Plan Of Salvation - A Letter To Philemon Series

The Letter To Philemon:

The Book of Philemon has only one chapter with 25 Verses.

It’s a simple letter written by Apostle Paul when he was in prison to a man called Philemon who lived in COLOSSE, today we are going to meditate/learn what was the need of this letter to Philemon.

Paul is not writing this letter to some church he is writing this letter personally to a man called Philemon not from some house but from the Prison. It shows us there was really a urgency or kind of emergency or much requirement to write this letter because Paul is writing this letter out of his comfort zone, He is writing this personal letter to Philemon from uncomfortable zone /Prison.

This letter shows how Paul was dedicated to work for God not Giving any kind of excuses like we give when we are not comfortable to do some little work for God.

To understand this letter written to Philemon we need to know some background and context based on which Paul is writing this letter.

Who is Philemon:

Philemon is a member of church at COLOSSE could be Elder or Member in Church.

Stressing More on Letter Written to Paul to the CHURCH at COLOSSE to Prove Philemon was at CHURCH in COLOSSE using References from Letter to COLOSSIANS

Things to Note Down – Church at COLOSSE met at Philemon’s House which shows Philemon was a man who loved God and Reading more in the letter Philemon shares a good Spiritual Relationship with Paul.

Philemon: 1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Check 1 – Paul is Sending Greetings to Philemon/ Apphia/ Archippus (Archippus is member of Church of COLOSSE which gathered at PHILEMONS HOUSE)

Colossians 4:17 – And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

Check 2 – Paul is Sending Onesimus to Colosse with Tychicus (Colossians 4:7,8,9)

In the Book of Philemon we read Paul is sending Onesimus to Philemon with Tychius.

Tychius is mentioned in Letter to Colossians written by Paul

Colossians 4:7,8,9 – 7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant[b] in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Who is Onesimus and Why this Letter is Addressed to Philemon?

Philemon has a bond servant in colosse his name was Onesimus, Onesimus was a kind of slave who ran away from his master Philemon. We don’t have confirmation what happened between Philemon and Onesimus and also there are no sources to prove what happened between both of them.

But reading at the letter written by Paul to Philemon we can identify something was not good with Onesimus that’s why he might have ran away from his master Philemon. This is common among all of us we don’t want to be caught when we do something wrong , we just run away from our mistakes and we try not to get into the place where we did the mistake either for some days or until we are forgiven , It’s a kind of fear every human has who does mistake.

Finally Onesimus did something at Colosse and ran away from Philemon , Somehow he ends up meeting Paul who was in Prison.

Please node Paul was old man when he met Onesimus in the Prison , Such a Old man is writing this letter with patience just for one person Onesimus for reconciliation (To settle the matter) with Philemon, At that age its very hard to do such good things , Paul is already suffering in the Prison.

But the love of CHRIST in Paul has provoked to write such a Beautiful Letter to Philemon, Paul is already in Problem and wants to solve other problem , Onesimus was a bond servant or can be called as slave but Paul didn’t left him go alone , Paul Preached Gospel to Onesimus , He Brought Changes in Onesimus , All this Changes happened in Prison, Please remember Paul was not at all in the Comfort zone. TODAY we being in such a comfort zone feel so much lazy to do work of GOD, “ “ “Paul says he has Begotten Onesimus in the Prison “ Philemon 10th Verse in Telugu –