Philemon 1:1-25

Philemon 1:1-3:

^1:1Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy the brother – to Philemon the loved-person¹ and worker-together with us, ^.2and Apphia the sister, and Archippus the soldier-together with us, and the church according to your house; ^.3grace to you and peace from God our Father and (our) Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul begins this letter (epistle) by identifying himself by name: Paul. Then he identifies himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” – a bound-person belonging to Christ Jesus (Christ Jesus’ prisoner). Paul was bound to him, even though he was physically imprisoned by soldiers at the time of writing this letter.

When Paul writes "Christ Jesus" he is emphasizing the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is the resurrected, anointed-one of God. The word "Christ" means the "anointed-one" or "Messiah." In the lands and during the time-period of the writing of the Bible, holy oil was poured on the high priest of God to begin his ministry for God. It was also used to anoint kings. Many people and things were anointed with holy oil to signify their making holy or sanctified for a specific purpose, etc, which can be read about in many scriptures in the Bible (refer to Exodus 30:22-33; Acts 2:36, and 4:27, and 10:38). The resurrected Christ continues doing God's will today.

The word "Jesus" is explained in Matthew 1:21 by the Angel Gabriel when he spoke to Joseph:

Matthew 1:21:

^.21She [Mary] will bring-forth a son and you [Joseph] will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

"Jesus" means "God saves / Jehovah (Yahweh) the Savior," and the Lord Jesus Christ was given that name "Jesus" because he is the one who carried-out God's will to make it available for people to be saved, to be made-safe. It is by means of Jesus, the Christ, that people are able to be saved and thereby have a true and vital spiritual relationship with the only true God. Jesus Christ is God's son – he is alive today! Christ Jesus is now at God's right-side, second-in-command to God his Father.

Let us re-read verse 1 of Philemon and continue with our study:

Philemon 1:1:

^1:1Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy the brother…

Paul writes that this letter was also from a person named Timothy, identifying him as "the brother." Whose brother was Timothy? He was not the natural brother of Philemon or of Paul with the same mother and/or father, nor is this referring to the fact that everyone has the same blood flowing through their veins passed down from Adam and Eve. But here Paul is referring to the truth that Timothy had received the gift of holy spirit from God by means of the Lord Jesus Christ, just the same as every other holy-person (sanctified-person, Christian, saint, child of God) including Paul himself. He was the brother in the spirit category because God is the Father of all those who have holy spirit-life within them. Paul wrote the letters of First and Second Timothy to him.

Today, during the time we live in, which is after the day of Pentecost (recorded in the Book of Acts chapter 2), God makes it available for mankind to receive holy spirit-life when people believe what He has given to be believed - which is clearly stated in the Book of Romans chapter 10:

Romans 10:8(b)-10:

…This is the spoken-matter of belief which we herald-forth

^.9that if-ever you may express-agreement in your mouth (regarding the) Lord Jesus Christ and you may believe in your heart that God raised him up out-from dead-people you will be saved,

^.10for with (the) heart it is believed into righteousness and with (the) mouth agreement-is-expressed into salvation.

God gives this person His gift of holy spirit by means of the Lord Jesus Christ by His grace and he/she becomes a child of God. This child of God has a vital, spiritual relationship with God, his Father.

Returning to Philemon, it says:

Philemon 1:1-3:

^1:1Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy the brother – to Philemon the loved-person¹ and worker-together with us, ^.2and Apphia the sister, and Archippus the soldier-together with us, and the church according to your house; ^.3grace to you and peace from God our Father and (our) Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul addressed this letter to:

Philemon the one who is loved with God’s kind of love (beloved) and joint-worker with us (you expend energy in conjunction with myself and Timothy, our coworker in the things of the ministry),
and Apphia the sister (this woman was a sister of all the holy-people because she also had received the gift of holy spirit; God was her Father also),
and Archippus the soldier-together with us (joint soldier, serving as a soldier with military precision in conjunction with us, we soldier together in the spirit realm; this draws attention to there being two opposing sides - see Ephesians 6:10-18),
and the church according to your (Philemon’s) house.

