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Phm_1:22. This further commission too—what a welcome, and wisely closing, indirect support to the intercession for Onesimus! πολλὴ γὰρ ἡ χάρις καὶ ἡ τιμὴ Παύλου ἐνδημοῦντος , Chrysostom; and so the apostle, in fact, wished soon himself to see what effect his intercession had had.
ἅμα δὲ καί ] that is, simultaneously with that, which thou wilt do in the case of Onesimus. This is the sense of the adverbial ἅμα in all passages,[81] even Col_4:3; Act_24:26; and 1Ti_5:13 (in opposition to Hofmann), and among the Greek writers, so that it by no means expresses merely the conception of being joined, that the one is to associate itself with the other (Hofmann), but the contemporary connection of the one action with the other; Suidas: ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν . Bleek erroneously renders: at the same time also I entreat thee; so, too, de Wette, as if ἅμα δὲ καὶ παρακαλῶ or the like were in the text.
ἑτοίμαζέ μοι ξενίαν ] Paul hoped at that time for a speedy liberation; his ulterior goal was Rome; the journey thither, however, he thought of making through Asia Minor, where he also desired to come to Colossae and to take up his quarters (Act_28:23) as a guest with Philemon. Comp. Introd. to Colossians, § 2. Observe, moreover, that ἅμα δὲ καί presupposes so near a use of the ξενία , as doubtless tallies with the shorter distance between Caesarea and Phrygia, but not with the distance from Rome to Phrygia, specially since, according to Php_1:25 f., Php_2:24, Paul thought of journeying from Rome to Macedonia; hence it would have been inappropriate and strange on his part, if, starting from Rome, he had already bespoken a lodging in Colossae, and that, too, one to be made ready so without delay.
ὑμῶν and ὑμῖν apply to the persons already named, Phm_1:1-2. To extend the reference further, namely, to “the body of Christians amidst which Philemon lives” (Hofmann), is unwarranted. The expression is individualizing. On χάρισθ ., may be granted, i.e. liberated in favour of you, comp. on Act_3:14; Act_27:24; on διὰ τ . προσευχ . ὑμ ., Php_1:19. This hope was not fulfilled. Calvin leaves this doubtful, but aptly adds: “Nihil tamen est absurdi, si spes, qualem de temporali Dei beneficio conceperit, eum frustrata fuerit.”
[81] Where, namely, there is mention of the combination of two expressions of activity, which takes place or ought to take place (as here). What ὁμοῦ is as τοπικόν , ἅμα is as χρονικόν (Ammonius, p. 13).