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Phm_1:20. Yea, brother, I would fain have profit of thee in the Lord.
ναί ] not beseeching (Grotius and many), but confirmatory (comp. on Mat_15:27), as always: verily, certainly. It confirms, however, not the preceding κ . σεαυτ . μοι προσοφείλεις (de Wette and Hofmann, following Elsner),—against which may be urged the emphatically prefixed ἐγώ (it must in that case logically have run: σοῦ ἐγὼ ὀναίμ .),—but the whole intercession for Onesimus, in which Paul has made the cause of the latter his own.[79] He, he himself, would fain have joy at the hands of his friend Philemon in the granting of this request; himself (not, it might be, merely Onesimus) is Philemon to make happy by this compliance.
ὀναίμην ] Expression of the wish, that this might take place (Kühner, II. 1, p. 193); hence the counter-remark of Hofmann that it is not “I would fain,” but “may I,” is unmeaning. Comp. Eur. Hec. 997: ἥκιστʼ ὀναίμην τοῦ παρόντος , Ignat. Ephesians 2 : ὀναίμην ὑμῶν διὰ παντός , Romans 5 : ὀναίμην τῶν θηρίων … εὔχομαι κ . τ . λ . On the expression very current from Homer’s time (Odyss. xix. 68, ii. 33), ὀνίναμαί τινος , to have advantage from a thing or person, to profit thereby, comp. Wetstein; on the different verbal forms of the word, Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 12 f.; Kühner, I. p. 879 f. In the N.T. it is ἅπαξ λεγόμ .; but the very choice of the peculiar word supports the usual hypothesis (although not recognised by de Wette, Bleek, and Hofmann) that Paul intended an allusion to the name Onesimus.[80] There is the additional circumstance that the emphatic ἘΓΏ ingeniously gives point to the antithetic glance back at him, for whom he has made request; comp. also Wiesinger, Ellicott, Winer.
ἐν κυρίῳ ] gives to the notion of the ὈΝΑΊΜΗΝ its definite Christian character. Just so the following ἐν Χριστῷ . Neither means: for the sake of (Beza, Grotius, Flatt, and others). No profit of any other kind whatever does Paul wish for himself from Philemon, but that, the enjoyment of which has its ground in Christ as the ethical element. Comp. χαίρειν ἐν κυρίῳ , and the like.
ἈΝΆΠΑΥΣΟΝ Κ . Τ . Λ .] let me not wish in vain this ἘΓΏ ΣΟΥ ὈΝΑΊΜ . ἘΝ ΚΥΡ .! Refresh (by a forgiving and loving reception of Onesimus) my heart; τὰ σπλάγχνα , seat of loving emotion, of the love concerned for Onesimus, comp. Phm_1:7; not an expression of love to Philemon (Oecumenius, Theophylact), nor yet a designation of Onesimus (Phm_1:12), as is maintained by Jerome, Estius, Storr, Heinrichs, Flatt, and others.
[79] With this ναί , ἀδελφέ the humorous tone has died away, and, when Paul now inserts the need of his own heart and his hearty confidence as to the compliance of his friend, the intercession receives the seal of its trustful assurance of success, and therewith its close. Chrysostom already aptly observes that the ναί , ἀδελφέ applies generally to the προσλαβοῦ requested, so that the apostle “ ἀφεὶς τὸν χαριεντισμὸν πάλιν ἔχεται τῶν πρότερων τῶν σπουδαίων .”
[80] The allusion would have been more easily seized, if Paul had written in some sach way as: ναί , ἀδελφέ , ἐμοὶ σὺ ὀνήσιμος εἴης . But, as he has expressed it, it is more delicate and yet palpable enough, especially for the friend of whom he makes the request.