Philemon
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1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker – Of the 13 signed letters by Paul, in 9 of them he calls himself an apostle in the opening verse, but not here. This is a letter to a friend. (“dear friend” is the rendering of agapētos, from agape and it is lit., “loved” or “beloved.
2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home – Apphia and Archippus were probably the wife and son of Philemon. Philemon’s wife Apphia would have been the “supervisor” of the slaves in the household, so the letter concerned her also.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ – Grace and peace appears in all thirteen of his epistles (cf. Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Phil. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4).
7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints - Hearts splanchna, literally means “bowels.”
10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains – In the Greek text, Onesimus is at the end of the sentence.
11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me – A humorous word play. Onesimus was a common name for slaves, but it means “useful.”
18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. –
“Here we see how Paul lays himself out for poor Onesimus, and with all his means pleads his cause with his master, and so sets himself as if he were Onesimus, and had himself done wrong to Philemon. Even as Christ did for us with God the Father, thus also does Paul for Onesimus with Philemon. We are all his Onesimi, to my thinking.” (Martin Luther)
20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ – The word “benefit” oninēmi, is the verb of his name.
22 And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers – “there is a gentle compulsion in this mention of a personal visit to Colossae. The Apostle would thus be able to see for himself that Philemon had not disappointed his expectations” (Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon
“Prayers are the nerves that move the muscles of omnipotence. Prayer is not an exercise in futility because God’s will, will be done in any case; prayer is the means by which God’s will is carried out. “The effective prayer of a righteous man,” wrote James, “can accomplish much” (James 5:16). John MacArthur
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers – Each of these names is also mentioned in the conclusion of the letter to the Colossians (Colossians 4:10-17). Epaphras was probably the founder of the church at Colossae and was Philemon’s pastor. Mark was John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas and author of the gospel of Mark. Aristarchus was a Jewish believer (Col. 4:11), a native of Thessalonica (Acts 20:4; 27:2). Demas is one who ended up loving the world more than God and deserted Paul (2Tim 4:10). Luke is the physician and gospel writer.
In 110 A.D., the bishop of Ephesus was named Onesimus, and it could have been this same man. The church Father Ignatius wrote a letter to the Ephesian church. In that letter he writes,
“I received your large congregation in the person of Onesimus, your bishop [pastor] in this world, a man whose love is beyond words” (cited in Cyril C. Richardson, ed., Early Christian Fathers [New York: Macmillan, 1978], p. 88).
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