Book of Philemon - Vs. 17-19

Review of Philemon 10–16 and Onesimus’s Return

All right, well. You can watch the chat too. They'll tell you if it sounds weird. All right. Well, I kicked Dave out. Sorry, Dave. I was too anxious to get back to it. So you're out of here. Appreciate that.

Well, that'll be pretty soon because we're almost done. It was funny. I was just it was like well I guess I mean I went for like eight or nine weeks in a row there and got within. Just I think I think we're about two lessons shy of being done and then I can't remember we started getting sick or something and Otherwise, it would have finished it sooner.

But anywho Let's see now, I just need to figure out where I want to start. I Guess let's pick it up in verse 10 and I'll just read a few verses To get us back up to speed since it's been a few weeks now and We will go from there.

So Fileyman will start in verse 10 and Verse 17 is officially where we'll pick up where we left off last but verse 10 says I beseech thee for my son Excuse me 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 whom I have sent again thou therefore receive him That is my own bowels whom I would have retained with me that in thy stead he might have ministered into me in the bonds of the gospel.

But without thy mind would I do nothing that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity. But willingly so you got a couple of things going on in those. In that little round up Paul makes it clear that Onesimus was Now a saved man.

In fact, he was converted after the testimony that Paul Gave to him after Paul witnessed to him himself. He has begotten him in his bonds as Paul says and notice the language that Paul is using there.

He is making the parallel of spiritual birth with physical birth in crystal-clear terms has no issue doing that just like Jesus didn't in in John chapter 3 and So he's telling Fileyman this in Personal terms I have begotten him in my bonds which in times past I know he was unprofitable to you.

Another way you could translate that is he wasn't useful To you in times past but right now He is actually profitable to both of us. And the reason of course is because of the preceding verse I've begotten him.

He is now a saved converted man. Therefore because of that finally and you need to receive him you need to receive him. That is my own bowels that my own son the person that I have That I can testify is now a brother in the Lord much more than he was when he left you and Paul says in verse 13.

I've retained him with me for a while That in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. That's an interesting little verse right there because what Paul is doing is he's once again Reminding Fileyman of the kind of guy that he is that Fileyman is himself.

He says look if you were here, you'd be ministering to me, but you're not here. But guess what Onesimus is doing exactly what you would be doing if you were here. So it's both a testament to Onesimus is Regeneration he is a new creature.

He is ministering to me in my bonds and secondly He's reminding Fileyman that look you're the kind of guy that would be doing that yourself if you were here. Paul just trickles that along and trickles that through the whole letter verse 14 when he says I Want I want you to receive him back, but I want you to do so willingly.

I'm not going to make you take him back. I want you by your own will to receive him back. And so we talked about all of that last time and in verse 15 It says for but for perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever.

That is a great Example of the sovereignty of God. Paul Pointing toward the sovereignty of God in this letter, which he did at the beginning of the letter. He's doing so again here, but he's doing so from the viewpoint of how we look at situations.

So there's the sovereignty of God but then you can look at that from his viewpoint or for man's viewpoint and Paul is kind of doing the man's viewpoint version here because he's saying perhaps Maybe this is the reason why all of this happened in the first place maybe the reason you're in this mess and have been broke have been betrayed and your heart broken and the betrayal of a friend and A friend that not only left you but also stole from you.

Maybe all of this happened because You should receive him forever. Not as a mere slave but as a brother in the Lord and so verse 4 15 is really really cool there. We paralleled that with Genesis 50 starting in verse 18 when Joshua, excuse me when Joseph is telling his brothers what you intended for evil God intended for good.

That's kind of what Paul is getting at here a lot of Philemon I understand that a lot of what has happened has been bad. You may even be better about it and There you have every reason the world from the world's standards even from the government's standards and the government's law to Punish Onesimus in any way that you see fit but Perhaps all of this happened so that you would receive him forever.

So it's it's a it's a nod there again at the sovereignty of God. But from the human viewpoint in trying to in hindsight see how the Lord was working even through situations that we might not understand Why they're happening as they're happening and Then in verse 16, it says not now as a servant but above a servant a brother beloved.

Specially to me, but how much more and to you both in the flesh and in the Lord Philemon it needs to receive him back with open arms because he is now a worthy brother in the Lord. But he needs to do more than that Paul is saying look Philemon because he is not just a repentant sinner and Is apologizing for again his betrayal and his theft and things like that.

