The cast of characters, are introduced in Vs. 1. Paul, the author of the letter, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, Timothy," our brother", Philemon, "our dear friend and fellow worker", and Onesimus, the runaway slave on whose behalf Paul wrote the letter. This is a very persona letter and Philemon was one of only three individuals (Timothy and Titus are the others) to receive a divinely inspired letter from Paul. Paul also mentions Apphia, the wife of Philemon and his son Archippus.

In his first imprisonment in Rome in AD61-63 Paul was a prisoner in a house there, a rented house, and able to do some ministry. He was careful to point out that his imprisonment was for the sake of and by the sovereign will of Christ. By beginning with his imprisonment and not his apostolic authority, Paul made this letter a gentle and singular appeal to a friend.

The first three verses give us the introduction. Vs. 4-7 show us the characteristics of someone who forgives and in vs. 8 we come to the action of forgiveness itself. We’re going to be looking at the very issue of forgiveness and transformed attitudes.

Judging by his ownership of slaves and the size of his house (large enough to house the house church), Philemon was a wealthy resident of Colosse. It is likely that he and Paul became friends during Paul’s three year ministry in Ephesus.

Onesimus was a slave of Philemon of Colosse who robbed his master and made his way to Rome, the frequent goal of such fugitives, the "common cesspool of the world." Some Ephesian or Colossian in Rome, perhaps Aristarchus, or Epaphras seems to have recognized the man and brought him to Paul in his captivity. Onesimus became a Christian and was persuaded to return to his master Philemon. It would appear that Onesimus left Rome in company with TYCHICUS, carrying the letter to Philemon and also Paul’s communication to the Ephesian and Colossian churches. The letter is asking Philemon to forgive Onesimus for his defection, for his defrauding and for whatever he might owe Philemon, having stolen things when he left. So it is a call to a man to forgive one who has sinned against him, namely this runaway slave Onesiumus.

The theme of this little book is forgiveness. Interestingly enough the word is never mentioned here. It’s almost as if the Holy Spirit made this a "fill in the blank" epistle. It’s all over the place but yet never stated as forgiveness and yet that is clearly to the reader what it’s all about.

You would assume that no less a theologian as the Apostle Paul in calling a man to forgiveness would want to give him the theology of forgiveness, or the biblical principles that make forgiveness a mandate, a requirement, or a command. But you don’t find them here. In fact as you go through this epistle there is nothing said in terms of principle about forgiveness. The appeal, quite on the contrary, is not to law or principles or theology or biblical texts but the appeal is to love. He takes the high ground. He knows that Philemon is a godly man. He knows he is a spiritual man. He knows he is a man whose heart toward God is right. And so he makes no appeal to law but he makes an appeal to love, which again I say is the high ground. Now we assume that the theology of forgiveness was known to Philemon, and so Paul leaves it unsaid.

In Vs. 8-9 Paul says, "Look, I could command you. I have enough confidence in my commission in Christ…is what he means…I have enough boldness, I have enough courage as an Apostle directly commissioned by the resurrected Christ to command you to forgive based upon the theology of forgiveness that is mandated by God. I have the divine right to command you. I have no lack of courage to use that divine right because it is in Christ given me in my commission, and so I could demand that you do what is proper or literally what is fitting in the Lord, what is distinctively Christian, namely that your forgive, yet.." Vs. 9 says, "For love’s sake I rather appeal to you." I’m taking the high ground.

Paul loved Philemon. Back in vs. 1 he calls him "agapetos", beloved. In vs. 7 he says, "I’ve come to have much joy and comfort in your love." There was a bond of love between these two men. There was no need to command. "Love is the fulfilling of the law", he says in Romans 13. Love is the high ground. Beyond the law and the demand and the command it compels one to do what is right. And while forgiveness is mandatory in the Scripture and while it could have been commanded by Apostolic authority, Paul knows the man to whom he speaks is a man who is motivated by love. He’s talking to a spiritually minded mature godly man and love will move his heart. So the reference to Paul’s authority is placed there just for Philemon to look at it and take a glimpse and then it’s pulled back. A little reminder that he could use it if he wanted to. But then he says I’m just asking you for love’s sake.

