INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PHILEMON
Lessons of forgiveness from the life of Philemon
INTRODUCTION
The Background:
· A young man – who will remain nameless
o Grew up in a household where he was well taken care of. All of his needs were met.
o He was encouraged to become a doctor or maybe even an artist
o The primary source of his support was not a father, mother
o It was his master – our young man was a slave – and born into slavery
· Slavery was very different in our story
a. Living conditions the same
b. Food and clothing
c. Earned close to the same amount of money
d. Legal rights (slaves accused of crimes to be tried like free men)
e. Could be doctors, musicians, teachers, artists…
· Our young man had 5 years left (the average was 7-20) of service to his master
The Heist
· Cleaning the room – nock over a box of jewels
· Debating in his mind over the precious stones
· The next day, wife finds out and the search was on
· Panicking for fear of being caught – he flees – therefore complicating his problem. Now, not only was a thief, he was also a fugitive (a runaway slave)
The Big City
· He makes a hasty decision to head to the biggest city in the area
· Our young man hides during the day and travels at night. Dodging the ever vigilant slave catchers – who do cruel things to runaways
· Upon arrival in the city he encounters an evangelist who shares with him the gospel. The young man is curious to the message as the weight of his sin so heavily hung upon him. The young man and evangelist talk (but the young man is careful to hide his true identity from the evangelist)
Paul
· “There is someone I would like you to meet” says the evangelist
· He is lead to a location (as he approaches a sinking feeling fills the bottom of his stomach – he is coming up on a prison. ‘I have been caught’ he thinks. ‘They have found me out’. Yet – something makes him continue on.
· The Evangelist leads the young man to a prison cell. As the doors open, expecting to find it empty and himself as the future resident. He sees a man in the later years of his life. “Grace to you and peace from God the Father of My Lord Jesus Christ”
· The young man immediately realizes that he is safe as the 2 men talk through the night (yet he is careful not to tell the prisoner of his crimes). By morning, the young man had given his life to Jesus Christ
The Discovery
· The young man returns daily to visit the prisoner and to be discipled by him
· The prisoner writes a lot. A lot of letters to different people and different churches. But he is never too busy for our young man.
· The young man is dear to the prisoner and he asks him to do various errand for him. The young man is glad to do so
· Then one day, the young man decides to let the cat out of the bag. He tells him of his former life…
The Response:
· You must return and be reconciled to your master. Forgiveness
· “DO you know what he could do?” (explain). I do know the cost of being obedient to the will of God.
· Who is your master? (face lights up)
· You will return tonight, a friend and this letter will accompany you.
The story I have just told you (with some historical license) is true. And it is this story that will be front and center for us for the next 3 weeks. Please stand and open your bibles to the book of Philemon as we read this letter together.
Small Letter with a Big Lesson
· 335 Greek words
· Shortest of all Paul’s epistles
· Only personal note in Pauline corpus
Often gets overlooked
· How many of you had ever heard a sermon on a Sunday morning
· Trying to find articles. Out of 7 major evangelical theological journals, consisting of thousands upon thousands of work covering the past 100 years. I found 7 articles on Philemon
SET THE STAGE FOR OUR STUDY
Date: 61 AD
Place: Church at Colossae
I. THE WRITER (v.1)
“Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus”
Two reasons for the address ‘a prisoner of Christ Jesus’
(#1) Paul was a physical prisoner by the will of Jesus Christ
(#2) Paul uses the title as a leverage point in his plea for Onesimus
#1 Paul was a physical prisoner by the will of Christ
The Apostle Paul used a number of different titles for himself as he wrote the New Testament epistles.
· If one turns for instance to 1 Thessalonians 1:1, he would find that Paul introduces that epistle by saying, “Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
o With no title at all, Paul begins to pen this epistle.
o The absence of any authoritative title indicates that the apostle is dealing with these Thessalonians in a personal and intimate way because his heart was knit to the hearts of those who were his children in the faith.
· If one were to turn to Galatians 1:1, he would find that Paul writes, “Paul, an apostle, not of men neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.”
o Paul, in this address, is rising above the personal comment in 1 Thessalonians, and is striking an authoritative note.
o In Galatians he deals severely with error and false teachers; he declares the Gospel of the grace of God authoritatively.
o In the introduction he emphasizes the authoritative appointment that was given to him by the grace of God as he was called of God to be an apostle, a sent one, one who was the minister to the Gentiles.
