भाष्य सध्या फक्त इंग्रजीत उपलब्ध आहे. मराठी भाषांतर प्रगतीपथावर आहे.
Philemon 1 — Receive Him as Myself
Paul's shortest letter, written from prison. Onesimus, a runaway slave who has come to Christ under Paul's ministry, is being sent back to his master Philemon — also a believer. Paul appeals for grace, not law. Receive him as a brother. Receive him as you would receive me. If he owes anything, put it on my account.
“If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.”
— Philemon 1:17
- v.1-7 Paul's thanksgiving for Philemon's love and faith
- v.8-16 The appeal — receive Onesimus as a brother
- v.17-22 The substitution — put his debt on my account
- v.23-25 Greetings and benediction
A wordplay on Onesimus's name (which means profitable). Once unprofitable; now profitable. A perfect picture of conversion — the same person, transformed.
The gospel does not erase a person's identity but transforms its meaning. Onesimus remained Onesimus. But the unprofitable slave became the profitable brother.
Above a servant, a brother beloved. The Christian relationship transcends the social one. Paul does not demand legal abolition of slavery, but he subverts it from within — making the master receive the slave as a brother.
Galatians 3:28 — There is neither bond nor free... ye are all one in Christ Jesus. The new identity in Christ relativizes every other identity. The implications worked their way through history toward the dismantling of slavery itself.
One of the most striking pictures of substitutionary atonement outside the Gospels. Paul offers to assume the debt of Onesimus. Put that on mine account. Christ does the same for every sinner.
2 Corinthians 5:21 — He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The pattern of imputation that Paul models in Philemon is the gospel he preached everywhere.
Paul signs the IOU himself. I will repay it. He stakes his name to make the substitution legal.
Thou owest unto me even thine own self. Philemon owed Paul his salvation. Therefore he can be asked to forgive much. Those who have been forgiven much are expected to forgive others much (Matthew 18:21-35).
Is there an Onesimus in your life — someone who once wronged you, now under grace, needing reception? Receive them as you would receive Christ. Put their debt on the Lord's account; He has already paid. The gospel is not just believed; it is enacted in moments exactly like Philemon's decision.
Paul's plea — receive him as myself... put that on mine account — is the gospel in miniature. Christ says to the Father about every believer: receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought, put that on my account. And the Father receives the sinner as He receives the Son. Philemon is the shortest book — and contains the entire gospel.
Paul could have commanded (verse 8). He chose to appeal. Authority that descends to entreaty is more persuasive than authority that demands.
Paul the aged. The apostle by this point is an old man. The work that began on the Damascus road is nearing its end. The brevity of life adds weight to even the smallest letters.