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The Acts of the Apostles
and he counseled him to return without delay to Philemon, beg his
forgiveness, and plan for the future. The apostle promised to hold
himself responsible for the sum of which Philemon had been robbed.
Being about to dispatch Tychicus with letters to various churches in
Asia Minor, he sent Onesimus with him. It was a severe test for this
servant thus to deliver himself up to the master he had wronged; but
he had been truly converted, and he did not turn aside from his duty.
Paul made Onesimus the bearer of a letter to Philemon, in which,
with his usual tact and kindness, the apostle pleaded the cause of the
repentant slave and expressed a desire to retain his services in the
future. The letter began with an affectionate greeting to Philemon as a
friend and fellow laborer:
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“Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus,
and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become
effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus.” The apostle reminded Philemon that every good purpose
and trait of character which he possessed was due to the grace of
Christ; this alone made him different from the perverse and the sinful.
The same grace could make the debased criminal a child of God and a
useful laborer in the gospel.
Paul might have urged upon Philemon his duty as a Christian; but
he chose rather the language of entreaty: “As Paul the aged, and now
also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds; which in time past was to thee
unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me.”
The apostle asked Philemon, in view of the conversion of Ones-
imus, to receive the repentant slave as his own child, showing him
such affection that he would choose to dwell with his former master,
“not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved.” He
expressed his desire to retain Onesimus as one who could minister to
him in his bonds as Philemon himself would have done, though he did
not desire his services unless Philemon should of his own accord set
the slave free.
The apostle well knew the severity which masters exercised toward
their slaves, and he knew also that Philemon was greatly incensed
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because of the conduct of his servant. He tried to write to him in a way