Hey everybody, it's Matt. This is the 10-minute Bible hour podcast. And you know the thing that happens sometimes where you got something you want to ask for, but it feels like if you really just beat down the front door and just like explode through like the Kool-Aid man, I have a question, that it's just going to overwhelm the person you're asking. It's going to be too much. And so when that's the case, sometimes you might take a more delicate approach to asking the question. When I used to work at church, and I would talk with my elders about this, we would call it dignity space. We would try to give people enough room in their decision making and their relational decision making in church that they would save face and they wouldn't feel forced to do things that were obviously good for themselves, for others, for the life of the church. Part of the way that we would try to give dignity space is by rather than handling things that weren't, you know, boiling over yet, but that were percolating issues rather than handling those by calling everybody in for a meeting every single time. You have been called in to meet with the elders of the church. We didn't do that. Instead, you know, it's a small town, it's like 7,000 people there in Lander, Wyoming. And I would just try to catch people and talk like, you know, friends, because we were, we are. And I found that if you just chatted with people about life and the pressures they were feeling and what was going on, you just honestly and sincerely gamed things out out of normal human concern for a person you were actually concerned with. A lot of times, whatever the thing was that was in question or the point of friction that could blow up into a big issue if left unchecked, it would just come up naturally. And then it would kind of work itself out. And I found that as the pastor of the church, I didn't a lot of times really have to spell it out. Just showing that interest in the person and looking for the opportunity to just run into somebody and talk about life, you could get a lot done. It's kind of what's happening with this letter here. I mean, yeah, there's a timeline to it. Yeah, there's a degree of tension to it, but Paul isn't handling this in the twin letter to Colossians. He's handling the situation between Philemon and Onesimus in a private letter. And it's a very personal letter, and it's a very warm letter, and it doesn't come with any demands at all. In fact, really, the most direct demand in the whole letter is prepare a guest room for me because I want to come visit you. All the stuff about freeing your slave and bucking the conventions of the ancient world about how slavery works and how runaway slaves are to be treated, all of the stuff about reconciliation in the face of massive heart hurt, yeah, all of that stuff is handled very, very deftly, very, very gently. And I think that both parties knew exactly what was being said here, but it's being said so gently that when you mingle that with the passage of time and the lenses of modern assumptions about relationships and the institution of slavery, that it creates more confusion than there needs to be on the question of was Paul asking Philemon to manumit, that is, to set free Onesimus, his returned slave? I would put it at about 50-50. I have probably checked in with, well, let's just round the number off. Let's say roughly 10 scholars from varying philosophical, theological perspectives on their opinions on the book of Philemon. About half have said that Paul was not asking for Onesimus' freedom in this letter, and they are disappointed in Paul for that. One of them pretty angrily. About half look at this and say, no, no, no, no, just set aside all the noise and clutter. Clearly, Paul is asking for Onesimus' freedom here in a way that would have saved face and that would have been likely to work in the ancient world. And I'm with them. I could be wrong. It is possible that what Paul had in mind here was that Paul kind of conceived of this kind of slavery, if indeed he was sending Onesimus back to continue to be a slave, then I have to imagine that Paul felt that this was a legal slavery, that is, that Philemon was not an abusive slave master, but also that it was ethical and just, as just and ethical as slavery could be, that is, based on the descriptions we get from inside the Bible and outside the Bible. Paul, if he was expecting that Onesimus would continue in his state of servitude to Philemon, clearly was conceiving of this as Onesimus being a part of the household, being favored and included effectively as a part of the family, and this effectively being employment, long sustained employment. Or else, Paul wouldn't be asking this. Maybe abstractly we could imagine Paul making such a request, but given everything that we've seen about what Paul says about Onesimus and about Philemon and about how to treat other people in light of who Christ is. If what Paul is proposing in this letter is that Onesimus remain in slavery, but it be really, really good slavery, then Paul clearly is imagining a version of slavery that looks nothing like what we picture when we consider 150 years ago, 160 years ago in the American South. But again, I'm with the 50% who look at this and say, you just can't use language this tender-hearted that stops just short