Paul’s Letter to Philemon: A Story about How the Gospel Changes Lives

INTRODUCTION

As background for today’s message I want to tell you some things I have learned about slavery in ancient times.

Slaves made up a large proportion of all—or almost all—ancient civilizations.

In the Roman Empire it is estimated that one third of its population was slaves.

In the New Testament world, everyone who was of any consequence owned slaves. To own slaves was as natural as owning a car or a television is for people today. They would have been unable to imagine a world without slavery as it is for us to imagine a world without electricity.

Jews had more humane laws about the treatment of slaves than Greeks and Romans, but wealthy Jews also bought and sold slaves.

Especially in the Gentile world, slaves did the hard work. To actually have to do work was considered demeaning, at least if you could afford slaves.

Slaves worked in the mines and on the farms. Some slaves were forced to work chained together.

Other slaves had responsible jobs in the households. They cared for the children. They were household servants. Sometimes slaves managed the estates of the rich. They served as teachers and doctors. You may remember a book that you read as children Aesop’s Fables. It was one of my favorites. Aesop was a slave.

People became slaves when they were captured in wars or taken by pirates. People who had debts they couldn’t pay, sometimes sold their children as slaves. Sometimes the debtors themselves and their whole families were sold to pay the debts.

Many slaves were born slaves.

Slave masters could and did have sex whenever they wanted with their slave girls. The children of these slaves became slaves too—even though their master was their father.

Slaves could not legally marry, and families were broken up if their master decided to sell them.

In the Roman Empire unwanted children were often thrown away by being discarded with the rubbish—especially girls, who were less valuable than boys.

Archeologists found a letter from an absent husband to his pregnant wife. In it he instructs her, “If the baby is a boy, save him; if it is a girl, discard it.”

Most of these discarded babies died, but often people would rescue these abandoned babies and raise them as prostitutes or to work in the mines.

But slavery wasn’t all bad. Some slaves had kind masters. Some even got paid for their work and could save their money and buy their freedom.

The New Testament writers assumed that slavery was here to stay, and Paul instructed masters to be kind to their slaves. He reminded them that they also had a Master who was in heaven.

We read in Luke 7 about a Roman officer who came to Jesus to ask Jesus to heal a sick slave who was dear to him.

Paul often calls himself a slave of Christ. The word in some Bibles is translated “servant,” but the Greek word Paul uses means “slave.” They had another word for a servant who was not a slave. Paul gloried in the dignity of being Christ’s slave.

I. Today I’ve chosen to talk to you about St. Paul’s most intimate letter—a little one-page letter tucked in at almost the end of the New Testament. It is the letter of Paul sent to his friend Philemon.

A. These are some things you need to know to understand this letter:

Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter. He may have been in Rome or he may have been in Ephesus. Paul was arrested and imprisoned several times.

 We don’t know whether he was locked up in a cell or maybe just chained to a guard in a place where he might have had more freedom.

Anyway, wherever he was, he had friends who provided for him. I have read that in ancient times they didn’t feed the prisoners. That was up to the prisoner’s friends. And Paul had friends who helped him during his imprisonments.

B. Paul begins his letter this way:

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (vv1-3).

From this introduction we learn that Philemon was a believer. His wife was named Apphia and his son was Archippus, and they were all dear friends of Paul.

We also learn that Philemon and Apphia hosted a church in their home. In the early days of Christianity all the churches met in homes. Many New Testament churches had no more members than the people we have sitting here in this room.

C. Then Paul writes:

I thank God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you (vv4-7).

Paul usually begins his letters with thankfulness for the people he addresses and an acknowledgment of their love and commitment to Jesus Christ. He reminds the people he writes to that he gives thanks for them every day.

Paul tells Philemon how much the hearts of God’s people have been refreshed through his kindness.

Is your life the kind of life that refreshes the hearts of your fellow believers?

II. Now we come to the purpose of the letter.

A. Paul is writing to ask a very hard thing of Philemon. And he does what he has to do with tact and grace, because he is asking Philemon to do something that was unimaginable in the ancient world. He writes:

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment (vv8-10).

Now, here’s the deal. Onesimus is Philemon’s runaway slave. He has run away from Philemon, his master. Later in the letter, Paul hints at the possibility that Onesimus has stolen money before he ran away.

For a slave to run away was a very serious crime in those days. If a slave was caught and returned to his master, the master could kill him if he wanted to. He could whip him. He could mutilate him.

