The Burden And Blessing Of Forgiving Others

However and wherever Onesimus would serve in the future, Paul asks that he be forgiven. It comes out most strongly in verse 18, “If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.” Paul so badly wants the relationship restored, he tells Philemon that he’s willing to repay what Onesimus owes. Something as little as that bag of silver, that piece of jewelry, that time of being AWOL—something so small shouldn’t be allowed to come between them.

For if you share Christ, something small, something earthly, something temporary, should never keep you apart. For in Christ we always have a basis for a new beginning! Is it expecting too much? No, this kind of conduct comes when we embrace the gospel of our redemption, the message of being reconciled to God. It happens when we realize we’ve got to serve our Lord and Saviour with everything we’ve got. Indeed, those forgiven by God learn something very important. His grace gives us insight into life, gives us wisdom for dealing with the people we encounter every day. For in humility before God and before others, we confess that we’re no better than the one who owes us—and so we forgive them, and so we love them.

Compare it to God’s forgiveness of us. He simply won’t let past sins get in the way of our relationship with him today. If we repent, He doesn’t keep bringing them up, but He puts them to rest. They’re off the radar, they’re irrelevant. So may we strive to do the same! To remember sins no more. To accept one another. To rebuild whatever is broken.

So as we come to end of these 25 verses, that’s the big question: How would Philemon receive his slave? Did Paul’s persuasive letter work? Was Onesimus forgiven? Were things made well in that household in Colosse? We don’t know. It is hard to imagine that this letter would’ve been preserved if there hadn’t been a happy outcome. For Philemon to read it aloud in the church would be a public statement that he was accepting Paul’s brotherly counsel, that he was agreeing with his words.

No, we don’t know for sure. But we do know how this letter challenges each of us. We have the gospel. We believe the gospel. And now we need to work with this gospel. It needs to shape how we treat one another. For the gospel’s made us all brothers and sisters, one in Christ Jesus. It’s torn down whatever dividing walls used to stand between us. It’s given us a reason to love and forgive. Amen.