Philemon 1

A Beautiful Letter

I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. Philemon 1:10 (AV).

There are certain characters in the Bible whom you like better than others. Some boys will tell you that their favorite character in the New Testament is the apostle Paul; not the Paul who writes the Epistles but the Paul of the adventures and the shipwreck. His Epistles are just letters, but with one exception they are all about the special subject he himself loved and studied most. You know that there are educated men called specialists, who give their whole time to the study of one subject. They love to speak about it to those who are interested; and they sometimes write books that others may get to know what has been a joy to them. Paul was a specialist. His subject was the religion of Jesus Christ and his Epistles were just letters which he wrote to people whom he wanted to instruct about Jesus and His words.

Among the letters there is a specially short one which is different from all the others. It was written to a friend of Paul whose name was Philemon and it is about a private affair connected with this gentleman's household. It is a beautiful little letter, very kind, very clever, and very polite. I wonder if any of you boys and girls ever read it through.

Philemon was a wealthy man in Colosse. He had a lovely home with numbers of servants or slaves, and he could have anything he wanted simply for the asking. But he did not get spoiled, for he was a Christian, having evidently been converted through hearing Paul preach. He took a great interest in the progress of Christianity. We gather that he had a church in his house where the followers of Jesus gathered for worship. They had to meet in houses because of persecution. In Philemon's house we believe the whole household including the slaves would join in the service, not always because they were Christians, but because their master asked them to do so.

One of the slaves, whose name was Onesimus, had stolen money from his kind master and had then run away. He managed somehow to get as far as the city of Rome, a place so big that he could hide in it, as unhappy people sometimes do in London. Strange to say, Paul happened to be there preaching, and the poor unhappy Onesimus heard him. Now, although many of Paul's letters are very educated, Onesimus, who saw things like a child, felt that Paul said things that he understood. He spoke about sin and forgiveness, the very thing the poor slave wanted. He was converted; he became a new man. Of course he confessed everything to Paul about taking the money, and the great apostle saw something in the simple slave boy that he could not help loving. But he said, “Go straight back to your master and confess everything; I will give you a letter to him.” That letter was the Epistle to Philemon.

Back went Onesimus over the long road, and faced the master whom he had cost more than he had ever profited, and to whom he had been a trouble rather than a help.

What was in Paul's letter do you think? A beautiful introduction of Onesimus to his old master, not as a slave but as a Christian. Paul refers to him as “my child.” Although he has not known Onesimus long, he feels sure he is a Christian, and he asks Philemon to take him back, assuring him that he will find his old slave helpful now. He pleads for him, for the love's sake of an old man (Paul the aged) who is also a prisoner. “The chain is on my wrist, surely you will not refuse me.” Paul knows how to ask a favor. “Perhaps he has been separated from you only that he may go back, not as a slave, but as a beloved brother,” he says to Philemon, and he adds, “specially to me, but how much rather to thee.” These words, though they do not appear difficult, are very fine and mean a great deal. Then Paul goes on to say, “If, then, thou countest me a partner receive him as myself.” Christ's words may have been in Paul's mind, “He that receiveth you receiveth me.” If not, he was certainly thinking of how Jesus loves us and of how Christians should love one another.

Then he takes Onesimus' debts upon himself. “If he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account, I will repay it.” But Philemon did not need to be reminded that he owed a great deal more to Paul, he owed himself.

Every phrase Paul uses to sway Philemon regarding his opinion of Onesimus reminds us of the laws of the Kingdom that Jesus Christ founded. Paul was His slave. He lived for Him, he ruled his life by His, he was a specialist in the religion of Jesus Christ.

Boys and girls, Paul could not have had such a love for Onesimus but for his thinking about Jesus Christ “day in day out,” just as one thinks about a very dear friend.