· In Romans 1:1, Paul uses a different address. There he writes, “Paul, a bond servant of Jesus Christ.”
o When Paul introduces himself as a bondservant, he is showing his relationship to Jesus Christ, and a relationship to the ministry entrusted to him by the Lord of the harvest.
· In Philemon, a different address utilized by Paul; a unique address….
o Not as Paul—the person whose heart is knit to those to whom he writes
o Nor as Paul the apostle—the authoritative declarer of the gospel
o Nor as Paul the servant—one who is given a ministry to perform
o But rather, he introduces himself as Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. This is the only letter that Paul describes himself in this way – a prisoner of Jesus Christ (v.1, 9)
In this address he is not introducing himself as one who belongs to Jesus Christ as a prisoner, but one who is a captive because Jesus Christ placed him in a roman prison.
He is in the circumstances in which he finds himself, not by accident, not because of the sudden change of plans, but by the very design of God.
After Paul had been smitten by blindness on the Damascus Road, Ananias was commissioned to go to him to bring a message. Ananias was sent with the order, “Go for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:15–16).
Paul was to minister not only in Israel but in the high courts of the Roman Empire.
· God chose the means by which Paul might have a voice in the imperial household.
· God’s method was to deliver Paul to a Roman imprisonment, so that as he was passed from guard to guard, captain to captain, and from court to court, his tongue might speak forth the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ.
· Paul is not one who has been enslaved or imprisoned to Christ, but rather, he is one who has been made a prisoner by Jesus Christ.
· God had many different means by which He could have accomplished His purpose, but God moved in a peculiar way to bring Paul to the very seat of the Roman Empire so that he could bear testimony to those in authority.
· BURNHAMS, Martin and Gracie
· John Bunynan
o For 12 years choose prison and a clear conscience over freedom and a conscience soiled be the agreement not to preach
o From the prison cell, apart from wife and 6 children, one whom was blind was born A Pilgrims Progress – the most widely read book in Christian History outside of the Bible
It may be observed that as Paul endured his imprisonment, there was perfect peace, composure, and rest in the circumstances that are his.
· If anyone had a right to rebel against that which was the will of God, it would be the Apostle Paul, for God has taken him through the most trying of circumstances.
o 2 Cor. 11:23-28
o Paul suffered beyond that which any man has been called upon to bear. Paul might well have reasoned within himself that, long before he came into a Roman imprisonment, he had fulfilled that which Ananias had said of him, that he must suffer for the gospel’s sake.
o His life had been a continuous life of suffering and now his suffering was to be climaxed in the will of God by this Roman imprisonment.
It was from this imprisonment that he wrote to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians, as well as this personal note to Philemon.
You can search through all those epistles and there is not one single note of rebellion against that which was God’s will for him.
· That which gave him peace, even in the midst of trying circumstances, was the absolute conviction that the apostle of Jesus Christ, and the servant of Jesus Christ, might at the same time be the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
· When you can rest in the truth that you are God’s child and this is God’s will for you, you will experience the peace of God. “The steadfast in mind you will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in you” (Isa. 26:3)
· When you begin to doubt and question God’s will for your life, immediately the peace of God leaves. For apart from this complete rest in “God who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, there can be no peace for the child of God.
· It is not with a note of complaint, criticism, or rebellion, but rather, it seems, with a note of joy, that Paul introduces himself as a prisoner who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has not abandoned Paul because he is in prison, but who finds himself in prison because this is the will of God for him.
· Through Paul’s physical chains, these Romans spiritual chains of sin and death would be released!
(#2) Uses the title as a leverage point in his plea for Onesimus
· By mentioning his imprisonment, Paul immediately makes a subtle appeal to Philemon
o He sets up his argument by saying ‘If I can face the harder task of being in prison, can you not do the easier task that I am going to ask you – receive Onesimus back’
o Philemon knew all that Paul had suffered for the cause of Christ. Thank knowledge was bound to have an effect on Philemon’s thought process regarding his runaway slave.
“And Timothy our brother,”
Timothy is not a co-author with Paul (Phil. 19). His name is placed there to emphasize both his closeness with Paul in ministry as well as his growing authority.