And then in order to tenderize Philemon’s heart, because this is a tough scene, he throws in two statements about himself. Do this for love’s sake, he says, since I am such a person as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus. To get the heart of Philemon, Paul wants to use some sympathetic communication. He says will you do this for poor me? He’s just really pulling at his heart strings here. And he speaks of himself in two sort of pathetic ways intending to tenderize Philemon. After all, this is a pretty interesting spot to find Philemon. As he’s reading down here like you and I are today and he’s reading down through vs. 8, he is there in his house reading this brief letter and looking right in front of him he sees Onesimus, the runaway slave, who defrauded him and all the emotion that he has been feeling from the time Onesimus first left and all the intervening time is welling up in his heart, he really doesn’t know what’s gong on. Here is Tychicus whom he knows who is involved in leadership of the church at Colossiae, he’s got the epistle to the Colossians in his hands to read to the whole church. And here is Onesimus, this guy that has elicited out of his heart all kinds of hostility and temptations to anger that he’s had to deal with and he’s back and he’s looking him eyeball to eyeball and he doesn’t quite understand what is going on. And He’s feeling emotions that might make him want to take Onesimus and beat him, or imprison him. And so the Apostle Paul says I’m just going to ask you to forgive him for love’s sake, and would you please do that because the request is coming from Paul, the aged man, who is a prisoner? He just wants to pull a little sympathy.

The word aged means just that, "aged". He was not that old, I mean probably 60. But in those days people didn’t live longer than that very often. John the Apostle lived longer than that but that was rare. People’s life span was shorter then. In fact, he may not have been very much older than Philemon because Philemon was old enough to have a son in the ministry.

You can be sure that the years that had accumulated on the back of Paul were heavier than the years that had accumulated on the back of Philemon. There may not have been big time span but there was a span in the aging process. Paul was older than his years. Back in Acts 7:53 when he was standing there watching them stone Stephen it says he was as young man, he’s not a young man anymore. He’s old and he’s older than his years because he’s endured so much imprisonment, terrible food, illness, travels, persecutions, work, bodily injuries.

He said I bear in my body the marks of Christ’s scars. All over his body from stones that crushed out his breath in Lystra, from whips and rods and everything else and stocks that he had been prisoner in. All the painful strenuous debilitating experience that was crammed into those years made him Paul the aged. And this tender glimpse is meant to pluck the heartstrings of Philemon and make him feel sympathy for this old warrior and thus excite love for the sacrificial Apostle who led him to Christ.

If that wasn’t enough to elicit sympathy, Paul rattles his chains again and says, "And I’m also a prisoner of Christ Jesus." Never a prisoner of Rome in his mind, always of Christ Jesus, captive of Christ. Acts 28 says he was a prisoner in a rented house, he has people coming and going, he’s chained probably to a Roman soldier. And he’s saying, "Philemon, can you dare refuse a request from poor old me?"

And what is the request? What action is he to take? Starting in vs. 10 we get in to the nitty-gritty, if you will, of forgiveness. And there are three actions that one who forgives must take. Three things are involved in forgiveness.

First of all, reception. What do I mean by that? Well, the first element in forgiveness is just to open up your life an take the person back. Let him in your life. Vs. 10, "I appeal to you for my child whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, Onesimus, who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me.

Now we don’t know if Philemon ever had called Onesimus useless while he served him or after he ran away, but he might have been tempted to think of his slave in that way. Paul knew that God’s transforming grace had changed Onesimus. How would Philemon respond to his slave when he appeared at his house? Paul counted on Philemon’s maturity and insight as a Christian leader to help him be reconciled with this slave. Rather than punish Onesimus, Paul pointed out that Philemon should realize the slave would be useful now. He would live up to his old nick name.

Paul continues, "And I have sent him back to you in person--- that is sending my very heart--- whom I wish to keep with me that in your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel. But without your consent I didn’t want to do anything that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion but of your own free will."

Just take him back he says. I’m just appealing to you, take him back. And this should be done immediately because there are three things that are now true about Onesimus. You ready for them? He is repentant. He is transformed. And he is proven faithful. Paul is saying, you need to take him back because he’s ready to be taken back.

And forgiveness begins with reception personally. Close the gap. Cross the rift. Heal the wound. Let Onesimus back into your life. I appeal to you, he says, for my child. Like you, Philemon, I led him to Christ. He’s my son in the faith like Timothy, like Titus, like others. And the scene is very dramatic for there stands Onesimus. This is a shock to Philemon cause he’s back with Tychicus and he’s come back with this incredible experience with the Apostle Paul. And Paul says take him back, he is come in repentance.

You say, "Where’s the repentance?" Vs. 10, "I appeal to you for my child whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, Onesimus." It’s implied. How do you know he repented? Because he’s there, folks, he’s there. He went back. He did the most dangerous thing. He went back humble, repentant to face the man he had wronged, the man who had the right of power over his very life to exact punishment. He went back. That’s repentance.

