The Book Of Philemon Commentary; Part 2 Series

Tom Lowe

3/28/2021

THE BOOK OF PHILEMON COMMENTARY; PART 2

Note: The New King James Bible is used throughout,

except where noted otherwise.

14. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.

But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing:

The apostle's final decision was to do nothing without Philemon's consent. Paul made his appeal and made it strong and skillfully. At the same time, he did leave the decision to Philemon. He would appeal in love, but he would not trample over the rights of Philemon. The reason for the decision is at once a very triumph of persuasiveness, which would be ingenious if it were not so spontaneous, and questioned the spirit of Christ's appeal to us for service. "That thy benefit,"-the good done to me by him, which you would in my eyes do-"should not be done out of necessity, but willingly."

That your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary:

This explained why Paul would not force Philemon to make a decision. If Paul demanded it, then Philemon's "good deed" would come by "compulsion" and not be "voluntary." This would make the whole affair unpleasant and rob Philemon of any reward he otherwise might have received. Essentially, Paul gave Philemon the freedom to do what was right in love before the Lord, and he gave him the freedom to do it by his own choice and not out of Paul's "compulsion."

Do not these words go much deeper than this small matter? Did not Paul learn the spirit that suggested them from his own experience of how Christ treated him? The principle underlying them is that where the bond is love, compulsion takes the sweetness and goodness out of even sweet and good things. Freedom is essential to virtue. If a man "could not help it," there is neither praise nor blame due. Christianity honors and respects that freedom.

Regarding the offer of the gospel blessings, men are not forced to accept them but are appealed to and can turn deaf ears to the pleading voice, "WHY WILL YE DIE?" Sorrows and sins and miseries without end continue, and the Gospel is rejected, and lives of wretched godlessness are lived. A dark future pulled down on the rejecters' heads-and all because God knows that these things are better than forcing men into goodness, which indeed would cease to be goodness if they were. For nothing is as good as the free turning of the will to goodness, and nothing is as bad as the dislike of goodness.

The same solemn regard for the freedom of the individual and low estimate of the worth of forced service influence the whole aspect of Christian ethics. Christ wants no men in His army who are forced. There were no conscripts in the ranks. These words might be said to be graven over the gates of the kingdom of heaven, "Not as of necessity, but willingly." In Christian morals, the law becomes love, and love, law. "Must" is not in the Christian vocabulary. Christ takes no offerings which the giver is not glad to render. Money, influence, service, which are not offered by a will moved by love, which loves in its turn, is set in motion by the recognition of the infinite love of Christ in His sacrifice are, in His eyes, nothing. "I delight to do Thy will" is the foundation of all Christian obedience; and the servant had caught the very tone of the Lord's voice when he said, "Without thy mind, I will do nothing, that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly."

15. For perhaps he departed[1] for a while for this purpose (reason), that you might receive him forever,

Paul affirms that perhaps the whole unfortunate event of the flight of Onesimus, the slave, was providential, after all. Did not Joseph say to his brothers in Egypt, "God did send me before you to preserve life?" This is why Joseph left Egypt and the same reason that Onesimus was separated from his master ("for this reason he was separated," a soft expression, to denote God's providence.)

The apostle believed that Onesimus would be an asset to Philemon's ministry; that he would be helpful to him during all the remainder of his life as a servant. His ear was, affixed to the door of Philemon's house (which alludes to the Hebrew custom described in Exodus 21:6—"then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; he shall serve him forever.").

Paul's wish for his friend was that he might indeed be a source of eternal delight for his master. In that infinitely better world, where all distinctions between masters and their slaves shall cease, even that world of complete liberty and everlasting friendship." The apostle made the same kind of apology for Onesimus that Joseph made for his brethren (Genesis 45:5) "Now, therefore, be not grieved; for God did send me before you to preserve life." The providence of God often brings good out of evil. Yet we must not for that reason do evil that good may come.