WWUTT 773 Receive Him As You Would Me?

Paul sent Onesimus, a slave, back to Philemon, his master, that these two men might be reconciled in the

Lord Christ. No longer a slave and a master, but now two freed brothers in the

Lord. When we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. So we continue with our study of Philemon and we'll conclude our study today looking at this final section that starts in verse 17 to the end of the letter.

The Apostle Paul wrote to his friend Philemon, so if you consider me your partner, receive him, referring to Onesimus, as you would receive me.

If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me, even your own self.

Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers

I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do

Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. So again, Paul is appealing on behalf of Onesimus, who was a slave in the household of Philemon, and he stole from Philemon and fled to Rome, hoping to disappear in the capital city of the world.

But by the providence of God, he was brought into the company of Paul, who shared with him the gospel.

Onesimus repented of his sin and became a follower of Jesus Christ through Paul's testimony.

Now, Paul was under house arrest in Rome at this particular time, and he had some useful tasks for Onesimus to do for him.

One of those tasks is actually being demonstrated by the delivery of this particular letter.

He had given the letters to the Ephesians, the Colossians, and to Philemon, had handed those letters to Onesimus, and he and Tychicus had those letters delivered.

So already Onesimus has been serving Paul. Paul had some other things that he wanted him to do, but he said to Philemon, I wanted to ask from you first.

I wanted to get your permission. And Paul wanted to see reconciliation happen between Philemon and Onesimus.

That was important for that to happen first, before Onesimus continued this work in ministry.

So verse 13, Paul makes the comment, I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel.

But I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but by your own accord.

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the

Lord. Now I didn't begin in verse 11, which is a verse I read yesterday and said

I was going to come back to it. It's a parenthetical reference here in Philemon where Paul says, formerly, he was useless to you.

He says of Onesimus, he was useless to you, but now indeed he is useful to you and to me.

Now this is a play on words. It's kind of a pun. And Paul was very witty with his words.

As it's even commented in second Corinthians, Paul writes such weighty things with his letters, but he was weak in his own speech.

Like if you heard him speak in public, he was not one of the stronger orators.

We know that that Apollos was an incredible orator, but Paul not so much.

He was kind of meek, a little more reserved in his speech than in his letters.

And so when he wrote his letters, they were just masterpieces of work. And in fact, this one in particular, in the way that Paul crafts a persuasion of Philemon, never actually commanding him what to do.

But nonetheless, this is a commandment, especially when we consider what it is we read in verse 21, confident of your obedience,

I write to you. But Paul is giving Philemon the opportunity to do what Philemon already knows in his heart is the right thing to do without somebody having to tell him to do it, even though subtly

Paul is hinting at him, this is the right thing to do. But he's saying that because he knows that Philemon knows what the right course of action would be in the

Lord Jesus Christ. So he doesn't want to take away from Philemon the opportunity to exercise this joy in the

Lord, showing love and grace and forgiveness to this slave who had stolen from him and had fled to Rome.

And under, as I mentioned this yesterday, under the Roman rules, he deserved to be severely punished.

Onesimus did because of what he did to Philemon. But instead, Philemon was going to be reconciled with this man who was going to be bonded to him not as a bond servant, but as a brother in the

Lord Jesus Christ. And the same grace of God that was demonstrated to Philemon when he heard the gospel and repented would also be demonstrated by Philemon to Onesimus.

So again, Paul is is very witty in his words. In verse 11, when he says, formerly, he was useless to you.

The name Onesimus meant useful, and it was a very common slave name.

So one of the things that this demonstrates to us is that Onesimus was at least at one point a very useful servant in the house of Philemon.

But now Onesimus had stolen from him and he ran away. So he compromised that status of being profitable in the house of Philemon and also became a wanted man.

He became a criminal. In this way, the servant who was once useful became useless.

And as a wanted man, having stolen from his master and run away to another city, he became useless.

He was useless to you. But now, indeed, he is useful to you and to me.

Useful in the sense that he has turned from his sin and he has become a follower of Jesus Christ. So he's useful to Paul because Paul is going to use him to help serve in the ministry, like the delivery of letters, for example, which, of course, he's already doing here.

Useful to Philemon in the sense that he is a ready and willing servant again, ready to serve in your home and do anything for him that you ask.

In addition to that, he is your brother, so he can be useful to you, helping you grow in sanctification.

The two of you as iron sharpening iron, as one man sharpens another, you as brothers in the

Lord can encourage and admonish one another. So Onesimus has even become useful in this way.

But there's something else going on here. And I want to add this in. And this is conjecture because this isn't explicitly stated in the text.

But this is a theory that one of the elders at my church, Chris Solano, came up with. And I really like this theory.

The name Onesimus means useful. But there is a Greek word that Paul uses here in verse 11 for useful.