The word "church" comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which comes from two words meaning "out from" and "called," so together it means "called out from." A church is an assembly of people called out from other people for any reason. It does not refer to a particular type of building or a house, even though the church or assembly may meet in a particular type of building or in a house. This man Philemon used-to gather an assembly of holy-people in his house from time to time so that they could sing and pray and hear manifestation of holy spirit (refer to I Corinthians 12-14) and share and teach God's Word, and have meals together, etc – what a wonderful church to be recognized by the Apostle Paul in this letter which he is writing by revelation!

Paul’s greeting is: grace to you (all of you) and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace is what is freely bestowed without any merit on the recipient's part; it includes reference to the attitude and quality of the one giving something favorable to another. Grace is not bestowed because somebody deserves a wage that is owed for something they said or did, nor because they begged so hard, nor because they forced the giver to give! Grace is bestowed because the giver wants to give by his own freedom of will to the recipient - it is completely unmerited favor from the giver to the recipient.

Peace is tranquil-harmony without strife. We may think of peace as the opposite of war, the opposite of conflict, the opposite of being at odds with the other party. Who are the other parties as far as holy-people are concerned? God and the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's children are at peace with God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ because it is given to us from God and the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore all Christians should behave peaceably with one-another too.

All of these holy-people were children of God. God was their Father – spiritually, and their lord was the Lord Jesus Christ. The word "Lord" refers to a master or an owner, one who has the authority, authoritative power, the one from whom the directions and instructions are given and who is to be obeyed, the one who has the dominion over and exercises his lordship in relation to that-which his title of "Lord" or "Master" is being associated.

Verses 1-3:

^1:1Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy the brother – to Philemon the loved-person¹ and worker-together with us, ^.2and Apphia the sister, and Archippus the soldier-together with us, and the church according to your house; ^.3grace to you and peace from God our Father and (our) Lord Jesus Christ.

[Reference: Acts 16:1-3; Romans 1:7, 16:3, 5, 9 and 21; I Corinthians 1:3, 3:9, 4:17, 16:10 and 19; II Corinthians 1:2, 10:3 and 4; Ephesians 1:2, 3:1, 4:1; Philippians 1:2, 2:25; Colossians 1:1, 4:15-17; II Thessalonians 1:1 and 2; I Timothy 1:18; II Timothy 1:8, 2:3 and 4. The Books of First and Second Timothy give details of Timothy and his ministry.]

Verses 4-7:

^.4I thank my God always making remembrance to-myself of you on my prayers, ^.5hearing your love¹ and the belief which you have towards the Lord Jesus, and into all the holy-people, ^.6so-that the sharing-in-common of your belief may become in-working in full-knowledge of all good, the (good) in us into Christ, ^.7for I had much joy and encouragement on your love¹ because the inner-parts of the holy-people were rested-up² by means of you, brother.

The verb "to thank" in the Greek comes from the same root word as the word "grace" plus the word "well" or "well-off." Therefore to thank somebody is done by the freedom of will of the recipient expressing well his gratitude to the giver of the grace (the bestowed unmerited or undeserved favor) given to and received by the recipient. It is not a forced or obligated "thank you"!

Paul writes: I thank my God constantly making remembrance to myself of you on my prayers (bringing you Philemon to my mind, my memory, and so making mention of you during/on the occasion of my communications to and with God, the general speaking towards/with God),…

hearing (I am becoming informed by hearing about)
- your love¹
- and the belief (faith, trust) which you have towards the Lord Jesus (Jesus our Master),
- and into (with a view to, directed to) all the holy-people,…

…in such a manner that…

the sharing-in-common of your belief (the partaking of/in/with the same-thing which is your faith, the participation and communion you have with other holy-people of what is common to all, which is your trust towards the Lord Jesus)
- would become in-working (would come to pass to be energizing, effective, work being wrought within, productive)
- within the sphere of action of full, clear and exact personal knowledge of all good (every good thing),
  - emphatically and specifically the good in us (the good-thing, that-which is good within us [some Greek texts have “you” which also indicates that this good is within all holy-people])
- into Christ (with a view to, directed to Christ, the resurrected Anointed-one, the head of his spiritual body of holy-people, we are the limbs/members),…

…in truth I had a lot of joy (rejoicing) and encouragement (exhortation) based upon your love¹ because…

the inner-parts of the holy-people (literally: their insides; figuratively referring to their inner-selves, emphasizing their inner affections, feelings, emotions, attitudes, compassions)
- were rested-up and are still rested-up (as having been made to pause, temporarily stop or cease from extraneous labor, and so they became refreshed)
- through you, brother (brother – Paul again reminds Philemon that he is Paul’s brother and the brother of every other holy-person in the spirit category).