He's more it's more than that. He's also a brother in Christ and he understands all of it. He understands the big picture now just as you did after I witnessed to you and you came to know the Lord. Let's see here.

Yeah, so he wants him it's kind of a plea there from Paul to not only restore him as a slave but to restore in and restore him to I Guess what you could call his normal service, but also restore him to more than that perhaps even a position in in Philemon's ministry.

With as much as Onesimus at this point meant to Paul the Apostle. How much more would he mean to Philemon now that he comes back? Knowing that he has the assurance. He's receiving back. Not only a servant but a servant with a Christian work ethic meaning that Onesimus as we said last time serves a higher master than Philemon now and Onesimus knows that.

So Paul is saying because of that truth think about the kind of person you're getting back. All right, so that's a little bit of review of what we covered last time. And so we'll jump into 17 at this point.

Imputation, Forgiveness, and the Doctrine of Salvation

And move on from there and I'll just say this right off the top in our introduction I mentioned to you guys that while Philemon is an incredibly personal letter and that it is a great example of Christian Ethics morals Lifestyle all of that all of the above in action.

In other words, you see somebody kind of living out what they preach so to speak both in Philemon and in Paul. We also have Some deep doctrine in other words, even though it's a it's a very personal letter in nature Paul.

It's not lacking in some of the deeper doctrines that Paul Takes the liberty to dive into and a lot of his other letters and we're about to see that in these following verses. So let's take a look at verse 17.

If thou count me therefore a partner Receive him as myself. Pay really close attention to the way Paul words What he's telling Philemon now if thou count me therefore a partner me the Apostle Paul partner receive Onesimus receive him as myself if he hath wronged thee or Oath the ought Put that on mine account.

Okay, so Paul Now wants to essentially cover his bases a little bit. He's been doing a really good job of that throughout the letter so far. As far as how he's approaching this with a close friend like Philemon.

He's being very compassionate very tender. He's being very just very tactful and In making a point to be to approach this as kindly as he can and so he's already done a good job at quote-unquote covering his bases a little bit, but he's doing that even more so here and Essentially what he's doing is Paul is now bringing up the kind of elephant in the room so to speak.

Namely the fact that Onesimus no doubt owes Philemon a debt a pretty great debt actually any debts that Onesimus would owe as a result of his theft or Anything else that would need to be paid back as a result of his runaway situation way back when Paul has already addressed this but he again is covering his bases even more at this point.

What Paul does here is he's implying that he doesn't know for sure if this is the case, but if anything is owed He that being Paul is willing to help in this particular area because he's essentially sending Onesimus back Empty-handed and Paul knows that think about it.

Onesimus stole and he left. But where did he run away to the biggest city in the world at the time? He was a vagabond in the city of Rome for who knows how long before he eventually ran into Paul he no doubt spent whatever provisions he had pretty quickly and When he met Paul Paul's a prisoner.

It's not like Paul has all that much to give to give Onesimus at this point. So Paul is sending Onesimus back With nothing more than a letter in hand, right? He doesn't have he doesn't have money. He doesn't have if he if he did if he did it was just enough to survive the trip back any provisions He had he would have consumed at that point.

He's going back empty-handed. Paul knows that and he's addressing it just head-on right here in the middle of the letter. He's not gonna leave anything up in the air. And so he's sending him back in be handed again.

He would have essentially Spent anything that he had while he was in Rome and Paul like I said a second ago. He wouldn't have had a whole lot to give him himself being a prisoner. So Paul with a desire To take some of that pressure off Philemon again.

He's reminded Philemon of his Christian character. He is reminded of Philemon that he has the capacity to be a forgiver and to imitate that divine attribute Attribute of God and he has given him all these reasons why it is possible.

You can do this you can receive him back and receive him even more than what he left as all of that is true. And yet Paul still wants to again take any amount of pressure that he can't off of Philemon to make it that much more.

Easier to forgive. So what does he do just in case Philemon is having some thoughts and like well Okay, I can receive him back. I can forgive him, but he sure does owe me a lot. Paul takes that off the table.

