Philemon 1

Philemon 1
¹ Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— ² also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We know our writer is Paul and who Philemon is.  Once again we read of Paul's desire for them to have God's grace and peace.  I could use some of God's peace right now.  Lot's of things going on in my head right now.  Dear God I ask you for the grace to get through the next few days.  I ask of your peace as I make decisions the will change how and where I live.  Give me your wisdom.

⁴ I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. ⁶ I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. ⁷ Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Some of you readers have expressed thanks for this study.  Well, I thank God for you and I pray that as we study God's word together you too will have a deeper understanding of every good thing.

⁸ Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, ⁹ yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— ¹⁰ that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. ¹¹ Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

This is servant leadership.  When one has the authority to demand, yet they appeal to the heart of the one to whom they speak. 

¹² I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. ¹³ I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. ¹⁴ But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. ¹⁵ Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— ¹⁶ no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.

Paul did not abuse his position and take what he wanted.  However he is informing Philemon that his slave had become a brother in Christ.

¹⁷ So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. ¹⁹ I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. ²⁰ I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹ Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

Paul does for Onesimus what Jesus Christ did for us.  He assume all of his debt owed to Philemon. Not sure what debt Onesimus had.  Not sure if Paul had the financial means to cover it.  This is not so much a bluff as it is Paul's confidence in Philemon's willingness to do the right thing.  Paul wanted Philemon to see the truth the in Christ we are all the same. Galatians 3:28

²² And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.

Paul was still going to visit his friend.  He was not going to allow the issue with Onesimus to interfere with their friendship.  This is very important to me right now as I have a relationship that is changing.  My landlords no longer wish for me to live here.  They want their house back.  I don't blame them.  So I will do all in my power to keep our relationship separate from the move.

²³ Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. ²⁴ And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

  
No commentary but since the last verse of this chapter is so close to my usual I shall allow it to be the close for today.

²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.