Survey of the book of Philemon

Welcome to The Rapid Pull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity.

Philemon as a Personal Letter About Onesimus and Christian Brotherhood

The book of Philemon is a book that deals with a personal matter between Paul and Philemon. Now, what we see in this most personal letter is that he had a slave, Onesimus, who ran away from Philemon, and we even think he may have stolen some money.

He comes to Paul, and in meeting with Paul, Paul leads him to Christ as he did Philemon, leading him to Christ as well. And this book is very interesting on many fronts. One, it deals with the issue of slavery at the time, saying that basically Onesimus should return to Philemon, and he tells Philemon to treat him well as a brother in Christ.

Paul’s Appeal to Philemon and the Ethics of Slavery

So, Paul doesn't say slavery is wrong, he doesn't condemn it, but there were clear principles that should happen, even though they're both Christian brothers. And we actually end up seeing in history that Onesimus may have been a leader in the church, so he could have been a leader over Philemon.

But the thing that's interesting here is that Paul challenges Philemon in the fact that Philemon kind of owes Paul his spiritual well-being because Paul led him to Christ. And he basically will appeal to that.

Forgiveness in Christ and Practical Lessons from Philemon

It teaches us a lot about intercommunication skills, it teaches us what slavery was like back then, but the ultimate purpose of it is to show the forgiveness that we can have in Christ.

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