Now Paul is under house arrest in Rome, guarded by one soldier and with few restrictions regarding visitors or his preaching and communicating with the churches. During this first imprisonment, lasting about two years (61-63 AD), he will write letters to Philemon and the churches in Colosse, Ephesus and Philippi.
The first letter is unique for the fact that Philemon is the only personal letter written to an individual. Philemon was thought to be a wealthy man and member of the church in Colosse. The purpose of the letter and the story behind it will unfold as we go through the letter.
In his greeting (verses 1-3) Paul mentions Timothy at the beginning of the letter. Timothy was known and respected by most of the churches, as he had accompanied Paul through most of his travels up to this very time. Though Luke does not often mention him; Timothy had been with Paul since the beginning of the second missionary journey (Acts 16:1). He also mentions Apphia, Philemon’s wife and Archippus, believed to be their son and the leader of the church in Colosse. The last thing in verse 2 is mention of “the church (that meets) in your house” (many of the early churches met in houses).
Paul then compliments Philemon, showing both common courtesy and a keen sense of what to say and how to say it. Paul is preparing to ask Philemon to demonstrate true, even exemplary, Christian character. So, before he does that, he actually compliments Philemon for already possessing that character. Let me paraphrase verses 4-7: “I thank God for you continually in my prayers, because I hear about your loyal faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people. And I pray that through the act of sharing your faith, you will have a complete understanding of every good thing we possess in our identification with Christ Jesus. I have personally obtained great joy and encouragement from your love; because, my brother, the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you.”
Then, Paul is ready to drop the hammer, so to speak. First, he tells Philemon he has more than enough boldness in Christ to just tell him what he should do. Then, he backs off and says he prefers to appeal to him as simply an old man and a prisoner (for the sake) of Christ. Then he gets to the point, saying, I appeal to you on behalf of Onesimus, who became my son while in these chains. And, I know he was once unprofitable to you, but now he has become profitable to both you and me. (Verses 8-11) Now we know someone named Onesimus is the reason for this letter.
At this time, a little explanation is in order. Onesimus is a slave who legally belonged to Philemon. It’s not known exactly why Paul says he was “once unprofitable”, some think he may have stolen property from Philemon, others think he was probably just insolent or lazy. It’s obvious he was a runaway, fugitive slave. He probably went to Rome in search of Paul and was converted. He may have known Paul only by reputation, or through Paul’s acquaintance with Philemon, although there is no evidence Paul had ever been in Colosse.
And, here, I have to mention Paul (as did Jesus) does not condemn or condone slavery. It was never the priority of either to challenge the morality of slavery or get involved in the perceived injustice of poverty or any other social circumstance. The reason is that there is no circumstance in life that prevents anyone from coming to Christ and experiencing a transformed life. And, although runaway slaves could be tortured or killed as an example to discourage such behavior, that was not the case here. Paul simply wanted everyone to do the right thing.
Paul continues his appeal in verses 12 through 16. He tells Philemon that Onesimus had become very dear to him and would have like for him to stay in Rome to help him. But, he didn’t want to do anything without Philemon’s knowledge or consent. Then he suggests that maybe the reason this happened was so Onesimus could return, not as a slave, but better, as a brother in Christ, adding, he’s dear to me, but even more dear to you, having become a (changed) man and a brother in the Lord.
Now, let’s read between the lines here. Paul is asking Philemon not to simply forgive Onesimus for running away, but to welcome him back, not as a slave but as a free man. Then, in addition to that, he asks Philemon to recognize the change that has taken place and love him as an equal, a brother in the Lord. Now we see the purpose in Paul emphasizing Philemon’s Christ-like character above.
Then Paul finishes his appeal to Philemon in verses 17-21. He begins with, “If you consider me a partner”. “Partner” is is from koinonos, used to describe a companion, those who have something in common or on a more personal level, a friend. In other words, if you consider me a friend, welcome him as you would me. If he’s wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account. I’m writing this myself (it was not uncommon for Paul to dictate his letters and simply sign them at the end, compare Romans 16:22 and 2 Thessalonians 3:17) and I promise to repay whatever it is in full.
I smiled when I read the last part of verse 19. The KJV says, “albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.” He may as well said, “I won’t remind you that you owe me everything”, and then he did exactly that! Paul continues, “let me have the joy of knowing you have forgiven him. I’m confident you will do even more than I ask.” Then in verse 22 Paul asks Philemon to prepare a guest room for him. This is one of the places Paul expresses some confidence that he would be set free and be able to visit the churches again.
Now, I want to do something a little different than I have when looking at previous letters. In his conclusion Paul mentions several men that are there with him in Rome, are familiar to the church in Colosse and send their greetings. It’s interesting to see who is mentioned here as part of Paul’s company during this initial part of his first imprisonment. The first is Epaphras. Paul includes him in his final greeting for this reason: he had been a faithful and important part of the church in Colosse for several years (Colossians 1:7, 4:12), but now he’s in Rome with Paul.
The second is Mark. This is the John Mark of Acts 12:12, a convert of Peter, the nephew of Barnabas. He’s the one who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey, but soon got homesick and went home. Then when they prepared for their second journey, Barnabas wanted Mark to go with them, but Paul refused. So, Barnabas didn’t go either. He obviously matured and worked with Paul for some time and was the author of the Gospel of Mark.
The third is Aristarchus of Macedonia (Greece). He had joined Paul during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:29) and sailed with him from Caesarea to Rome (Acts 27:2), then stayed on during Paul’s first imprisonment there; but nothing more is said about him. The next one mentioned is Demas. He’s mentioned in Colossians 4:14 (written the next year). We see his name one more time in 2 Timothy 4:10. We don’t know for sure when he joined Paul, or when exactly he left. But in the 2 Timothy reference above (not written until 5 years later) Paul says, “Demas has deserted me for love of this present world and has gone to Thessalonica.”
The last one is Luke, the author of the book of Acts and the Gospel of Luke. It may be assumed that Luke was a faithful companion and stayed with Paul to the end of his life. He’s mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:11 as the only one who is still with Paul (remember, this is 5 years later). This second letter to Timothy was written after Paul had been imprisoned in Rome for the second time and was just before he was martyred.