Philemon and Onesimus

Class handout

From time to time we provide discussion class handouts and have done so with this newsletter. The handout includes a quick summary of the letter of Philemon and some discussion questions. Two PDF files are attached: one for printing on A4 paper and the other in US Letter size.  These are free for you to use or modify as you choose.

Facts and figures

Of all the books of the Bible, only the second and third letters of John are shorter that the letter to Philemon if length is determined by number of words.

Introduction

Most of what we know about Philemon and  his slave Onesimus comes from the letter to Philemon itself.  However, extra details in the letter to the Colossians suggest that both Onesimus, the subject of the letter, and Archippus, one of the recipients, came from Colossae.

 
Based on the information provided, we conclude that Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, but had not been a very useful one in the past.  At some time, he ran away and ended up in Rome, where he met Paul.  We don’t know how they met, but Paul may well have converted Onesimus to the faith and the young slave became like a son to him.  We don’t know who suggested that Onesimus should return to Colossae and face the music, but Paul obviously wrote a supporting letter for him to present to Philemon his master.  Given the severe punishment that could be given to runaway slaves, this was a brave and faithful thing to do.  Once he became a believer, Onesimus probably felt that he had no choice.

Delivering the letter

It’s not hard to imagine the difficulties of Onesimus’ situation: he arrives in Colossae and has to decide how to face up to Philemon.  He could go directly to his house, but what if Philemon is angry and won’t stop to listen to any explanations?  Perhaps it would be better to wait until they met in the middle of the congregation of believers.  Should he hand over Paul’s letter to Philemon immediately, or should he bravely try to sort things out with him first and possibly take any punishment that was coming to him?  Onesimus was in a difficult position that would sorely try his faith – and test the behaviour of his master as well.  Should he hand over the problem to God for him to manage, or should he try to use Paul’s letter as a “Get out of jail free” card?

We don’t know what choice he made.  What would you have done?

Style

Paul’s letter to Philemon is a masterpiece.  He mixes generous assumptions with blunt demands.  Paul mentions his ongoing prayers for Philemon and describes his pleasure at the reports he hears about him.  He suggests  that he could command Philemon to do the right thing, but would prefer to appeal to him in love – probably reminding Philemon that love is the very basis of his name.  He cajoles and commands while continuing to harp on the subjects of love (verses 5, 7, 9 and 16) and usefulness – the meaning of Onesimus’ name (verses 11, 13 and 20).  His last allusion to the second idea is in verse 20 where he says that he wants some benefit from Philemon, or to put it another way, he wants him to be useful also.

We don’t know what the result of Paul’s and Timothy’s letter was, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that Philemon would have obeyed Paul’s urgings and welcomed Onesimus back.  How their relationship continued after that, we can’t guess, although we can hope that they cared for each other as fellow believers.

That’s as far as we can go with the letter, except to consider further the question of slavery, so let’s deal with that.

Slavery

Slavery is the situation where people can be owned, sold and traded as if they were property.  Current international law strongly condemns slavery, yet it was not always so.  It appears that slavery has been very common throughout human history – in fact, accepted as normal.  There are still many people all over the world who feel that they are controlled by others and have no freedom of choice themselves.

In the Roman empire, laws favoured slave owners, although there was some legal protection given to slaves against excessive cruelty.  Slaves could not own property, enter into contracts or marry, and runaway slaves could be severely punished or even executed if caught.

Since slaves were possessions, runaway slaves were considered guilty of stealing valuable goods – themselves!

The New Testament contains no criticism of slavery, just instructions regarding how you should behave if you are a slave or a master.  There are no grand commands that all masters must free their slaves, and none suggesting that slaves should demand their rights!

Instead, we see God’s expectation that believers will learn to be content with any situation in which he puts us.[1]  Many may be surprised to learn this, but we are also told that slavery is not optional for human beings.  In referring to spiritual slavery, we are told clearly that, while we can choose what we are slaves to, we have no option of complete freedom.  As Paul reminds us in Romans 6,[2] we have the choice of slavery to sin, which leads to death, or slavery to righteousness, which leads to eternal life.  Which do you want?  Unfortunately, most people around us reject righteousness and choose slavery to sin instead.  In the last verse of Romans 6, Paul makes an ironic observation that sin pays us wages:

They’re not wages we want, are they?  Working for sin pays us death.  The wonderful point of God’s grace is that if we choose a new life in Jesus Christ and want to be slaves of righteousness, God gives us the gift of eternal life despite the times when we fail.

So spiritual slavery is not optional.  But we can choose who to serve, and through that choice, decide the long-term outcome of our life.

But what about physical life as a slave?

Interestingly, Paul mentions both slaves and masters in the letter to Colossae.

First slaves:

And then masters:

Slaves are to work as if they are working for Jesus Christ, and masters are to treat their slaves as they want Jesus Christ, their master in heaven, to treat them.

Would you call Jesus your master?  Read John 13:13.

Would you call yourself Jesus’ slave or bondservant?  Read Romans 1:1, Philippians 1:1, Titus 1:1, James 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1,  Jude 1:1 and Revelation 1:1.

See also

Passages to consider on the subject of spiritual and physical slavery are:
Matthew 20:27-28; Romans 6:15-23; 1 Corinthians 7:20-24, 12:13; Galatians 3:28 - 4:11; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:11, 22 - 4:1; 1 Timothy 6:1-2; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:16-21.

Notes

[1] Philippians 4:11
[2] Romans 6:15-23