You don’t have to say the word, you just have to do the deed. Remember what John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and the scribes? He says why don’t you show me the fruits of repentance, not just talk about it. Here’s the fruit. He went back. Very dangerous. Could have cost him his life. But he did what was right. He says I appeal to you for this one who stands before you who I have begotten. I’m the human instrument of his salvation by the grace of God, he is now my child, he came to Christ here in my imprisonment and I’m sending him back open your arms, he’s repentant. Obviously or he wouldn’t be there. He’s humble. He seeks to have restored relationship with this man whom he has wronged. That is the first element of forgiveness, the reception of the person back into one’s life. Open up, kill the hostility, embrace the person.

Second, not only was he repentant but he had been transformed. Look back at Vs 11. He says You are not getting the same one back that you lost. "Who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me." He’s not the same guy. By the way, this is a play on words. Onesimus means "useful." It was a common name for slaves, probably started as a nickname. They just nicknamed their slaves useful. And they probably had nicknamed some slaves useless cause those two words in the Greek are very similar. So depending on how good they were they nicknamed them useful or useless.

There is a third element that indicates that he was worthy to be received into relationship and that is he was not only repentant and transformed, but he was proven faithful. Vs. 12, Paul says I’ve sent him back to you in person; that is sending my very heart. This guy’s proven. I mean, me sending him to you is very painful. I sent him back with Tychicus because I knew it was right, He had to be restored. There had to be the reconciliation of the relationship, he had to be received by you, it had to be made right, but I just have to tell you, I’m sending him back, and it’s cutting out my heart. This guy can be loved.

The Apostle Paul had an immense capacity to love and he had come to the point where he loved this man. He says in Vs. 13, "Whom I wish to keep with me." I wanted to keep him that’s why it’s like cutting out my heart to send him. And listen to this subtle little note, "That in your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel." What does he mean by that? It’s another way to affirm the gracious loving character of Philemon. He says, "Oh Philemon, I’m sending him back and it’s cutting out my heart. I wanted to keep him so that he could minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel in your place.

I know you wish you could be here and I thought well I’ll just keep Onesimus and that will be just like having you here and he’ll minister to me where you’re unable to do that. I know you would have wanted me to have some ministry and I know you would have done it yourself if you could have, so I thought well I’ll just keep him here and he can minister to me in your stead because I know you’d love to do that.

But he says, "Look---vs. 14—without your consent I didn’t want to do anything." I know you would have loved to leave him here to help me in my imprisonment—and he rattles his chains for the fourth time just to keep the heart of Philemon tender. "I know you would have wanted him to stay but I wouldn’t do that without your consent that your goodness should not be, as it were, by compulsion but of your own free will." I didn’t want you to be good because you didn’t have a choice. I wanted you to be good because you had a choice. I didn’t’ want to do anything against your will. I don’t want to force the issue. I don’t want to presume on your love and I want you to make the choice to be good on your own free will. More than that, Paul wanted him to see the transformation, the repentance and the value of Onesimus.

Now that leads to a second element. The first one is reception. The second one is restoration. Paul suggests that not only should you open your arms and take him back because he’s worth loving but you need to put him back into service, you need to put him back into function and ministry. Vs. 15, this is fascinating, "For perhaps—and here he appeals to the providence of God---perhaps Onesimus was for this reason parted from you for a while that you should have him back forever no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother." What a statement! Paul says, "Look, I’m not going to mitigate the guilt of Onesimus, obviously what Onesimus did was wrong, but I just want you to consider that maybe God had a purpose."

He takes the infinite contingencies and decisions of all of humanity and uses them to accomplish His own purpose, and so Paul says don’t you think perhaps that God had planned all along that when the man left you he would come back in another way? He parted from you for a while that you should have him back forever. You lost a slave and you gained a brother. God allowed it. God overruled it. A temporary separation to lead to an eternal relationship.

What Onesimus did could have had irreparable damage in terms of the trust of Philemon. But he needed to see that God was working in this and God had led that man right to Paul, got him converted and sent him right back. And now, vs. 16, he says no longer merely a slave. It doesn’t mean he’s not to be a slave, this isn’t an emancipation proclamation. He’s saying he’s not any longer merely a slave, he’s more than a slave, he comes back a beloved brother. So take him back, yes to be a servant again, yes to be slave, but not just that, more than that. He said he’s already been that, Vs. 16, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh, that’s as a physical slave, and in the Lord as a brother in Christ. You get him on both counts.