The word "love¹" or the verb "to love¹" comes from the Greek word agape which is God's kind of love. To love with His love means to love the same way as God loves, to manifest God's love towards another, whether it is towards God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, yourself, your Christian neighbor, or towards anyone else. God tells His children today (all who have the spirit of Christ within us) how to Godly-love by means of His previously-revealed written Word and also via our holy spirit-life whereby we receive information from Him regarding how to love in different specific situations. It is the carrying out of God's commandments, His Word, which is the correct usage or way to manifest God's kind of love according to His will (refer to I Corinthians chapter 13 and I John 5:1-3). It is not the same as the brotherly or friendly kind of love, nor is it the same as the emotional/feelings/sexual kind of love.

The word “good” refers to that-which issues from God Who is good and sets the standard for what is good, what is perfectly admirable from God’s viewpoint, according to God's words/intention because He is the source of all true goodness. The "good" is that-which issues from the only true God Who is Holy Spirit and Who has given to us His gift of holy spirit, which includes everything that has been accomplished for us by means of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Reference: Acts 24:24, 26:18; Romans 15:2; I Corinthians 12:12-14, 16:9; II Corinthians 7:13; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 1:15; Colossians 1:3, 4, 18 and 27, 2:5, 3:12 and 15; I Thessalonians 1:8; Hebrews 4:12.]

Verses 8-16:

^.8On-which-account having much boldness in Christ to arrange-upon you the-thing fitting, ^.9because-of the love¹ rather I encourage – being a person-of-this-kind as Paul an elderly-man but now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus – ^.10I encourage you concerning my child whom I begot in the bonds, Onesimus, ^.11the useless-person at-some-time to you but now to you and to me a well-useful-person, ^.12whom I sent-up to you, himself, this is my inner-parts, ^.13whom I used-to deliberately-determine to hold-down with myself in order that on your behalf he may minister to me in the bonds of the good-message, ^.14but without your knowing I intended to do nothing in order that your good-thing may not be as according to constraint but according to willingness, ^.15for because-of-this quickly he was separated towards an hour in order that you may have him eternally ^.16no-longer as a slave but over a slave – a loved¹ brother, especially to me, but how-much rather to you both in (the) flesh and in (the) Lord!

On account of the truth of what I have just written…

while I am having a lot of boldness (freedom, frankness and openness of speech) within the sphere of action of Christ to arrange upon you the-thing fitting (to put in order for you to carry-out what is distinguishing, suitable, an appropriate level of behavior, convenient, pertinent),

…because of the love¹ rather I encourage (on account of the Godly-love more-so, not ‘instead of’ but more and more I exhort, I call you beside me as a concerned father or mother would invite their children close to them to help them to do what is right; refer to verse 7 above)…

– I am being a person of this sort (such a person) as Paul an elderly-man (old in age) but emphatically at the present time also a prisoner of Christ Jesus (as verse 1 above) –

…I encourage you (I repeat that I exhort you Philemon) concerning my child whom I begot in the bonds, Onesimus (about emphatically my child, born to/from/by me, whom I gave birth to while I am physically bound, imprisoned; this is referring to Paul’s being the one who taught him enough of God’s Word so that he could and did believe it and become a holy-person receiving the gift of holy spirit within him; ‘child’ here includes the figurative sense of being an affectionate term of endearment for Onesimus),…