That's not the same word that the name Onesimus is derived from. Useful here in the

Greek is the Greek word eucharistos. And Paul uses this same word to describe one other person.

And that's John Mark. If you'll remember back to Acts, Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement concerning John Mark.

Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark with them on their missionary journey. Paul didn't want

John Mark to come. He did not think John Mark was useful. And in fact, there was something about John Mark's reputation that made

Paul hesitant to bring him along. John Mark was Barnabas's cousin, and he tried to vouch for him.

But Paul just wouldn't have it. So Barnabas split from Paul. And he and John Mark went on one direction.

And then Paul went in a in a different direction. But we see that Paul and John Mark were eventually reconciled in Second Timothy 411.

Because as he is concluding his final letter to Timothy, he said, bring John Mark with you, for he is useful to me.

And it's the same Greek word there, eucharistos, as what we have here to describe

Onesimus. And so this was the theory that Chris had. And I really liked this theory.

Paul was, in a sense, saying to Philemon, don't make the same mistake with Onesimus that I made with John Mark.

Be reconciled to this man. I really think one of the flaws in Paul's character was that he was not himself a good judge of character.

After all, he was still a human being. He was not a perfect man. Though an apostle of Jesus Christ, he still stumbled as Peter stumbled.

And so one of the ways that we know that Paul was not the best and the brightest was his judgment of character in another person.

Because remember, he brought Demas along with him, and Demas turned out to be a deserter, deserted

Paul in prison in his darkest hour, fled from Paul and went back to Thessalonica because he was too in love with this world.

So Paul didn't have enough discernment in the character of Demas to recognize that this man wasn't a genuine convert.

And regarding John Mark, the opposite was true. He didn't think that John Mark was a trustworthy worker, and it turned out

John Mark was actually very useful to the work of ministry. So Paul here to Philemon is saying, don't make the same mistake that I made with John Mark.

Be reconciled to this man, forgive him, be brothers in the

Lord. So again, I know that that is conjecture. The text doesn't explicitly say that.

Take it for what it's worth. But I really like the theory to say to Philemon, don't make the same mistake that I have made with my relationship with John Mark, who is now useful to me.

And I see that Onesimus is useful to you. So be reconciled to Onesimus.

In verse 17, he says, so if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.

Paul is really vouching for Onesimus here. As if you think of me as a brother in the

Lord, you should think of Onesimus the same. He is no less your brother than I am your brother.

And Paul goes on in verse 18 to say, if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

And this is the indication that we get here in the letter that perhaps Onesimus had stolen from Philemon.

It doesn't explicitly say that anywhere in this letter, but that's the likelihood.

Because otherwise, this would just be some sort of an empty promise. If Onesimus hadn't done something evil against his master, then there would be no reason for Paul to say, if he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge it to my account.

If Paul was not aware of something that Onesimus had done, that he may owe back to Philemon, there would have been no reason for Paul to say that.

And furthermore, why did Onesimus run away? Why would he have a reason to leave

Philemon and then go to Rome? Philemon was, it was highly unlikely that Philemon was treating him extremely poorly, since Philemon was a

Christian and he hosted a church in his home, that rather the fault was on Onesimus, because he was stealing from Philemon while he was living in the home and then he was probably found out.

So fearing what his master was going to do to him, having discovered that he was a thief, he ran away and he went to Rome and then ultimately came into Paul's service and became a

Christian by the preaching of the gospel. So as a man who was stealing from his master, in this sense, he was useless.

He became useless to you, but now he is useful to you and also to me, again, as Paul said in verse 11.

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

And that's quite a guarantee for Paul, who is under house arrest, to say,

I take all of what this man owes to you. If he owes you anything, I'll pay it back.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand, I will repay it.

That's an incredible promise. And it just shows Paul's genuineness and his affirmation for Onesimus and how real this transformation is that has happened in his life.

Paul is vouching for the fact that this man is now a born again believer. And so he is he is pleading with Philemon to receive him as a brother and not to hold anything against him for anything that he had done prior to his his coming into Paul's presence.

So Paul says he goes on after he says, I will repay it. He says to say nothing of you owing me even your own self.

Now, you might think that's kind of ironic. That's an interesting play on words, because isn't he actually saying something about Philemon owing himself to Paul by saying that I'm not going to say anything of you owing yourself to me?

Well, again, Paul is not throwing out any imperatives in this letter. He's not saying you need to do this.

I'm commanding you to do this. Rather, Paul is giving Philemon the opportunity to out of the genuineness of his own heart, respond in love, respond with the grace of God that was demonstrated to Philemon when he became a hearer and a doer of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So Paul saying, I'm not going to remind you what you owe me. But the fact of the matter was

Philemon owed Paul his eternal life because Philemon came into a knowledge of Jesus Christ through the gospel that Paul preached.