Paul is not abolishing slavery. He says he comes back as a servant, he comes back as a slave. But he’s not just a slave. You lost merely a slave, you got back a more faithful slave who will operate to the glory of the Lord and you got back a beloved brother in Christ. How much more will he be to you, Paul says, than he was to me. To me he was only in the Lord a brother, to you he is in the flesh a servant and in the Lord a brother. You get his physical service, you get his spiritual service in the fullness.

4. PLEASE READ PHILEMON 17-19

Forgiveness means I open my heart, I take the person in relationally. It means I take him in in terms of restoration to service. Reception, that’s personal. Restoration, to usefulness and service. Thirdly, the third component in a forgiving relation is restitution. There has been wrong done and that wrong needs to be dealt with. How will it be dealt with? Obviously when Onesimous bolted the place he defrauded Philemon. If the price of a good servant was 500 denarii, he would have to go take 500 denarii which could be a normal common wage, 500 days wages, and buy himself another servant which means it cost him dearly. Not only that, it seems apparent that when Onesimus left he took some of the possessions and money of Philemon in order to fund his fugitive life. A trip to Rome would be costly. And so he has definitely defrauded Philemon.

And so there has to be restitution. How is Paul going to deal with this? Onesimus has nothing. Like the prodigal son he wasted all his substance on riotous living and then he didn’t get a job, he just served the Apostle Paul, which is understandable because of his new found faith and the longings of his heart to be around this godly man. He probably comes back with empty pockets. So how is he going to deal with restitution? Vs. 17-18, "If then you regard me a partner, a fellow partaker of spiritual life, accept him as you would me." Oh my, He says just treat him the way you’d treat me. I want Onesimus to have my righteousness in your eyes. Welcome him as you would welcome me. Forgive him as you would forgive me. Hold an obligation against him as you would hold an obligation against me. Just take him back just the way you’d take me.

And then in Vs.18 Paul adds, "But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account." Restitution is always an essential component of forgiveness. It would have been right for Philemon to say you’ll pay me back what it cost me to replace you, I’ll take it out of your wages. You will work overtime and you will restore back to me what you stole from me when you left. That would be justice; that would not be wrong. But neither is it wrong to be gracious. To say, "Now that you are a transformed person I no longer want to hold you responsible for that which you did in your unredeemed status, I graciously forgive you. That would have been a wonderful thing to do and certainly would have been a Christian high ground approach to the issue.

But just to take any pressure at all off Philemon, to be forced into a gracious act of total forgiveness Paul says whatever he owes you I’ll pay because he has no money. You say did Paul have any money? He must have had a little, he was renting a house he was staying in. And form time to time he had worked and accumulated money so he could support the people around him. Paul says just put it on my bill. And then over in vs. 22 he says, "I’m coming to lodge with you." The assumption would be when I get there I’ll settle his account. Paul is saying I want to be like Christ. I want to take on the debt and the sin of Onesimus so that he can be reconciled to you. Just take him back!

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Philemon did, but I’m quite confident that he forgave and that he charged nothing to the Apostle Paul. How do we forgive? Reception, open our arms, take the person back personally into love. Second, restoration, take them back into useful service. Third, make sure that they have totally and completely had the debt settled. If they can pay, and it is just and their desire receive the payment. If they cannot, offer forgiveness and maybe you at the same time can be the substitute for that reconciliation even to yourself. Such is the character of forgiveness and such is the forgiveness God asks us to give each other.

Because slavery was so deeply ingrained in the first century Greek and Roman life, Christianity was in no position to oppose it. But the NewTestament sowed seeds that eventually contributed to the end of slavery in the Christian nations.

NEXT SUNDAY IN 1 PETER, PETER CALLS US TO RESPECT ALL PEOPLE.

A.V. DAUGHERTY 1-27-02

Father, we are so affected by this tremendous lesson in forgiveness. If there is anything, Lord, in my heart or in the hearts of Your people here that could be in any sense viewed as an unforgiving attitude toward anyone, please forgive us and remove it for we know that You forbid an unforgiving heart as much as you forbid murder. We know that You though most sinned against, forgive us and require that we forgive the less sin who are the less holy. We also know Lord that a lack of forgiveness forfeits fellowship, communion with You and leaves our own sins unforgiven. A lack of forgiveness robs us of the love of other Christians and brings us under chastening. And then we know frighteningly that a lack of forgiveness takes the sword out of your hand and blasphemously claims to be a better judge, makes us unfit for worship and causes us to fall victim to temptation. Lord, may we not be unforgiving but may we be like Paul who was forgiving like Christ and who sought that others should be the same and thus may we know Your blessing and the joy that comes to obedient believers for our Savior’s sake. Amen