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Phm_1:16. Altered relation which with the αἰώνιον αὐτὸν ἀπέχειν was to take effect, and thenceforth to subsist, between Philemon and Onesimus.
οὐκέτι ὡς δοῦλον ] in this is implied not a hint of manumission, but the fact that, while the external relation of slavery remains in itself unchanged, the ethical relation has become another, a higher one ( ὑπὲρ δοῦλον ), a brotherly relation of affection ( ἀδελφ . ἀγαπ .). Christianity does not abolish the distinctions of rank and station, but morally equalizes them (comp. on ἰσότητα , Col_4:1; 1Ti_6:2), inasmuch as it pervades them with the unifying consecration of the life in Christ,[77] 1Co_7:21 f., 1Co_12:13; Gal_3:28; Col_3:11. To the Ὡς the following ὙΠΈΡ is correlative: not further in the quality of a slave, but in a higher manner than as a slave; ἀδελφὸν ἀγαπ ., as a beloved brother, is then the epexegesis of ὑπὲρ δοῦλον . And the latter is conceived of thus: so that he is beyond and above a δοῦλος , is more than such. Comp. Plato, Rep. p. 488 A; Legg. viii. p. 839 D: οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ; 2Ma_9:8.
ΜΆΛΙΣΤΑ ἘΜΟῚ Κ . Τ . Λ .] belongs to ἈΔΕΛ . ἈΓΑΠ . In that view ΜΆΛΙΣΤΑ has its reference in the relation of Onesimus to his fellow-Christians, with whom he has hitherto been brought into connection; among these it was Paul, to whom he stood most of all—that is, in higher degree than to any other—in the relation of a beloved brother.
πόσῳ δὲ μᾶλλον σοί ] since he is thy property, and does not enter into merely temporary connection with thee, such as that in which he stood with me; see Phm_1:15.
ΚΑῚ ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚῚ ΚΑῚ ἘΝ ΚΥΡ .] specifies the two domains, in which Onesimus will be to him yet far more a beloved brother than to the apostle, namely, in the flesh, i.e. in the sphere pertaining to the material nature of man, in things consequently that concern the bodily life and needs, and in the Lord, i.e. in the higher spiritual life-sphere of fellowship with Christ. Accordingly, ἐν σαρκί Philemon has the brother as a slave, and ἘΝ ΚΥΡΊῼ the slave as a brother; how greatly, therefore, must he, in view of the mutual connection and interpenetration of the two relations, have him, as well ἐν σαρκί as ἐν κυρίῳ , as a beloved brother! How much more still ( πόσῳ δὲ μᾶλλον ) must Onesimus thus be such an one to Philemon, than to the apostle! The two domains of life designated by ἘΝ ΣΑΡΚΊ and ἘΝ ΚΥΡΊῼ —which, connected by ΚΑῚ … ΚΑΊ , exclude the conception of ethical contrast[78]—are to be left in all their comprehensiveness. Influenced by the erroneous presupposition of manumission (see on Phm_1:15), de Wette thinks in ἐν σαρκί of the family-relation into which the manumitted one enters.
[77] In accordance with this Christian-ideal mode of view we have to leave οὐκέτι absolute, and not to weaken it by μόνον to be mentally supplied (Grotius, Storr, Flatt); comp. on Col_3:23.
[78] Comp. Eklund, σάρξ vocabulum ap. Paul., Lund 1872, p. 47 f.