He doesn't want that to be any kind of barrier in regard to Philemon's ability to forgive fully or to have any kind of negative thoughts toward Onesimus after the fact. So Paul's like whatever he owes put that on my account and I'll take care of it for him.

Now He's taking the pressure off, of course. Philemon as he's reading this letter verse by verse as we are was it verse by verse but line by line sentence by sentence. He would have been considering all of those implications on Onesimus's return.

Okay, he's coming back. What should I do about it now? Paul's told me to forgive but he owes me a lot. I mean the government of Rome would sure. It's my prerogative to punish him to maybe have him work for free labor.

Without the provisions I would normally give him for however long it would take for him to pay me back. I could be doing all these things who knows what he was considering in his mind as he's reading all this.

So he's thinking about all that but Paul wants to take the pressure off and again. He offers to pay anything owed himself though again. If you think about it Paul himself may have had to go into debt in order to pay off Onesimus's debt.

Being a prisoner. I don't know. He may we do know this we do know that a lot of the the churches that Paul founded and that wrote he wrote letters to they would provide him with money and Food and things of that sort while he was on his missionary journey.

So he may have had some money that he could have paid all the debts off with right then and there. But being a prisoner he may not have had that at the moment. So that's kind of speculation on my part there.

But there is a chance that Paul is saying I will cover all of it. Knowing that he himself might need to go into debt to cover Onesimus's debt totally speculation, but It's very very possible that that was the case at that point.

Now all that is true. The things that Paul wanted to make clear there. Were the the physical aspect of it to making sure the physical aspect of things were covered by him, but This is the cool part. Because in making the offer the way that he is in in saying that I will pay what's owed.

Take what's his what he owes and put that on mine account and things like that Paul is essentially imitating one of the greatest acts of love and one of the most important aspects of Redemptive history part of our salvation experience a part of any believers salvation experience while he does this.

So he's covering his basis. He's making it known to Philemon that he will cover the debts but in doing so the way he chooses to word all of this. The way he decides to word these things and to make it clear to Philemon exactly what he's talking about.

He's doing so in such a way as to imitate. Something rather amazing and that is it's a clear nod to the doctrine of imputation. Which is we have learned numerous times here is an accounting term. Well, look at the wording that Paul uses here if thou count me.

Therefore a partner receive him as myself if he hath wronged thee or owe thee ought put that on mine account. So he the Apostle Paul is putting it in very very clear terms as well. He's saying that Receive him as you would me.

So that is Paul essentially imitating the positive side of imputation receive him like you would be receiving me. Count him as me and whatever he owes you put that on mine account. That's Paul imitating Imputation the wording and the terms that are used here in these verses.

Would have been very familiar to Philemon being the kind of guy that he was. Not only was he hosting the Church of Colossae in his house, he may have even been a deacon or. We don't know for sure. It never tells us what kind of role he played other than he hosted the church in his own home.

But he was no doubt one of the strongest Christians in the early church because of all of the stuff Paul said about him earlier In the letter, so he would have understood imputation. He would have understood Paul's teachings on this up to this point and that's because again He was very familiar with the role that Jesus himself played between the sinner and God.

Philemon would have understood that he would have understood the role that Jesus himself played here in his death on the cross of course, the gospel message is that. But it's right here in these not so subtle terms.

I mean, it's it's not like Paul is spelling out. This is what I'm gonna do now check this out Philemon. That is exactly what God did here. He doesn't have to spell all that out. But it even with with that aside, it's still in pretty clear terms.

You have the gospel message right here in the middle of this personal letter to Philemon from Paul. It's right there. It's within Paul's heartfelt offer to cover for Onesimus's debts. Now imputation, of course is a divine transaction.

What happened was our sins were imputed to Christ and His righteousness was imputed to us. That's the transaction that took place. That's what dad means when he talks about it being an accounting term.

Because this was these were transactions that were taking place, but they were done on a divine level the thing about the whole of salvation is that each and every part of Salvation, of course is equally important as the rest of it.

So for example. Well, let me give you a couple examples. Oftentimes we talked about getting saved, right? Well. What does that mean exactly if you? If you're looking throughout the New Testament and references to getting saved oftentimes.