the useless-person at some time to you (during a past time he was without use, not useful, not benevolent, unkind in service to/for you)
but now to you and to me a well-useful-person (emphatically at the present time Onesimus is a person good for use, suitable for good benevolent, kind purposes in service, very functional, usable for/to you and I),
whom I sent up/back to you, himself (the same one), this is my inner-parts (figurative speaking he represents emphatically my insides, my inner-self; refer to verse 7 above),
whom emphatically I used-to deliberately determine to hold-down with myself (I was purposefully willing to have him fast/firm towards me in the sense of retaining him down here with myself)
- for the purpose and result that on your behalf he would minister to me (in your interests he would serve so as to benefit me, not 'being-subject' to me but doing work to bring me profit, carrying-out his day-by-day ministerial duties, his duties of service to/for me) – relative to what? – in the bonds of the good-message (within the sphere of action of the bindings or imprisonment pertaining to the gospel, bound to the evangel; refer to verses 1 and 9 above),
but without your knowing I intended to do nothing (since I am apart from emphatically your knowing, since I don’t have the result of your mind’s personal knowledge following-upon your being informed regarding this specific subject - I willed with active volition and desire to do not one thing, not to do that)
- for the purpose and result that your good-thing (the good that belongs to you and emanates from you Philemon)
  - may not be as according to constraint (a necessity forced upon you, compulsion),
  - but on the contrary, as according to willingness (voluntarily, from yourself, your own free-will decision).

In truth on account of this, speedily he was separated towards an hour (for this reason swiftly he was put apart, asunder, severed from you, he was without you for a short limited period of time) for the purpose and result that you would have him eternally (you would hold him, receive him as being all that is due from me to you for the duration of the age, lifelong time)…

no-longer as a slave (not any longer as a bond-servant in the service or work relationship limited to the fleshy, physical category)
but on the contrary, over, above, beyond a slave
– a loved¹ brother (a brother in the spirit category, having the same Father as you and I have because he has received the same gift of holy spirit within him, he is now a son of God and he is loved with God’s kind of love by God and by the Lord Jesus Christ),
- especially to me (most-of-all he is a brother to me and is Godly-loved by me),
- but how much rather to you (it is a lot more-so, more and more to you he is a Godly-loved brother)…
  - both in the flesh (within the sphere of action of the flesh, the natural, physical category, which includes the work/service category between yourself and Onesimus)
  - and in the Lord (within the sphere of action of the realm of the Lord, the spirit category, carrying out the instructions given to you by the Lord Jesus Christ via the holy spirit-life within you both)!

In verse 14 we should notice that Paul considered any service done by Onesimus to, for and with Paul to be something good issuing from Philemon. Onesimus was Philemon’s slave, and even though he had left him for a short time anything done by him would ultimately be from Philemon his master. Onesimus was bound to serve Philemon. This service as a slave meant that his whole being was at the service of, in service to – Philemon. He was supposed to carry-out his service by his own freedom of will. Wherever Onesimus was and whatever he was doing he was to behave as a slave of Philemon, not a slave serving anybody or anything else. During Biblical times, a master was obligated to take-care of his slave (bond servant) and the slave was obligated to do all his master would ask of him. It was a mutually-beneficial relationship between the master and his slave. However, in this instance Onesimus had departed from Philemon, but now Paul was sending him back.

In verse 15 the Greek word aionios is translated “eternal” which could also be translated as “agelong”. In the context here, it is referring to the truth that all holy-people (including Onesimus and Philemon and Paul at that time) have the same holy spirit-life which will not end. It is eternal, agelong, lifelong, everlasting. It lasts throughout all durations of life, all ages from the time a person receives it. This life can only be received by God's giving of holy spirit by means of the Lord Jesus Christ. All holy-people (Christians) have received holy spirit-life within us, which is the spirit of Christ in us; it is the deposit, token, earnest of what we will receive at a future time. This holy spirit-life will remain for the duration of God's life which will not end. The full completeness for us will come to pass when our Lord Jesus Christ will come to gather all holy-people together with him giving us new spiritual bodies. The life of our new bodies will be holy spirit-life, like the body the resurrected Christ has already received from God, his Father and our Father, when God raised him up alive from-among the dead-people.

[Reference: I Corinthians 4:15, 7:21-24, 12:12-14; II Corinthians 9:7; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 5:4, 6:5-9; Philippians 1:13, 4:18; Colossians 1:27, 3:11, 18 and 22-25, 4:1, 9 and 18; I Timothy 6:1 and 2; II Timothy 2:21, 4:11; Titus 2:2; I Peter 5:2.]

