1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, 2to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, 5hearing of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6that the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus. 7For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
8Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate, 9yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. 10I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have become the father of in my chains, 11who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me. 12I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, 13whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News. 14But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will. 15For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while that you would have him forever, 16no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18But if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put that to my account. 19I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides). 20Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord.
21Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say.
22Also, prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be restored to you.
23Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, 24as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Paul wrote this epistle to Philemon. Three times Paul claims to be its author. In addition to Philemon being the letter’s main recipient, Paul also directs the letter to Appia, Archippus, and the church. Tradition holds that Philemon lived in or near Colossae some 100 miles from Ephesus. Paul calls Philemon “our beloved friend and fellow laborer.”
The message of Philemon is a plea by Paul to Philemon to accept back and forgive Onesimus. Paul even offers to pay any debt incurred by Onesimus against Philemon. Moreover, having become a Christian, it is likely Onesimus shared Paul’s desire to set things right, since from all evidence, Onesimus was voluntarily going back to Philemon, knowing the law allowed Philemon to put him to death if he wanted.
This small church congregated at the home of Philemon. It is, thus, speculated that he was a wealthy believer since he was able to host a church body and perform services inside of his home. Moreover, we see that he was able to afford slaves. It is often assumed Appia is Philemon’s wife and Archippus was his son. Philemon appears to have been a fairly wealthy individual, since he could afford slaves, and his house was big enough to host a church.
This epistle, which is also very common to the style and vocabulary we observe in Colossians, dates around A.D. 60 for a few reasons. First, this letter was most likely written by Paul during his first imprisonment. Second, we believe that this epistle was sent along with the epistle to the Colossians since Philemon lived so close to Colossae. Moreover, the early church various church fathers, including Origin, Tertullian and Eusebius had no good reason to deny Pauline authorship. Instead, they all assumed and affirmed that Paul was its author. Finally, this epistle was also included in the Muratorian Canon.
Onesimus had run away from Philemon before he became a Christian. At some point, he ended up in Rome and, by providence, met Paul and came to faith in Christ. Although he assisted Paul for a time, Paul felt compelled to send him back to Philemon. However, under Roman law, runaway slaves could be punished with death. Although as an Apostle, Paul says he could command Philemon to forgive Onesimus and accept him back, or even keep Onesimus with him in Rome. But Paul does not exploit his apostolic authority, so that Philemon would not feel compelled, but accept Onesimus “voluntarily.”
While some might question the relevance and possibly even divine inspiration of this epistle, there are good reasons to see its Christian relevance and affirm inspiration and two key theological points.
It wasn’t necessarily Paul’s intention, but he gives us a human example of the deep theological doctrines of substitution and imputation. Paul says to accept Onesimus “as you would me.” This is the same concept of Christ’s death on the cross. God accepts this sacrifice in the place of the sinner. Paul also says to put on his “account” anything Onesimus owed Philemon. This is an example of the doctrine of imputation. Rom 5:15-18 teaches that Adam’s sin is imputed (put in the account) to all people. In turn, when a sinner comes to faith in Christ, their sin is imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to believers.