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 –
Reading and Understanding the Letter of Philemon
From this letter written to Philemon lets understand few things which Paul wrote to Philemon Personally, Being a Christian lets learn few lessons from the letter to do some good things , Encourage others in Church and how are we supposed to love our brothers and sisters in church.
Onesimus was not a Christian when he ran away from Philemon – Paul preached gospel to him in prison and good thing Paul did not use him for some personal use he is sending back Onesimus back to Coloss to his master Philemon now as a changed person who received the gospel.
Onesimus was now a honest man ready to face his master Philemon, Now the Question is will PHILEMON ACCEPT ONESIMUS ?
Please remember again this letter was written to Philemon just for one soul to accept Onesimus as his fellow Brother, Not as a slave or bond servant anymore.
Understanding the Parts of the Letter of Philemon: -
While reading this letter we need to understand few key points how Paul wrote this letter , How much Paul Humbled Himself instead of Commanding Philemon, Paul knows he was doing a right thing and good thing hence he knew some sacrifice was needed to convince Philemon , so he humbles himself while writing this letter.
The only intention of Paul was to make Philemon accept Onesimus when he goes back.
Paul is not only simply asking Philemon to accept Onesimus , Paul is asking Philemon to welcome and accept Onesimus as he accepts Paul.
Paul already knew Philemon would do more than what Paul would ask , Paul is asking Philemon to treat Onesimus as he treats Paul
Every Christian Should welcome everyone with the same love and care – Jesus said in Mathew 7:12 Whatever you want men to do, Do also to them.
Paul wants Onesimus to be forgiven by Philemon, Paul is appealing to Philemon to accept Onesimus as a fellow brother.
Paul is asking Philemon to Forgive – This is called Imitating Christ.
Paul is Imitating Christ; He is asking to Forgive Onesimus.
Sometimes when you ask someone to forgive others its very easy to tell, But when same thing comes to us we may not do that, Hence we need to do the same first if we are teaching this to others or asking someone to forgive others. This is called forgiving each other Imitating Christ in our actions, As Christ is forgiving us we need to forgive others not just teaching.
An attitude of Christian should be of always doing good without expecting from others only
If they are gentiles never expect back from them to do some good.
If Both are Christians – God expects Both to do good things ONLY!
James 4:17: - Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, It is a sin!
Galatians 6:10 : - Therefore as we have opportunity ,Let us do good to all , Especially to those who are household of faith.
Onesimus is a changed person now and ready to go back to Philemon.
Philemon – Verse 11, Formerly he was useless to you, But now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
Onesimus is a person of use after knowing Christ , He was useless before , But after hearing and Accepting gospel of Christ he is of good use for both Paul and Philemon.
While Paul was writing to Philemon he is describing Onesimus as a person who can be used for the work of god he was useless before now useful to both of us hence asking philemon to forgive the changed Onesimus and accept him as fellow brother.
Paul is asking Philemon if Onesimus owes something to Philemon to put in Paul’s account.
Paul is ready to pay the cost if Onesimus owes anything to Philemon, Paul is doing every good thing which he can do to make Onesimus accepted by Philemon even at his old age.
Paul is ready to take anything on him for reconciling Onesimus with Philemon and make Onesimus useful.
This is how every Christian should think while doing good to others , Don’t leave anyone in halfway make sacrifice for the good of others whatever you can because James 4:17: - Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, It is a sin!
For Every Christian our goal should be to become like Christ , Till we die we should be Imitating Christ in all over actions.
Even though it will be hard , Every moment you need to imitate Christ not just for some situations or wherever possible.
There might be lot of troubles and other factors where you would say it’s enough and try to drive away slowly from doing good or imitating Christ , But remember your situations should not decide how you should be even though if you are not in comfort zone or could be very hard , you always need to behave like a good Christian just not imitating Christ only in some situations whenever favourable for you but you need to imitate Christ in all conditions. This is what we see from this letter paul is very old , he is in prison but he did not leave Christ at any cost he was making use of every situation to preach the gospel.
Finally, This letter is just a complete picture of salvation given for every Christian through Lord Jesus Christ – The son of leaving god who came to rescue from the bondage of sin.
Paul the Mediator – Represent Christ AS Mediator/Advocate for Reconciliation between Heavenly Father and US.
Paul is representation of Christ , Jesus Christ is our advocate and mediator for the forgiveness of the mistakes which we are doing , He is Interceding for us and already paid his blood for the remission of our sins called debt , Christ has cleared all our debts and ready to pay by himself to the father in heaven. Salvation if Free because of Christ, He Freed us from the debt of sin, He is making us useful for himself and father in heaven, Yes, we are useless but Christ is making us useful through the blood he shed he sacrificed everything for us to make us useful. Christ made every sacrifice to take us back to Father in Heaven.
All Sinners Like US – Represent Onesimus
Onesimus – A slave before he submitted himself to Paul who is representation of Christ Heard the gospel, Had Change of Mind & Heart, Onesimus is a person of use now.
All Sinners like us represent Onesimus, We don’t have anything good, We are kind of run away from God , But Jesus has reconciled us from all our debts called sin he paid his blood to take our debts called sin , If you want to see back your god or heavenly father you need to submit to Christ like Onesimus did , Onesimus submitted to the Gospel which Paul Preached. Jesus is the only way to heaven where God lives don’t disobey the gospel.
Philemon is the Pictorial Representation of Heavenly Father
Philemon was offended by Onesimus, We are like Onesimus now we look like runaway from god doing every sin on the earth we cannot go back to god, we will not have any relationship with god. Don’t Reject the Gospel of Christ Because you need forgiveness from father in heaven through Jesus Christ only nobody can save us but only Jesus. Father Has Given the Authority to Jesus to Forgive Sins.
For our forgiveness we need mediator like Paul/Christ to reconcile with the heavenly father.
Verse Concepts
Isaiah 59:2 Says - But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Exodus 32:33 The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
Romans 3
23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
You are here today for some reason, you want yourself to be useful for the god or for the service of the god, till now if you are coming for something here it OK but from today you need to submit to the Jesus Christ, You know how Onesimus submitted to Paul same way here you need to submit yourself to Christ.
For all others who think I am like Philemon who is representing the heavenly father or like Paul who is representing the Christ , Its good that you have the love of god in you , You will definitely receive your gift of eternal life from god when christ comes back.
Please Submit to Christ the Saviour.
