Philemon: Salutation, Philemon's Love And Faith, Plea For Onesimus, A Free Man

Paul writes the letter to Philemon in order to appeal to Philemon concerning a run-away slave named Onesimus. Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter. In it, Paul exhorts Philemon to forgive Onesimus and receive him back as a brother. How ought we to treat those who we feel have wronged us? This letter is loaded with practical application for today.

Transcript

Understanding Paul's Letter to Philemon

Intro/Outro 0:06

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast , where we unpack the meaning of books , passages and themes from Scripture . Join us each week as Dr David Klingler walks us through God's Word and teaches the Bible . Each episode has a study guide available in the show notes . This is Teach Me the Bible podcast .

Alex Wolfe 0:31

Hey everybody , welcome to Teach Me the Bible podcast . My name is Alex Wolfe . I'm here with Dr David Klingler . Our mission is helping the people of God understand the Word of God , and so we're really glad that you've joined us today , that you're entering into the discussion of understanding the biblical story . Now I want to point you to some other resources that we have on our website , teachmethebiblecom .

Alex Wolfe 0:57

We have all kinds of different blog posts and different podcasts on different books of the Bible . We have a Teach Me the Bible in a Year series , so we went through the entire biblical story in a year , and so just kind of want to point you that direction and go check out what we have over there . Get oriented with that . In fact , if you go through that series , you'll find that we have done the Book of Philemon , which we're going to be in today . We kind of did an overview in that series , but we don't like to do anything halfway here , so we are going to do it again as a little bit of a deeper dive into the Book of Philemon , even though it's just one chapter .

Dr. David Klingler 1:41

So it may not be a deeper dive , that's right .

Alex Wolfe 1:43

But we're going to do it again , just for fun , and so I know I'm excited about it . Last time we talked about it just to see Paul's rhetoric and almost cheekiness I like that word , cheeky so in the way that he talks to , in the way that he talks to the recipient of this letter . So , doug , if you want to kind of carry us away and help us understand what Paul's saying , here .

Dr. David Klingler 2:06

Yeah , so the letter that Paul writes to Philemon , which is the name of the letter , is Philemon . It's actually not addressed to just Philemon and there's some interesting things that start right away . A little bit of background . This is a we call this one of Paul's prison epistles , with Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians , and then here , philemon . Those are the four that usually are lumped together . There seems to be some common themes . Some of the same people are mentioned in some of these letters he written . Most people date this around 60 , 61 , somewhere like that , but it doesn't change . Whatever the situation is , it doesn't change what's being said . Apparently there is a runaway slave that has escaped from Philemon or left Philemon . His name is Anisimus and he has left Philemon and runs straight into Paul and Paul apparently chairs the gospel with him or something , and Anisimus now is , in Paul's estimation , useful to Paul and to his ministry . And so he sends Anisimus back , probably carrying this letter , and appeals to Philemon to allow Anisimus to serve Paul in prison on Philemon's behalf . It's basically the letter , and really Philemon has no choice . The apostles requested this of him and he's going to do it . The choice to be made is not what Philemon does , but why he does it , what's his motivation . And so in some ways Paul kind of boxes him in here with how he frames this situation . So let's walk through this . We'll go verse by verse . It's a short letter , it's only 25 verses in our English Bibles . And so Paul , a prisoner of Christ Jesus , and Timothy , our brother , to Philemon , our beloved and fellow worker . That fellow worker , hold on to that , because Paul has just jumped right in with all of his addresses . We seem to fly right past the introduction . But Paul is very intentional about how he introduces his letters . He's going to ask Philemon to be a fellow worker as well , fellow worker , and how . Philemon is going to continue to be a fellow worker . And so he addresses it to Philemon , our beloved and fellow worker , and to Ephia , our sister , and to Archipelus , our brother , fellow soldier , and to the church in your house . All the way through this letter there's going to be the word you , singular and plural , and so we'll make a distinction because you can't see it in the English text . But this is singular . So this is to Philemon , to these people and to the church in your Philemon's house . Okay , grace to y'all . Now he y'all plural . Now he expands it out . Grace to y'all , in peace from God , our Father , our Lord , jesus Christ .

Dr. David Klingler 5:36

The first thing is , if this is to Philemon , why is he having it read in front of the church ? Well , that's going to become pretty obvious pretty quickly , right ? I think my God always making mention of you , that singular you , philemon , in my prayers , because I hear of your , philemon , of your love and of the faith which you , philemon , have towards all the saints , towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints , that the fellowship of your faith , or the maybe participation of your faith , may be effective through the true knowledge of every good work which is in you , philemon , for Christ's sake , now let's stop there . What Paul's going to ask Philemon to do is to send Onesimus back , but not just send him back . Send him back as a fellow worker , a brother in Christ , not a slave right , regard him as a brother .