of saying the actual sentence, you need to free Onesimus, and not be strongly proposing, I'm strongly suggesting that you free Onesimus. Now look, again, there were other pressures in place beyond just the relational pressure and knowing Philemon's emotional dance steps and wanting to ask in a way that was likely to get good results. There's pressures beyond that that Paul is dealing with. I mean, go read Romans 13. That's the part of the Bible where Paul is writing about the relationship between the Christian and the state. He's going out of his way to buck all of the accusations that are being lobbed against Christians that they were troublemakers and brigands. I mean, look at what Peter says. He's also like, hey, if people persecute you, don't let it be because you were a murderer and you know, a gossip, a troublemaker, let it be because of Christ. But we don't go and sow chaos. That is not the Christian way. And so Paul was very careful with the reputation of the church of Christians in this regard. Maybe that's why he did not want to put into writing a letter sent by a prisoner that very likely would have been read by someone who scrutinized his correspondence when it came and went from his rented prison apartment. That's often how letters work when you're in jail. And if that pressure was in place, then all the more so. I mean, you can see what Paul's clearly doing. He's saying free your slave without saying free your slave. Okay, well, let me read it to you again. We'll see what you make of it. Perhaps the reason he, Onesimus, was separated from you, Philemon, for a little while was that you might have him back for good, no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He's very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. I mean, maybe you hear it different, and I can sure respect that. Man, I read that. He's talking about a slave as a man. He's talking about a slave as a brother twice, he's talking about a slave as being dear three separate times. He literally uses the phrase better than a slave, and the phrase no longer a slave. To me, that is awfully direct. And all of that, right up to the doorstep of you should free him language, comes right after, I'm not going to order you to do anything. I want this to be, you know, so that any favor you do is spontaneous and not forced. I think if you look at the larger context, this is what asking for someone to be freed would look like in this set of circumstances. And he goes on here in verse 17. So if you consider me a partner, dang, that's a lot of leverage. That's a lot of weight. Welcome him as you would welcome me. Well, how would Philemon welcome Paul? Oh, what do you know? Uh Paul covers that right here, just uh three verses later, four verses later in verse 22. And one more thing, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Okay, so Paul says, receive him as you would receive me. And then he says, Here's how I want you to receive me. Prepare a room for me. Make it kind of a thing when I come back to see you. And let our reunion be something that happens in harmony with what Christ is doing, and let it be as a result of answered prayer. If that is how Paul wants to be received, and he says that's how he wants to be received in this very same letter, then that is what Paul is asking on behalf of Onesimus. I'm not saying anything new here. I've been running up to this conclusion for weeks. And again, you may see this one different. We're good if you do. There's more than one way to read it. But to me, knowing Paul from the way we know him around the rest of the Bible, knowing Paul from what he says in the twin book to Philemon Colossians, knowing Paul and when he's got his angry eyebrows on and when he's got his friendly eyebrows on, and knowing that Paul is perfectly willing to say when someone has disappointed him and is bailing out and is weak, in light of all the things that we know about the parties involved in this letter, and in light of the structure of the request and all the components that are here that we've looked at today and over the course of the season, I think the best way to read it is that Paul is asking without saying the exact words for Philemon to manumit Onesimus and then to do one of two things. Retain Onesimus in an employment or familial status in his household, just no longer as a slave, or send Onesimus right back to Paul in Rome, or possibly send Onesimus back with Paul after Paul comes to visit Philemon and they all check in and catch up. Then Onesimus goes down the road with Paul and continues to work for the advancement of the gospel. That's what I think is going on. Obviously, I would really like to hear your thoughts on this. And we always have a conversation going at patreon.com/slash the TmbH podcast. You do not have to be a supporter or anything. There's a free version for that, and you can just jump in with the conversation. People are weighing in all the time. It's pretty good internet etiquette over there. That is a really nice room. So if generally you prefer not to engage with internet things, you could maybe make an exception for that one. The people are wonderful and it's always fruitful. Everyone is welcome. All right, more fine leemaning tomorrow. Home stretch. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Do this again soon.