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(CHAPTER 1)
1. Paulus, a captive of Yeshua the Messiah, and Timotheos, the brother, to Filemon, our beloved and our fellow worker
2. and Apfia, our sister, and Arkhippos our fellow soldier, as well as the called-out [congregation] that [meets] in your home:
3. Favor to you, and shalom from Elohim our Father and [our] master, Yeshua the Messiah!
4. I always thank my Elohim when I mention you during my prayers,
5. as I hear of your commitment and the faithfulness that you have toward the Master, Yeshua, and toward all of those who are set-apart,
The reality of this last phrase would soon be put to the test.
6. that the partnership of your trust might become productive through the [full] realization of every good thing that is among us in [the] Messiah.
7. For I am very glad and encouraged because of your commitment, because the compassions of the holy ones have been refreshed through you, brother.
Compassions…have been refreshed: or, emotions have been set at ease. The first term is based on the intestines or “gut”, where one may feel great consternation, and he may have brought them relief in this regard, or renewed the sympathy they felt toward others upon seeing his.
8. On account of this, I feel assured in Messiah that I can tell you what is appropriate [to do],
Assured: confident, based on the attitude Filemon has shown in the past, that he can be quite frank and direct about a subject which will not be comfortable for either of them.
9. but instead, I am making a personal appeal to you based on love, being such a one as Paulus the old man, and more recently also Yeshua the Messiah’s prisoner:
10. I appeal to you in regard to my child, whom I have “fathered” while in [these] chains: [I am referring to] Onesimos--
11. [who was] once useless to you, but [has] now [become] useful, both to you and to me--
He is making a play on the meaning of Onesimos’ name (which means “profitable”: or “useful”) through a set of synonyms.
12. whom I have sent back to you in person—he who is my very heart,
Heart: Again, literally, “innards”, intestines, gut—the seat of the deepest feelings of emotion.
13. whom I would have preferred to keep right here near me, so that on your behalf he might serve me [while I am] in [these] chains [because of] the glad message.
Near me: literally, with myself.
14. But I didn’t want to do anything without your consent, so that this goodness might be yours not out of constraint but voluntarily.
15. Maybe for this reason he was removed from you for a while, so that you might have him eternally.
Removed: or separated, having mutually left and put space between themselves; i.e., alienated as well.
16. no longer as a slave, but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Master.
17. So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as [you would] me.
We would think we could at least expect YHWH’s people to accept other believers as they are, but sometimes even they need an extreme example to get the point. (And Paul knew very well what it was like to be treated with suspicion because of his own past behavior.) If Filemon would not love his lost slave who was now a brother, reborn and reformed, for his own sake, Paul would consolidate his debts with his own, to get him to accept him with the open arms he did not deserve but needed.
18. But if he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge it to my account.
Wronged: harmed, injured, or done injustice.
19. I, Paulus, wrote [this] with my own hand: I will repay it myself. Besides, you owe me your very self; I don’t want to have to say it.
Repay: Onesimos had not necessarily run away because he had stolen something from Filemon; Paul may be offering to pay work not completed in Onesimus’ absence. (O’Brien, Word Biblical Commentary) Apparently Filemon had received his own rebirth because of Paulus’ proclamation, but Paulus does not want to have to remind him of this; he hopes he does not have to argue about it with him.
20. In this way, brother, I may derive benefit from you in the Master. Put my emotions at ease in Messiah.
He asks Filemon to do for him what he praised him for doing to others in verse 7.
21. Being convinced that you will comply, I write you, knowing that even what I have said above, you will do.
22. But also, at the same, prepare a place for me to stay, for I hope that through your prayers, I will be granted [the occasion to come] to you.
Place to stay: i.e., a lodging, based on the word for hospitality.
23. Epafras, my fellow prisoner in Messiah Yeshua, greets you,
24. [as do] Markus, Aristarkhos, Deymas, [and] Lukas, my co-workers.
Those Paulus mentions in this letter correlate with those mentioned in Colossians 4:7-17, so it is thought that he wrote from the same prison in Roma from which he wrote it, around 60-61 C.E.
25. “The favor of the Master, Yeshua the Messiah, is with your spirit.” --So may it be!
He appears to be quoting a commonly-used phrase, and expresses the hope that it will indeed prove true in their case. (The “you” in verses 22-25 is always plural.)
PAULUS' LETTER TO
Filemon
(Philemon)
INTRODUCTION: The addressee’s name means “friendly”, but may have originated with the Greek story of Baucis and Filemon, a couple who entertained gods disguised as paupers in order to test how they would treat their fellow human beings, and were rewarded for their kindnesses. This Filemon was a friend of Paulus’ who hosted a congregation in his home, and by the kind of coincidence that only YHWH can arrange, his former slave, Onesimos, had ended up in the same prison where Paulus was being held. Tradition says he was a runaway, but then by Torah, Paulus could not send him back. (Deut. 23:16) Besides, the text never says this. It appears rather that he was “fired” for either negligence or some offense (vv. 11, 18), and gotten into trouble because of having no income—most likely as a thief—but under Paulus’ influence in the jail he had become a believer in Yeshua (v. 10) and was beginning to manifest the fruits of his new birth. Paulus appeals to his old friend and co-worker to take him back and gave him a second try, confident that his change of not only heart but spirit would guarantee a different result this time.
Remains of the Mamertine prison, where Paulus was held in Roma.