So indeed, Philemon owed Paul a great debt. And Paul is in a sense saying here, do you want to pay me back for what you owe me?

Then I want you to give me some joy. Give me some joy in the Lord, because he goes on here to say, yes, brother,

I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Remember, Paul's under house arrest. It's like, come on,

Philemon, I've been out of here preaching the gospel. I'm in prison for preaching the gospel. Give me something to delight my heart.

You want to you want to delight your brother Paul here. This is how you can do it by receiving

Onesimus back to you and forgiving him, showing him forgiveness and the grace of God that you have received through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Refresh my heart in Christ. That was what Paul wants. All that he wanted to know that two brothers could be reconciled in the

Lord and even great sins that the Roman Empire gave Philemon permission to punish even to the point of death.

If he wanted to, he could have put Onesimus to death for stealing from him.

Yet, what would Philemon give him in return, but life just as our

Lord Christ has given to us, we deserve death because of our sin against God. But by Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave, he's not given us what we deserve.

He has given us his eternal life. So here Philemon has that opportunity to demonstrate the gospel in the love that he would show for Onesimus.

Verse 21, confident of your obedience. So once again, even though Paul is not giving an imperative, he's not making a command for Philemon to follow it.

Nonetheless, the command of God is at work here. The commandments of the

Lord upon Philemon to conform himself to as a person who desires to be holy as his heavenly father is holy.

So Paul says, confident of your obedience that you would love as God has commanded you to love for love is the fulfilling of the law.

I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Now, remember from verse 19 on to the end of the letter here, this is being written in Paul's own hand.

Likely he had been dictating to Timothy and we have that at the start of the letter. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother.

So Timothy was there as a co -writer. He's the one writing and Paul is dictating.

At this point, Paul has taken the stylus from Timothy's hand and he is finishing the letter out in his own handwriting to show

Philemon just how serious he is about this guarantee that he is making. I, Paul, write this with my own hand.

I will repay it. And so everything else being written by the hand of the apostle, confident of your obedience.

I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say, because, again,

Philemon knows the right thing to do. Paul is just kind of trying to urge him on into making that decision to demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus.

So because Philemon knows the right course to take, Paul is confident he'll do even more than what he's asking

Philemon to do here. Maybe giving Onesimus a place to stay, maybe guaranteeing his freedom, making him a freed man instead of a bond servant.

A freed man is somebody who once was a bond servant, but their master had set them free. Maybe that's what

Paul even has in mind. I'm certain you're going to do even more, not just showing forgiveness to Onesimus, but freeing him from his bondage to you.

At the same time, verse 22, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers,

I will be graciously given to you. Now, this is meant to kind of push

Philemon into a more urgent direction here for Paul is saying, I'm going to come visit and I'm going to see how things are going in your household.

And I hope to see demonstrated exactly what I am appealing to you for here on behalf of Onesimus.

Verse 23, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. Epaphras was a fellow

Colossian along with Philemon, and it was likely Epaphras who was the one who preached the gospel of Christ there in Colossae.

Since coming back into Paul's fellowship, he has been imprisoned in Rome along with Paul.

But we don't know all the things that happened there that would have led to that. We're not given that anywhere in the

New Testament. So verse 24, so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.

Notice that we have Demas mentioned there. And guess what? There's Mark. So we have this reconciliation that has happened with Paul and with Mark as Paul is asking for reconciliation to happen between Philemon and Onesimus.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And that's really what is being appealed to here in this letter.

It's the grace of God. The grace of God has been demonstrated to all of those who are followers of Jesus Christ.

We deserve death for our sin. But God, by his gracious gift, sent his son to die for our sin so that all who believe in him and follow

Jesus will be forgiven their sin and will have not death, but eternal life, the grace of God.

So Onesimus, being a wanted man and according to Roman law, could have been killed. He was a walking dead man.

But Paul asking Philemon to show him the same grace that was given to him in Christ Jesus.

It was probably a very fearful journey for Onesimus, knowing that he was going to be going back to his master who had the authority to murder him if he wanted to, according to the

Roman rule. But instead, Philemon showed Onesimus grace, the same grace of God that all of us receive as followers of Jesus.

Let us pray. Our Lord God, we were once slaves to sin and we have been set free by our

Lord Jesus Christ. So let us live as freed men. No longer submitting our bodies unto unrighteousness as slaves of unrighteousness.

But instead, we are slaves to righteousness through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who ransomed us, who paid for us by his blood, who canceled the record of debt that stood against us with all of its legal demands, which was set aside, nailed to the cross.

And it is by faith in Christ that we are able to come to you and pray to you as our heavenly father, having been adopted into your family and received into your kingdom because we have a righteousness that is not our own, but was given to us through Christ, our

Savior. So help us to flee from sin and cling to the everlasting arms of our

Lord God. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.