But Onesimus has met up with Paul during his travels, heard the gospel from Paul, and become a disciple of Jesus. He has become a valuable friend of Paul.

We might suppose that Paul would encourage Onesimus to enjoy his freedom and help him get established as a free person, and never tell Philemon about having met Onesimus.

But in that time in history that wasn’t an option. So Paul is sending Onesimus back to his master, and that is the purpose of the letter.

B. Now listen to the tactful and gracious way Paul asks Philemon to do something that would have been unheard of in the ancient world:

I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me) (vv10-11).

(Here Paul is making a play on the name “Onesimus” which means “useful”—a common name given to slaves. So Paul says that although Onesimus had been useless, now he expects that Onesimus will live up to his name.)

I am sending him back to you sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own free will (vv12-14).

Paul is putting a lot of pressure on Philemon when he says that sending his dear friend Onesimus back is like tearing his heart out and sending it away.

But Paul is so sure of Philemon’s love for Jesus and for him, that he boldly assumes that Philemon will welcome his runaway slave back without punishment.

C. As Paul writes on, he becomes more and more bold, all the while trusting that Philemon’s heart has been so transformed by the love of Jesus that he will receive Onesimus back, no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother in Christ! Listen:

Perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

I, Paul write this with my own hand. I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ (vv15-20).

So Paul tells Philemon that now that Onesimus is his brother in Christ, he should welcome him back as a brother forever. Remember that Philemon and Apphia had a church in their house. Can you picture Onesimus, the runaway slave, now sitting with Philemon’s family and the other members of the church that met in his house worshiping together as equals before the Lord?

In those days the members of each congregation took part in the worship. So Onesimus would have been entitled to pray publicly in the meetings and to share his insights into scripture—maybe to tell of his experiences and how he came to Christ through his meeting with Paul, the apostle.

(Remember, that Paul complimented Philemon at the beginning of the letter by telling him how Philemon’s love has refreshed believers. Now he invites Philemon to refresh his own heart also by doing this generous thing.)

And so Paul finishes his letter:

Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted to you.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit (vv21-end).

III. So how did it all work out?

A. Did Philemon welcome Onesimus back as a brother in Christ? Did he prepare the room for Paul to stay in on his next visit? Did he finally free Onesimus and send him back to work with Paul?

I think we know the answers. If Philemon had refused Paul’s plea, he would have destroyed the letter. Instead he treasured it, passed it on, and it became part of Holy Scripture.

B. We read nothing more of Onesimus in the New Testament, but later writers, including Saint Jerome, tell us that Onesimus became a preacher of the gospel and even a bishop.

Tradition has it that Onesimus was cruelly tortured in Rome for 18 days and finally stoned to death in AD 95. St. Onesimus even has his own day in the church calendar. It is February 16, two days after St. Valentine’s Day.

APPLICATION

This story shows us how God often works through things that are evil in themselves.

It wasn’t good that Paul was in prison.

It wasn’t good that Onesimus ran away and got into trouble.

But it all worked out for good didn’t it? Paul found a son; Onesimus found a Savior; and Philemon found a brother in Christ.

And we have a beautiful story that tells us how the gospel changes lives.

Philemon’s life was changed when he became a believer and opened his house to his brothers and sisters in Christ as a church.

Onesimus’s life was changed when he found Christ, and with Paul’s precious letter returned to face the master he had wronged.

Philemon’s life was changed again when he welcomed his runaway slave home and embraced as a brother in Christ.

Can you imagine the scene when Onesimus, the runaway, knocked on Onesimus’s door and handed Onesimus Paul’s letter?

I can see Philemon reading that letter and then putting his arms around Onesimus his arms around Onesimus with tears in his eyes and welcoming him back. Onesimus is weeping also.

This homecoming reminds me of the father in Jesus’s parable of the Prodigal Son when the waiting Father welcomes his son back from the far country.

Has your life been transformed by your faith in Jesus? Are you a different person than you would be if you had never met Jesus?

Can you forgive? Can you love the unlovable? Is the main motive of your life to please the Savior who died for you? Can you live your life as a grateful response to God’s love?

In this story we also have a parable of God’s grace illustrated by Paul’s intercession for Onesimus.

Paul tells Philemon: “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account” (v18).

Paul brought the sinner Onesimus and his master Philemon together and made them friends—a dim reflection of how Jesus brings us sinners to God and makes us God’s friends.

Do we ever have the opportunity to draw people together who have been separated by grudges—or misunderstandings—or sins, and, like Jesus—and like St. Paul—making them friends?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).