly the charity which envies not, and that we have sincerely at heart the advancement of God’s kingdom, since we are as content to see this take place in others and by others, as in us and by us.—H.]
Kühne: Onesimus was a servant (Knecht), and became a brother beloved, and yet remained a servant in the Lord Christ Jesus. Christianity does not abolish the differences of external condition. The sacred rule in regard to such relations is that laid down in 1Co_7:20-24. What Christianity requires, is: Let every one command in Christ, and let every one obey in Christ. Where the commanding and the obeying are in the Lord, the commanding and the obeying easily adjust themselves to each other. But how seldom do we find such a beautiful, happy household! Alas, the commanding and the obeying in the Lord have become so rare among us, because so many masters and so many servants have broken away from the Lord, from the purity of the faith, &c.—These Bible-lessons are especially rich in illustrative examples from the history of the church and of missions. In the annals of the latter particularly, the practical pastor will find striking parallels to the history of Paul and Onesimus.
[Relation of this Episle to Slavery.—On the relation of this Epistle to the subject of slavery, the following opinions represent the general sense of Christian writers:
Neander: “Among those social relations which were alien to the nature of Christianity, and which Christianity found existing at the time of its first propagation, belonged slavery. By the estrangement of humanity from God, its original unity was disturbed. Mankind, destined to be one, split asunder into a multitude of nations, each striving to assert itself as the whole, and each taking an opposite direction to the other in its course of development. Thus the consciousness of possessing a common human worth was lost; and it became possible for man to be placed in that relation to his fellow in which nature alone should stand to humanity, and his own nature to the individual. A relation so unnatural could find its justification only by assuming the position, that the difference among nations, which took place at a later period, and originated in sin—that difference, by virtue of which there exists so great a disparity of intellectual and moral power, was something original. Hence men could no longer recognize the fundamental identity of human nature, and believed one class destined by nature itself to be the tools of another, and without any will of their own. Thus was this relation a necessary result of the position held by antiquity, when state and nation constituted the absolute form for the realization of the highest good; and thus it could happen that the nation which was most ardent for civil liberty, still employed thousands only as slaves. And though their situation was often rendered more tolerable through the influence of manners and the pure sentiments of humanity—which, breaking through unnatural restraints, would introduce heartier fellowship between master and slave—yet the contradiction between this whole relation and man’s essential dignity could not be thus set aside; and in general it still continued to be the habit to regard slaves, not as men gifted with the same rights as all others, but as things. …
“But Christianity brought about that change in the consciousness of humanity, from which a dissolution of this whole relation, though it could not be immediately effected, yet, by virtue of the consequences resulting from that change, must eventually take place. This effect Christianity produced, first by the facts of which it was a witness, and next by the ideas which, by occasion of these facts, it set in circulation. By Christ, the Saviour, belonging to all mankind, the antagonisms of men resulting from sin were annulled; by Him the original oneness was restored. These facts must now continue to operate in transforming the life of mankind. Masters, as well as servants, were obliged to acknowledge themselves the servants of sin, and to receive in the same manner, as a gift of God’s free grace, their deliverance from this common bondage—the true, the highest freedom. Servants and masters, if they had become believers, were brought together under the same bond of a heavenly union, destined for immortality; they became brethren in Christ, in whom there is neither bond nor free, members of one body, baptized into one spirit, heirs of the same heavenly inheritance. Servants often became teachers of their masters in the gospel, after having practically exhibited before them the loftiness of a divine life, which must express itself even under the most constraining of relations, and shine forth the more conspicuously from the contrast. The masters looked upon their servants no longer as slaves, but as their beloved brethren; they prayed and sang in company; they could sit at each others side at the feast of brotherly love, and receive together the body of the Lord. Thus, by the spirit and by the effects of Christianity, ideas and feelings could not fail of being widely diffused, which were directly opposed to this relation, so consonant with the habits of thinking that had hitherto prevailed. Christianity could not fail to give birth to the wish, that every man might be placed in such a relation as would least hinder the free and independent use of his in tellectual and moral powers according to the will of God. Hence the Apostle Paul, speaking to the servant, says (1Co_7:21): ‘If thou mayst be made free, use it rather.’ Yet Christianity nowhere began with outward changes and revolutions, which, in all cases where they have not been prepared from within, and are not based upon conviction, fail of their salutary ends. The new creation to which Christianity gave birth, was in all respects an inward one, from which the outward effects gradually, and therefore more surely and healthfully, unfolded themselves to their full extent.”—History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. 1, p. 267 sq., Dr. Torrey’s “Translation.”