· In terms of closeness
o You can find Timothy’s name mentioned at the beginning of many of Paul’s letters.
o He had come to Christ under Paul’s ministry and traveled with his extensively.
o He had shared responsibility relegated to him by Paul, and now that Paul has been delivered unto the authority of Rome, Timothy willingly and voluntarily takes his place alongside of Paul to suffer with him—even to the point of death.
· In terms of authority
o Paul would someday pass the baton of his ministry to Timothy. Read 1 and 2 Timothy (especially the last chapter of 2 Timothy) “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word!”
From the word “our” we can deduce that Philemon knew Timothy. He probably met Timothy in Ephesus when he met Paul.
II. THE RECIPIENT (v.1-2)
“…To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker”
Philemon
1. Philemon is linked to Paul (v.1)
a. In love “beloved brother”
o Owes Paul his life (v.19)
o Came to know Christ through the ministry of Paul when Paul spent 2 years at Ephesus (Acts 19:10)
o Share the gospel – became a beloved brother
o Philemon’s name literally means “affectionate”
o He lived up to his name - notable love and faith for Jesus Christ and all saints (v.5)
o Paul finds much joy and comfort in his love (v.7)
b. In labor “fellow worker”
o Prays for Paul’s release (v.22)
o Is to prepare Paul a lodging (v.22)
o Philemon had a church in his home (v.2)
2. Philemon is linked to Others (v.2)
a. Apphia (ap-fia)
o Our sister – denotes that she was a Christian as well and an acquaintance of Paul
o Name means = increasing
o Most likely Philemon’s wife
b. Archippus (arkeep-pus)
o “Master of the horse”
o Most likely Philemon’s son
o Our fellow soldier – shows that he was actively involved in ministry
§ (2 Tim 2:3) used in reference to Timothy
o Paul new of Archippus and had a specific message for him (Col. 4:17) “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it”
o Archippus, had an important ministry in the church there in their his parents home
c. The church in your house
o First century churches met in homes. It wasn’t until the 3rd century did they begin to meet in formal church buildings
o Philemon owned the home in which the Colossian church met
o Although Philemon was a private letter, Paul wanted it to be read to his wife, son and the entire church
o Why? SO they too would understand what Paul was asking Philemon to do and then hold him accountable
3. Philemon is linked to Onesimus
o Philemon’s slave (v.16)
o Possibly wronged and/or owes Philemon (v.18)
o Escaped (v.12) and headed to Rome in order to possibly blend in with the massive population and thus avoid detection
o Something unexpected happened to Onesimus in Rome
§ He encountered the imprisoned Paul
§ He became a Christian (v.10)
§ Was dear to Paul and became useful to Paul in his ministry (v.11)
The drama behind this epistle is touching – in God’s providence he brought the lives or 3 men together
1. A godly apostle
2. An offended slave owner
3. A runaway slave
III. THE REASON (v. 8-12, 17)
Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon to seek his master’s forgiveness.
That sounds easy enough. But Philemon took a great risk in returning to his estranged Master.
Roman law practically imposed no limits to the power of the master over his slave.
· Runaway slaves could have been branded with an “F” for fugitive on their foreheads
· They were beaten
· They were crucified – the alternative of life or death rested solely with Philemon, and slaves were constantly crucified for far lighter offenses than this. A thief and a runaway, he had no claim to forgiveness.
· These thoughts were in the forefront of Onesimus’ mind as he returned to his master
Paul eased Onesimus’ return in 2 ways:
1. He sent Tychicus with him
a. Tychicus was commissioned by Paul to deliver his letters to the churches at Ephesus and Colossae (look at Colossians 4:7-10)
b. By accompanying Onesimus, Onesimus was able to fly below the radar of the ever vigilant slave catchers who were merciless in their own right
2. He wrote this personal letter to Philemon on Onesimus’ behalf
a. He pleads with Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ.
Why Study Philemon?
1. It is a picture of our relationship with Christ – “for we are all His Onesimus if we really believe it” (Luther)
2. It is a practical example of forgiveness between believers
3. It gives insight into Paul’s character – mediator
a. The knowledge of the true character of Paul would be greatly diminished without the letter to Philemon in our Bible.
b. It opens a window on Paul’s character. He is the true man who is also an apostle, full of sympathy and concern for a person in distress and willing to all in his power to help, even at a cost.
4. It is a Biblical answer to the question of slavery