Dr. David Klingler 6:49

In doing so , philemon feels like he may feel like he was wrong that Onesimus ran off , and so the question is is Philemon going to hold a grudge , or is he not ? Or is he going to treat , forgive and treat him as brother ? And so I hear of your love . Back to verse five . I hear of your , philemon , your love and your faith which you have toward the Lord and towards all the saints . Remind you of that .

Alex Wolfe 7:14

Yeah , just right . Yeah , let's just set that .

Dr. David Klingler 7:17

And the fellowship , the participation , probably is better . The participation of your faith may become effectual , effective , through the true knowledge of every good thing which is in you . For Christ's sake and he's going to pile on this You've been doing great . Let me add one more to the list , and this is a big one , don't mess it up . Yeah , for I have come to have much joy . This is verse seven . Much joy and comfort in your love , because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you , brother , through you , philemon , again building up this , all that he's doing for Christ , for the sake of Christ , and through his commitment for the sake of Christ , the church in his house , how he's apparently caring for people and participating in the gospel . The brethren are encouraged . Therefore , right , verse eight , because of all that you're doing for Christ .

Dr. David Klingler 8:16

Therefore , though , I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper , yet , for love's sake , rather , I appeal to you , since I am such a person as Paul , the age , the old apostle Paul , and now a prisoner for Christ Jesus , right , a prisoner . So you're a fellow worker , you're there with a fellow soldier and here I am in prison , a prisoner , that old aged Paul , prisoner that I am Right . He's laying it on thick , I think . Here I appeal to you for my child , anesimus , my child , whom I have begotten in my imprisonment , and so Anesimus has apparently left , flee from Philemon , run straight into Paul , been converted , and so Paul calls him a child . I appeal to you , philemon , for my child Anesimus , whom I have begotten in my imprisonment , who formerly was worthless to you , was useless to you , but now is useful to both you and to me , and I've sent him back to you in person , that is , sending my very heart , whom I wish to keep with me so that , on your behalf , he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel , but without your consent I didn't wanna do anything so that your goodness and here's why he's sending him back , so that your goodness would be in effect , not by compulsion but out of your own free will , for perhaps he was separated for this reason for a little while that you should have him back forever , no longer as a slave but much more than a slave , a beloved brother . Hold on to that . A beloved brother . Paul calls him a child , onesimus , a child earlier , a beloved brother , especially to me .

Dr. David Klingler 10:26

But how much more do you , both in the flesh and in the Lord , if you then regard me as a partner in that word there , that partner , that's the same word that was back in verse six , that your fellowship , your partnership , your participation of your faith . It's the same root word , right that ? If you regard me as your fellow participant in the gospel , accept him as you would me .

Implications of Paul's Letter to Philemon

Dr. David Klingler 11:05

But if he's wronged you in any way or owes you anything , charge it to my account . I , paul , am writing this with my own hand . I will repay it . Not to mention that you owe to me even your own self as well . That's good , I like that . So if he owes you anything , charge it to my account . I would remind you that you owe me everything . Let's just consider it .

Alex Wolfe 11:32

Yeah , yeah , let's call it even Stephen . Yeah , right .

Dr. David Klingler 11:35

You owe me your own salvation as well . You owe me even your own self as well . Yes , brother , let me benefit from you and the Lord refresh my heart in Christ , having confidence in your obedience . I write to you since I know that you will do even more than what I say . That's a compliment sandwich .

Alex Wolfe 11:55

Yeah , that's right . He compliments before , tells me what to do . Compliments at the end that's smart . Yeah , that's yeah .

Dr. David Klingler 12:03

At the same time , verse 22, . At the same time , also prepare a lodging , for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you Now this in verse 22, . This goes back to the plural . Now , why is he doing that ? Okay , At the same time , also prepare lodging , for I hope that through YAHL's prayers I may be given to YAHL . Now he introduces this letter with these plural folks to Ephia and Archipas and the whole church , and so this is being read in front of the whole church .

Dr. David Klingler 12:41

Right , yeah , you could just , you gotta envision this , right ? So Philemon's reading this thing out to the church and the whole church is just kind of looking at each other , giving each other the side eye , like , oh man , what's he gonna do ? That's right . And every eye in the church is on Philemon to see how he's gonna respond . You can imagine him reading this out loud to the church for the first time . Or maybe he wasn't reading , maybe someone else was reading it . Whatever , whoever's reading is irrelevant . All eyes were on Philemon to see what his response would be . You probably could see when Onesimus's name , of course Onesimus comes in , probably hands in the letter , and his face turns probably red with anger . You know they don't read in too much here , but you just imagine At least Paul's very strategic in having this thing read in front of everyone .