Rev. F. D. Maurice: “ ‘Christianity,’ said Mr Canning, in one of the debates upon the emancipation of the West Indian slaves, ‘grew up amidst the scenes of tyranny which are described in the Sixth Satire of Juvenal. It recognized the institution of slavery. How can it be said to be essentially adverse to that institution?’ This question ought to be fairly met. What is the answer? The Epistle to Philemon, I think, supplies it. St. Paul, in his letters to the churches, had not proclaimed that slaves were free from their masters—had not insisted on masters dismissing their slaves; he had simply said that they were brothers. Here he explains that position. He calls upon a master to receive back a runaway slave, as both a servant and a brother. He might, he says, command him to do this as an Apostle; but he begs it for the love of Christ, and for the love which Philemon bears to him, the bondman of Christ, because such entreaties are mightier than commands. Here is the method of the Apostle, and of the Church, for destroying slavery. They strike at the root of it, by proclaiming that a man can never be a thing, a chattel. But they strike not merely at a particular arrangement which has introduced that accursed notion and canonized it, but at every other which interferes with the recognition of God’s Fatherhood and Christ’s Brotherhood, and with the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in men, to the end that their true manhood may be called forth in them.”—Unity of the New Testament, pp. 658, 689.
E. de Pbrssensé: “Christianity is reproached with not having immediately proclaimed the abolition of slavery. It is forgotten that it would thus have confounded two spheres which it was important for it always to distinguish, especially at the first steps of its progress in the world; it would have left the religious for the civil sphere. It could not enter the latter without exposing itself to all the perils, fluctuations, and risks of the use of material force. From a moral, it would become a political power; it would abdicate its true royalty, and, for the sake of a doubtful change prematurely wrought, it would lose that eternal power of reformation which it possesses, for the renewal of individuals and of societies at every epoch. It no more approved slavery than it approved polygamy and the Roman law of divorce; but it sent into the world the principle which was to abolish these institutions so radically hostile to the ethics of the gospel, and it defined this principle with sufficient clearness, in the matter of slavery, for one to recognize that it morally abolished it, as far as was possible for it, without departing from its proper domain. At first, the relations of masters and slaves were regulated in conformity to the laws of justice. The former were to remember that they had a Master in heaven, and the latter to reassert their dignity as men by making their obedience subjection to God. But more: Paul distinctly declared, that in Jesus Christ there was no longer slave, nor freeman; that is, that every human being has an equal right before God. The possession of man by man is, by the same declaration, immoral, an attack upon the rights of Christ’s redeemed, and incompatible with the doctrine of redemption, and of equality, which is its result. Nor was Paul content with stating these principles; he applied them. His Epistle to Philemon is the virtual declaration of freedom of the Christian slave. He returns Onesimus to his master as a brother in the faith, as his own son, and he demands that he be received as himself. Ἐìïῦ ôÝêíïõ ὃí ἐãÝííçóá , áὐôüí , ôïῦô ’ ἔóôé ôὰ ἐìὰ óðëÜã÷íá (Phil. 10, 12). Such words have done more to break the fetters of the slave than the shouts of revolt and the outbursts of indignation on the part of the oppressed; for they declare that the slave who, yesterday, turned the mill in the fields, or served his master as a beast of burden, without ever meeting a look of affection, now sits with him at the table of love, breaks with him the bread of communion, and drinks of the same cup of blessing; he goes through the same trials and persecutions; he is treated by him as a brother, as being a member of the same church. If it is remembered what was their condition some years before, it will be found that a mighty change, which was to introduce all the others, has been wrought. Add to this, that St. Paul was not content with proclaiming the equality of men before God in Jesus Christ; he declared positively that the Christian should be freed outwardly, as he had been morally. He gives the slave advice not to neglect the opportunity of escaping from the state of slavery, as often as it was offered. Åἰ êáὶ äýíáóá ἐëåýèåñïò ãåíÝóèáé , ìᾶëëïí ÷ñῆóáé (1Co_7:21). This advice has great significancy, especially if we take into account the moderation of language necessary in so delicate a question, which could be rendered social and political by a single imprudent word.”—Histoire des Trois Premiers Siècles, ii pp. 274–276.—H.]