That's not necessarily the terminology uses it does in Romans but but there are other time even more than that talks about getting justified or being justified and That is the one and done act that occurs when we Are regenerated and we throw our faith upon the Lord Is we are justified in that moment and that is a one and done when we talk about eternal security when we talk about the perseverance of the Saints when we talk about Our positional righteousness and all of that that is done.

Thanks be to justification. Just as if I'd never sinned from the father's viewpoint. However. Again when we talk about getting saved that may be kind of the main thing we're referencing, but there's other stuff to it.

There's more to it than that. There is the one and done Kind of past tense aspect of salvation, which would be justification. There's a continual aspect of salvation. That would be sanctification. And of course, there's a future to it.

We're not done yet. There's the glorification of our bodies. So all of that you it's all part of the big picture. All of it is equally important we talked a lot about the justification part, which is amazing we should I'm not saying that well, it doesn't count unless you talk about all of it at the same time all the time that's not necessarily I'm talking about but my point is all of its equally is important and you should talk about each aspect of it at various times and This is one of them.

This is one of those aspects is just. If you want to delineate the salvation experience imputation is a part of that and So when you talk about the whole of salvation It is really important to understand that imputation is equally as important as other things that happen the other things that we may talk about more often for example if forgiveness of sins Was the only aspect of salvation?

But there was no positive righteousness that then Came into the picture after the forgiveness the ultimate forgiveness takes place what happens you essentially get point get point. You eventually get put into this kind of strange.

You would get put into a strange moral neutral point where you're forgiven. But there there hasn't been a positive righteousness that replaced your filthy rags. And therefore you're going to need to be forgiven again in a few minutes late a few minutes later.

And by the way The doctrine of imputation is a doctrine that is denied by the Roman Catholic Church hence confession. You have to be continually forgiven all the time. You don't have peace with God. You can't have peace with God and there's a chance that even if you die in Positive terms with God you still have to go to purgatory for a while for an indefinite amount of time some of the Pope's even had to according to them, so What what peace is there with God if that is the reality which of course it's not.

It's a fiction but my point is There one of the reasons we can't have peace with God now is because of the truth of imputation. Because in addition to our forgiveness remember that is just as important as any other part of salvation and we talked a lot about being forgiven but You can't leave it at that because you take the forgiveness you need to Include the positive righteousness that replaces the filthy rags.

So that we can have peace that we are forgiven in perpetuity and not need to go seeking forgiveness again, and again and again for all of eternity or in perpetuity at least in our lifetimes and even in the in some fictional state of purgatory as well it removes that and So that positive righteousness what it does is it replaces our sins and Allows us to be in a peaceful place rather than in a moral neutral point kind of like a restart button that we then have To press again a few months a few moments later.

You'd fail over and over and over again if that is how it worked but Because of imputation it doesn't work like that the greatest command in the whole Bible of course is to love the Lord with all of our soul heart Mind and strength and there's not a single person that has ever lived that has done that or can do that on their own.

So how can any of us then stand before God someday? With that mandatory commandment fulfilled. How would that even be possible if no one can do it? But it's a mandatory command that we're supposed to do.

And we're gonna be standing before God someday to be judged for what we have done in this lifetime and what we've done with his son. How are we going to even handle that? Well, we can do it because a Substitute who as we know loved his father perfectly Imputed his righteousness to us, which is what Paul is nodding it in this little Aspect this little part of the letter to Philemon to just really Really take the pressure off you Know Jesus lived his life on earth and We have the majority of his life.

It's not even really talked about we have there's some parts and One of the Gospels that talked about of course his birth and then later on when he was 12 and then boom you fast-forward He's adult beginning his ministry.

So you have roughly 30 years of just You know, what was Jesus doing? And then there are even a lot of parts during his ministry that we don't that we aren't aware about in What has been revealed to us someday?

I believe we will know all of it. But at the moment we have very little information on what exactly Jesus was doing for 33 years Give or take but one thing we do know Without a doubt is that he was not wasting that time the every moment every second of those 33 years Was being put to use for a very specific purpose and what that purpose was is it was living perfectly.

It was living a perfect life in all stages of life childhood infancy childhood teenage years young adulthood a Man in the ministry. He lived every stage of life prior to being crucified and every one of those stages was him Living out the perfect life on our behalf so.

