Paul Among The People--Philemon 1:10-14.

Day 13

There’s very little about Paul’s letter to Philemon about the runaway slave Onesimus that I understand from my lofty modern perch where slavery hasn’t existed for over 150 years.

So, I’m not sure why I should bother with this shortest book of the Bible (only 25 verses) except that there is always something valuable in Scripture, even if that value is well-hidden or inaccessible at first.

I couldn’t even pronounce the names in Paul’s letter.  Karen and I had to look up the correct pronunciation for Philemon.  

I say Fill-Eh-Mon.

Karen says Fi-Lee-Mon.

The correct pronunciation is somewhere in the middle.

When I first read Paul’s letter to Philemon, I substituted “Oscar” for Onesimus (Oh-Ness-I-Mus) because I knew with all my problems on accenting the wrong syllable of words anyway, I wasn’t going to say it correctly, so I didn’t even try.

And besides pronunciation problems, I didn’t really want to figure out what Paul was saying to ME because his letter just isn’t relevant.

Or is it?

Nearly a third of the Roman population was enslaved in Paul’s day so slavery wasn’t a hidden, not-talked-about practice.

Slavery was accepted, visible, and ubiquitous.

EVERYONE was involved–slavery wasn’t just for THOSE people over there and not seen, heard, or talked about over HERE.

In fact, as the grandson of a sharecropper from the tobacco fields of North Carolina, I’m sure there would have been a good chance I would have been a slave back in the day.

And I take authority so well.  I would have been killed outright, I think.

Sarah Ruden defines how Roman slaves were thought of in Paul Among The People:  The Apostle Reinterpreted and Reimagined in His Own Time:

“A deep, broad menacing chasm cut slaves off from legitimate children and free blood siblings.  A slave was a “filius neminis”, a son of no one.  No man could claim hi as a child, and no slave could make a claim on any man as his father.  He could never be sure who his full biological siblings were–not that, officially, it mattered.”

Slaves couldn’t be a son, a brother, or a father–not legally anyway.

Slaves were nothing and counted as nothing.

Not to get out ahead of my scant understanding of Paul’s words to Philemon about his runaway slave, Onesimus, but aren’t there portions of our society that count as NOTHING right now?

I have sometimes felt like, on my worst grief-filled days, that I was NOTHING too.

What is Paul saying to Philemon about Onesimus?

Philemon 1:10-14  I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I fathered in my imprisonment, 11 who previously was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, 13 whom I wanted to keep with me, so that in your behalf he might be at my service in my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion, but of your own free will. 

Onesimus is a runaway slave that also stole money and property from his master Philemon and so if caught, would by rights, be executed right there in the streets.

But Paul, by converting Onesimus to Christianity, makes him his brother, his son in Christ.

What’s odd to me though, is even as Paul elevates Onesimus to the status of FAMILY, he still sends him back to Philemon–who by rights could just hang Onesimus from a tree and be done with him.

This goes back to the tricky part about Paul where he doesn’t decry slavery outright–he seems content to work within the Roman system of master/slave.

So on one hand, Paul converts Onesimus and elevates him to family, conferring spiritual sonship and brotherhood to a slave that has no legal rights to either.  But on the other hand, Paul, while imprisoned himself, sends Onesimus back to Philemon with THIS letter.

And Onesimus went back, relying on Philemon’s mercy and grace for his life.

Because that’s how accepted slavery, as an institution, was back then–even to slaves.

Sarah Ruden remarks:

“God alone has the power to make a runaway slave a son and brother, and in fact to make any mess work out for the good–not that anyone knows how, but it doesn’t matter.  Philemon has only to surrender to the grace, peace, love, and faith the letter urges, and the miracle will happen.  Paul seems to insist that it is happening even as he prays for it, and he is goofy with joy:  Philemon cannot say no to him, because God cannot say no.”

Who should I relate to here?

Paul because he accepted a runaway slave as a friend, converted him, then made him his spiritual brother and son in Christ?

(But then sent him back to the vagaries of Master/Slave justice–so that part is a little sketchy to me).

Or am I Onesimus in Paul’s letter?

Christina Fox opts for Onesimus in Once Worthless, Now Precious:

“The truth is, before Christ, we were Onesimus. We were useless. We were rebellious thieves and runaway slaves. Deserving punishment for our sins, we feared returning home to our Master. We felt ashamed, worthless, and unloved.”

Or should I relate to Philemon–the one who has to forgive a lying, stealing, Onesimus, and show grace and mercy to him by not putting him to death?

Charles Spurgeon signals that I should identify with Philemon in The Story of a Runaway Slave:

“Let us cultivate a large-hearted spirit, and sympathize with the people of God, especially with new converts, if we find them in trouble through past wrong-doing. If anything needs setting right, do not let us condemn them off-hand, and say, “You have been stealing from your master, have you? You profess to be converted, but we do not believe it.” Such suspicious and severe treatment may be deserved, but it is not such as the love of Christ would suggest. Try and set the fallen ones right, and give them again, as we say, “a fair start in the world.” If God has forgiven them, surely we may, and if Jesus Christ has received them, they cannot be too bad for us to receive. Let us do for them what Jesus would have done had he been here, so shall we truly be the disciples of Jesus.”

Fact is, I think we are all three.

We are all one under Jesus Christ.  All believers in Jesus are family.  Furthermore, we have all been on the run–from something–and we are all slaves to sin.

Jesus is not ashamed to call us kin.  🙂

Lord, help us to reconcile and mend relationships in our own lives and extend grace to others.  

Lord, grant us the grace to forgive those who have wronged us and seek forgiveness from those we have wronged.

Amen