Dr. Schaff: “Slavery is the robbing an immortal man, created in the image of God, of his free personality, degrading him into an article of merchandise, a mere machine of his owner, and thereby hindering the development of his intellectual and moral powers, and the attainment of the higher end of his existence. For this heathenism had no remedy. On the contrary, the most distinguished heathens justified this immoral and unnatural state of things, by assuming an original and essential distinction between the ruling and the serving classes.... Christianity has provided the only means for delivering man from the inward and most cruel bondage of sin, the bitter root of all wrong social relations, slavery and despotism among the rest, and for the radical cure, therefore, of the evil in question. It confirms, in the first place, the Old Testament doctrine of the original unity of the human race, and its descent from a single pair. Then it asserts the perfect equality of men in the highest, spiritual view, in their relation to Christ, who has redeemed all, even the poorest and meanest, with His blood, and called them to the same glory and blessedness. In Christ all earthly distinctions are inwardly abolished. In Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female; all form one ideal person in Him, the common Head (Gal_3:28; Col_3:11). On the one hand, therefore, the Christian master is a servant of Christ, with whom there is no respect of persons, and he ought always to be conscious of this dependence, and of the responsibility it involves (Eph_6:9). On the other, the slave is by faith a freedman of Christ, in the blessed possession of the only true liberty, that of the children of God, and thus, even though remaining in his bonds, he is raised above them; while the richest prince, without faith, is but a miserable slave of sin and death. Hence the master should look upon his servant as also his brother in Christ, and treat him accordingly (Phil. 16, 17); the servant should obey, not as the slave of man, but for the sake of the Lord.... By this view the distinction of master and slave is at once inwardly obliterated and deprived of its sting, even where it outwardly remains. This we see already in the case of Onesimus. For while St Paul does not deny the legal relation between master and slave, he changes it at the same time, by the spirit of Christian communion, into a free patriarchal service, which must necessarily result at last in a change also of the legal relation. He sent Onesimus back to Philemon, “no longer as a slave, but as a brother beloved” (Phm_1:16), and delicately hinted at his emancipation. Christianity is so spiritual and universal, that it can exert its power in all conditions and relations, and turn, as by magic, even the hut of deepest misery into a heaven of peace and joy. Thus there are now slaves, who, through their virtue and piety, are infinitely freer than their masters, and put them to shame, or become, as in former ages, instruments of their conversion. On the other hand, a true Christian, who comes into possession of slaves by inheritance, will never treat them as slaves in the proper sense, but as free servants, with all love and kindness; he will seek in every way to promote their moral and religious culture, even if circumstances, for which he is not personally answerable, should make their formal emancipation for the time impracticable. But of course this alone is not enough. All that is inward, must, in the end, work itself out, and fully establish itself as an outward fact in actual life. So Paul expressly says to the slave: ‘But if thou mayest be made free, use it rather’ (1Co_7:21). Hence the spirit and genius of Christianity.… will not rest, till, by the power of redemption, all the chains which sin has forged shall be broken, till the personal and eternal dignity of man shall be universally acknowledged, and the idea of evangelical freedom and fraternal fellowship perfectly realized.”—History of the Apostolic Church (N. Y., 1853), pp. 455, 459, 460. Comp. also Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, vol. i. (N. Y., 1859), pp. 315 ff, and vol. ii. (N. Y., 1867), p. 115 ff.—H.]
Phm_1:22.—[The imperative, as present, ἐôïßìáæå , be preparing, intimates that Paul expected to arrive soon, and would have the preparation for his reception made promptly.— Ἐëðßæù means I hope, and not I trust, which is the proper rendering of ðÝðïéèá , as in Phm_1:21. This inaccuracy of the English Version reaches back to Tyndale. Spero of the Vulgate preserved Wiclif and the Rheims translators from that inadvertence. Fifteen other instances of this same error (that of saying trust where it should be hope) occur in the English Scriptures.—H.]
Phm_1:23.— ἈóðÜæåôáé , not ἀóðÜæïíôáé , as in the received Greek text. [Of course the verb as singular agrees with the nearest noun, and is repeated before the others; comp. Joh_18:15; Joh_20:3. See Winer, Gramm. §47, 2.—H.]
Phm_1:24.—[Marcus should be Mark, in conformity with the English Version in Act_12:12; Act_12:25; Act_15:39; 2Ti_4:11. Again, Lucas should be Luce, as in Col_4:14; 2Ti_4:11. The English reader might otherwise suppose that a different person was intended.—H.]
Phm_1:25.—[ ἈìÞí is probably not genuine. It was a liturgic word, and is attached to some of the other epistles also, as a response of the congregation. It appears in all the English Versions from Wiclif onward, but, being no part of the text, should be dropped. See Mr. Abbot’s note under “Amen” in Dr. Smith’s “Bible Dictionary,” Amer. ed.—H.]