Verses 17-20:

^.17Therefore since you have me a sharer-in-common: you must take him towards-yourself as me, ^.18but if he treated you unrighteously or owes something you must account this-thing to me, ^.19I Paul wrote with my hand, I will pay-back – in order that I may not say to you that also you owe yourself towards me; ^.20yes, brother, may I receive-aid of you in (the) Lord, you must rest-up my inner-parts in Christ.

Following-on logically from what I have just written, if/since in-fact you have me a sharer-in-common (there is no doubt but that you hold me a partner of/with/in the same thing, a sharer, participant, partner sharing what is common to both of us):

you must take him towards yourself as me (receive Onesimus to yourself as receiving me to yourself),
- but if he treated you unrighteously (acted unjustly, did wrong to you) or owes something (is indebted, under obligation to you regarding something) you must account this-thing to me (charge it to my account),
- I Paul wrote with my hand (the word “my” is emphasized; this is written with my own handwriting which authenticates this, as underwriting any debt owed),
- emphatically I will pay-back (definitely I will pay it off, repay)
– for the purpose and result that I may not say to you that also you owe yourself towards me (you are indebted, under obligation to give yourself to me);

…yes, brother (with definite affirmation, my brother and the brother of all holy-people; refer to verses 1, 7, 16)…

may I receive-aid of you in the Lord (the word “I” is emphasized, also the root of the verb “receive aid” is the same as the root of the name “Onesimus”; my prayerful desire is that I would be helped, benefited, obtain aid with/from/by you within the sphere of action of the Lord, our Master regarding our service to/for him),
you must rest-up my inner-parts in Christ (you must make my insides, my inner-self to pause, temporarily stop or cease from extraneous labor, and so they become refreshed within the sphere of action of resurrected Christ, the head of his spiritual body of holy-people, we are the limbs/members; refer to verses 7, 8, and 12 above).

[Reference: Acts 2:24-36; Romans 15:7 and 13; II Corinthians 1:7, 8:23; Colossians 1:2, 3:25.]

Verses 21-25:

^.21Having been persuaded² by your obedience I wrote to you having known² that also you will do over which-things I say, ^.22but unitedly also you must prepare lodging for me, for I hope that by means of your prayers I will be graced to you. ^.23Epaphras the captive-together with me in Christ Jesus greets you, ^.24(and greetings from) Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke – the workers-together with me. ^.25(May) the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (be) with your spirit.

I was persuaded (convinced) and I am still actively persuaded by your obedience (your hearing of what God says, listening attentively and then carrying out what you hear), and so I wrote this letter to you (Philemon) having known and still knowing (perceiving) that also you will do over (perform above, beyond) what I say.

Additionally, in union together at the same time you (Philemon) must prepare lodging for me (make a guest room ready for me, a place to stay). In truth, I expect at a future time that, through your prayers (you plural – all of you communicating, speaking to/with God), I will be graciously bestowed to you (I will be granted as undeserved favor by God to all of you).

Epaphras, who is being held captive as a prisoner-of-war in conjunction with me within the sphere of action of Christ Jesus, greets you (salutes you Philemon as drawing you to himself). Greetings from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke who are the workers together with me (they are expending their energy in conjunction with me, my joint or co workers).

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Paul's opening address in this letter included grace. Here he closes-out this letter by expressing this prayerful desire: may it be that the grace (the unmerited, freely-bestowed favor) of, belonging-to, and proceeding-from the Lord Jesus Christ is in company and association with your spirit.

Notice that Paul writes "your" (plural) "spirit" (singular), literally = the spirit of you. All of us holy-people have the same holy spirit-life within us, not separate entities! We are limbs of the one spiritual body of Christ. We have the new creation which is the spirit of Christ in us and it is via this holy spirit that our Lord Jesus Christ extends his grace to us as we walk/behave ourselves during the everyday living of our lives according to his will, which is also God's will.

[Reference: Acts 12:5, 12 and 25, 15:37 and 39, 19:29, 20:4, 27:2, 28:23; Romans 16:7; Galatians 6:18; Philippians 4:23; Colossians 1:7, 4:10-14; II Timothy 4:10 and 11. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (²) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]

(May) the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (be) with your spirit.