Philemon 1:15

15. For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever;

a.

Paul here presents a possibility (perhapsperadventure); Maybe Onesimus was separated from Philemon so that he might be reunited with Philemon throughout eternity. He was parted from a slave temporarily to be reunited with a brother forever.

b.

Note the tactful was parted. Paul might just as accurately have said, He ran off from you. But the passive verb forms suggests that Onesimus-' departure was perhaps not just gross disobedience on his part, but that he was influenced by other factors (for example, by divine providence!). And thus he was parted, or separated, from you.

We are not insinuating that Paul was insincere in saying that Onesimus was parted from Philemon. Maybe God did indeed have a hand in Onesimus-' departure. We cannot often tell which acts of men are the results of God's intervention. Certainly his running away indirectly produced benefits for the entire Christian world ever since. We would be much poorer, for example, if we did not have the letter to Philemon.

c.

The verb have (Gr. apecho) in that thou shouldest have means to have wholly or in full. Thus Philemon would have Onesimus in the fullest way possible throughout eternity.

So often we really do not know our associates and have so little in common with them. In eternity we shall have one another fully, and know as we are known. And this will be altogether good, for there will be no secret sins to fear or hide.