yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you – being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ – (10) I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains (12) I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, (13) whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. (14) But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. (15) For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose,that you might receive him forever, (16) no longer as a slave but more than a slave – a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. (17) If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
The apostle Paul wrote this very personal letter to Philemon which we study today. Philemon was a wealthy converted Christian Gentile who lived in the city of Colosse and who probably held Christian services in his home. In the culture of those ancient times, the Roman world accepted slavery and slaves had no protection under Roman law. A certain slave of Philemon, named Onesimus, (meaning useful), apparently stole from Philemon and escaped from Colosse, making his way to Rome and somehow ended up with Paul who was imprisoned there. Onesimus grew in faith through Paul’s teaching to the point that both Paul and Onesimus felt the right thing to do was for Onesimus to return to Philemon. Paul penned this letter asking Philemon not just for forgiveness and a return to the status quo but that Philemon receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ.
Everyone in this story changed and behaved differently after meeting Jesus Christ. Paul was a Pharisee; a zealous persecutor of Christians and murderous aggressor. Onesimus was a grudging servant and thief and Philomen professed to follow Christ and treat all men as equal in the eyes of God yet he kept slaves. But now Paul sends Onesimus back, not claiming his apostolic authority but asking for demonstration of Christianity on the part of Philomen. Onesimus agrees to return to possible terrible punishment, including death, as God changes every person He saves through the gospel. As for Philomen, we don’t know the end of the story but the fact that this letter survives indicates Philomen did exactly what God meant for him to do. If the other were true I suspect the letter would have been destroyed
How has God changed our lives and attitudes? As Martin Luther put it, we are God’s Onesimi. We need to stop relating to each other on the basis of social status and relate as a family