Philemon - Introduction

Introduction

This short letter is deeply personal and deals with a particular situation. One might wonder why it is in the Bible, but this shows the wisdom of God, and helps us to realise what life is about and how to make it work. Yes, there are the great events of the gospel, especially the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then there is the birth and growth of the church. There are theologically majestic books like Romans. All these are absolutely crucial and central to our faith, but then there are the day to day circumstances that we encounter. These are crucial too. If we think church is all about the big events and the major theological themes, and that the day to day events are irritants, distracting us from what really matters, then we are badly mistaken.  Though, if we are honest, there are times when we would gladly do without the mundane matters, which can certainly seem irritating at times. The circumstances in this letter are dealt with in the light of, and on the foundation of, the major events and theological themes of the gospel.

The letter deals with Onesimus, a once runaway slave, and his owner Philemon. We will go into the details as we go through the letter. However, it is worth saying a few things about slavery. For some would object that Paul should just have denounced slavery and had done with it. There are two things wrong with such an objection. The first is that the church was in no position to do anything about slavery. The church at the time was small with no worldly power to speak of. They could have gone into virtue signalling, but would have achieved nothing. Secondly, and more importantly, if the instructions and sentiments of this letter are followed then the ill-effects of slavery would effectively be nullified. Philemon and Onesimus would treat each other as brothers, with mutual respect.  There are two ways to deal with the evil in the world. One way is the head-on approach, and there is a time for doing this. The other is the more subtle approach of using gospel ethics and wisdom, and there is definitely a time for doing this for it can then conquer the most powerful of foes, even from a position of apparent weakness.