Dr. David Klingler 13:35

You know , this accountability that is playing out here is huge . And then Paul says so at the same time , prepare lodging for me , and I hope that through y'all's prayers I may be given to y'all a Paphras , my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus , says hello , he greets you . Is it too big a thing to ask for you to be a fellow participant since we're all over here in prison ? Yeah , as do Mark and Aristarchus and Demis and Luke , my fellow workers . Do you wanna join in with the ? You have been right , my fellow worker , that's back in verse one and archipelago . So are we all in this together , are we not ? Are we going to forgive or are we not ? And so the kind of the rhetorical strategy here for Paul is just really quite fascinating and kind of him's filamen in yeah , what choice do you have ? And I don't think he's manipulating the situation . I think that what he's doing and we've all been in this situation where you know the right thing to do , you just don't wanna do it and someone says all right , look , we all know the right thing to do so . Just let it go . You go ? All right , I'll let it go . I think that's really what's going on here .

Dr. David Klingler 15:04

But this letter is really important for a couple reasons . I think just some real practical points of application could be pointed out here . Number one the actions of the leader living out . The leader living out what he says he believes affects all people . That the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the true knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake . When we act in accordance with our faith , people around us are encouraged . If you're a parent and you have kids and you blow it boy , it's huge for them to see that you own up to it and you respond correctly . When you encourage others , people see it and we don't do it because people see it . Or when you do things even better , when you do things that people don't see , people are encouraged by . So there's so many just real practical , solid things to think about . The other thing is that individual accountability and corporate accountability go together .

Dr. David Klingler 16:17

Yeah , so that , excuse me . So that you know , don't say that you are a Christian . I mean , you may be a Christian , but notice that the building up of the body of Christ and service to Christ are one and the same . That because of your love and your faith and your faith , what you have towards the Lord Jesus and towards all saints , right , those are interchangeable too . To love the Lord is to love his bride . To love the Lord is to love the church . If you've been forgiven , then you're gonna be called on to forgive for the building up of the body that people would see it and live in accordance with it . So there's so many really good things going on here in this letter to Philemon , but I think it's a letter for the most part we don't pay attention to . I've never heard it preached in a church . I've never heard it taught . I would be stunned if anyone has a Bible verse , a memory verse out of Philemon . Yeah , you know , if you had to choose one I think it'd probably be verse six .

Dr. David Klingler 17:33

I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you , for Christ's sake . I've never heard it , but that'd be a decent one if you could keep it in the context . But our individual actions have corporate results , and I love how Paul writes to an individual , but I think he even says this right . Therefore , though , I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what's proper .

Alex Wolfe 18:08

I know that I don't have to , but because I know that you do , you may not like it , but you'll do what's You'll live towards all the saints , now including .

Dr. David Klingler 18:24

Onesimus , right , yeah , so he was formerly useful to you , but now he's useful to both you and me . Well , how is Onesimus useful to ? I see how he's useful to Paul , how's he useful to Philemon in the building up of the gospel , in service to the apostle , in the building up of the body of Christ , and so now no longer regard him as a runaway servant or slave , but as a fellow worker and a brother in Christ . And so just a great letter here .

Alex Wolfe 18:56

Yeah , like you said , it's very practical . And now just to think about this letter being read in the body in the gathering of this church , I mean , as a modern Christian , that's horrifying . We don't do things like that . Well , we don't call people to accountability in the assembly If we did , I think people just up and walk to the next one . But , like you said , it highlights that accountability to the church .

Dr. David Klingler 19:26

If I had to guess , if I had to speculate and I hate doing this , but I would guess that in the reading of this letter the first one , philemon is reading this letter or it's being read his heart melted in the middle of this letter , right ? I don't think he was too happy with Onesimus right .

Dr. David Klingler 19:44

But as he read this , he just watched his whole temperament change . The church is encouraged . I'd like to think that Paul now we don't know how he responded , because he said no , I'm sending you back , but I don't have to like it but I think that at least what Paul's expectation is is that Philemon would follow through on it and there would be a real reconciliation of these two and then a commitment to serve the Lord together . And so just a really really neat letter . Yeah , that's great . I'd like to teach .

Alex Wolfe 20:21

That's great .

The Power of God's Word

Alex Wolfe 20:22

Well , thank you for walking us through that book yet again , and it becomes clear each time we walk through it , and that's the same with all of these books . You know , it doesn't matter if we do it one time or a hundred times . The more we do it , the better it gets , and so the more clear it gets for us and for you , and that's our hope really , like we said in the beginning , that you would come to understand the word of God , and so that's where we're committed to helping with . We love doing it , and so we just thank you for tuning in and for engaging in it with us . So , with that said , we'll see you next week for the next book .

Intro/Outro 20:56

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