And he wasn't wasting 33 years he wasn't wandering around in the backwaters of the Roman Empire for no reason living in these small little towns and living a life of how I've mentioned this before but in most of his life is pretty obscure and Based on today's scholarly standards to be someone that is of any kind of a significance.

You did at least need to have a book published or something, right? Jesus didn't do any of that. He had his 12 disciples. Of course, he was seen by thousands, but relatively speaking that was a small amount.

He's in this tiny little speck In the overall geography of the earth and what is he doing? Well, he's living a perfect life so that when he was crucified that perfection could be imputed To us and it was put on our account and our sins.

Of course our wickedness was put onto his account as he was being crucified. So that is the picture that Paul is giving us in these verses as He continues to encourage Philemon's forgiveness toward Onesimus I'll read it one more time because it's just so cool if thou count me there for a partner receive him as myself.

There's the positive imputation or I should say a picture of the positive imputation. If he that wronged thee or if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee anything. Put that on mine account. That's the negative side of imputation.

That's the part that Jesus took on for us. So Paul being an example of Christ With Christ as his example is now giving us an example of how we can live out these divine Attributes and actions on a much smaller scale, but still in a very Divine way if you want to put it in those terms because we are it is imitating Christ.

That's what he's doing. That's what Paul is doing here. He understood it. Philemon understood it. If you think about Paul at the beginning of Romans 9 when he's saying if I could I would sacrifice my eternal Well-being for the sake of all of my brothers if I could do that well, that's another little mini picture of him imitating Jesus because that is what Jesus did.

Paul was unable to do it and It's not God's will for any human being to be able to do that, but Paul still had those emotions. He still had those feelings. They were written down in an inspired letter so that we could learn that it is possible to imitate Christ in Great ways as Paul was able to at least it was possible for Paul.

He did it in Romans 9 at the beginning of that. He does it here in Philemon very very cool, but in addition to learning more about Paul there and in his desire and imitation of Christ We also learn get a little mini lesson there on the importance of that particular doctrine of imputation while we're at it.

And so there you go Paul Philemon is a book is not lacking in doctrine. That is certainly true. Even though it was very very personal letter. Well with that we'll begin our third and final section of the book.

Which we've talked about thus far the character the Christian character of One who has the capacity to forgive what does it take to be a forgiver in God's eyes? Well. It takes a specific character it takes a specific spiritual character and We covered that in verses 4 through 7 and that was our first section after we introduced the book in section 2.

Which we just finished it's talking about the actions of one who forgives. What are the things that a person can do? To put their. To put into practice that which they preach and of course Paul is the one preaching here.

But Philemon had no shortage of these truths in and of himself that he could have preached at any point. And so Paul is laying out. Here's what the action steps look like. For you to do this. We covered that in verses 8 through 18.

So now in verses, I'm sorry in section 3, we're gonna be talking about the motivations in other words. What are some motivating factors to make a person even want to forgive someone in the first place?

Accountability, Checks and Balances, and Paul’s Own Hand

So The first step is to be a Christian we've covered that the second step is to lay out. What does it look like in action? You need to receive them. You need to put them back into service. You need to do these things.

But you need to have the motivation to do those things too. And that's kind of what Paul leaves us with in the final section of this book. Now what's interesting is that Paul takes a turn at the very end of this letter here, which I'll get to in a moment but first.

Before I forget does anyone have any thoughts they'd like to share before I keep going on for the rest of our time. Yes.

Right and That is a picture of imputation as well because you're going to take on in a sense the negativity That you receive from others And you're going to return it with positive blessings. Goodness.

Perhaps just a picture or Something. I Don't know that you could say. It's exactly the same because the imputation that we receive from Christ Justifies us or as it may not justify Your enemies when you're doing like what Paul's doing for a missing this year is he's essentially giving Missing this a justification Because his debt is paid.

Right, but even in your daily walk with other people you can mimic the the dynamic of Receiving evil and returning good.

That is a good thought and you can see I like those examples you use because you could certainly see the concept there and You're right. It's not exactly the same but even this example in Philemon, even though it's put in pretty clear terms that it's a parallel.

It's not close either which you know, this is one of the reasons why I really don't like it when I I Don't like the need even though it is needful sometimes to use analogy to try to explain scriptural truths.

Because they're just never going to they're always going to be lacking in a severe degree. Interestingly Jesus himself and the Apostles do use analogies to explain spiritual truths. So obviously we can feel safe using those because those are inspired analogies that are pretty close To getting it in our minds, but when we start coming up with our own analogies, they fall on their face nearly every time.

Because they're lacking so much in describing what the spiritual truth is actually like but the example you just gave Kind of proves that. Because what you're saying and what I agree with is that even what we do have in Scripture.

It's great and they're amazing. We should do it such as forgiving our enemies regardless of what they do with us. That is perhaps a picture of what happened in the imputation process as well as what Paul used here.

But it's still not even close because Jesus's imputation actually justified us eternally. And and I and I would just add as well. They're not meant to Do what he did they are meant to just be pictures.

There's one other thought I had. Loved us while we were yet enemies. He died for us. So you have that same sort of picture going on, but then it just takes it to the end degree, right? I agree. Yes, ma 'am.

Christ's love and forgiveness or That it gives us it imputes justification to us, but it also brings conviction For sin upon those that he is not forgiven and the same happens We return kindness to someone who has warned us We can't we may forgive them we may be kind to them and that it doesn't give them justification, but it can bring conviction on I.

Would agree with that. Certainly think that living a Christian life in other words having the Christian character that Philemon had. Having the Christian actions that Philemon had. Which. By the way, this goes back to the point.

I made several weeks ago and that I believe in it. You're it's only possible to truly forgive from the heart if you are a Christian. Because how can a non-believer? emulate God's divine attribute if they aren't at least in him in Christ, which We know is the case in Philemon.

With Philemon and with Paul and with Onesimus at this point. To your point they will see that they'll see it's different and that can ping their conscience. Because they're like they don't expect anything in return.

They're forgiving me. They're being kind to me and I'm being a total jerk and I'm gonna continue to be a total jerk. But whoa, they don't care. There there's something there's something different about them and it may be years later that that is reminded.

They're reminded of that. They remember your testimony in that and it pings their conscience and could be. That could have been the seed that brings them to salvation.

Christian there's justification.

Oh. That's an interesting way to put it so in a sense there's salvation and condemnation to edge sword to edge sword idea and I would agree with that they okay, so. The answer is absolutely because what will happen is now.

Let's talk about this linearly for a second not from God's viewpoint. But from what we can see you have a person over here being a meanie head and you have you Working really hard internally to imitate Paul as he is an example of Christ and of course Christ himself.

You can use the Apostles as your example. You can use Jesus. They were exhorted to do both. You're sitting there you're having this internal battle where you're saying Lord, please help me through this.

This is really hard. But help me get through this and let me exhibit your kindness your forgiveness all of these things to this person. Even though from the world standards, they're not deserving of it, and I know they're not going to reciprocate it.

But let me do it. Anyway, so you do that. The person continues to be a meanie head. So fast forward Decades later one of two things will happen that could have been a seed that was planted. You were the ordained means by the Lord to plant a seed that hit fertile soil and that eventually sprung up or Again I'm talking from the human viewpoint that person never comes to a saving knowledge of Christ.

He never He never receives him he never calls upon the name of the Lord in The day of judgment comes he will be judged and condemned by the way. He treated the believer in that same context so God knows of course what's going to happen what the end result will be with that in that person's life, but to your point You are an instrument either way because it's a two-edged sword.

It's still a singular sword, but with two Different ends, which is really interesting one last quick thought we'll move on because we saw a few minutes left is Obviously Paul lays out the doctrine of imputation in doctrinal terms in Romans chapter 4.

In a few other places Romans chapter 4 maybe even in 5 as well as what's come into mind. He lays out the doctrine of imputation clearly as well. But to Dave's point going back to that for a second in Philemon.

He's teaching it in terms that are easily understandable for anybody. Because even though he lays out the doctrine in clear terms in Romans and in other places as well. And Peter talks about imputation as well and the either first or second Peter.

It can still be a hard thing to grasp. It's like what exactly does that mean like our sins were imputed to Christ and his righteousness imputed to us. I'm not righteous. I'd sinned yesterday. I sinned five minutes ago.

What is this really talking about? Well, we can take an example like Paul uses in Philemon where Paul is the one imitating Christ. It's like oh. So that's how it works. He's saying receive him like me and I'm the good guy or Paul's the good guy in the story.