For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
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Philemon 1:15-16 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate, yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus, who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me. I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News. But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will. For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Parallel Translations
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For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever,
no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
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Haply he therfore departed for a season that thou shuldest receave him for ever
not nowe as a servaut: but above a servaunt I meane a brother beloved specially to me: but how moche more vnto the both in the flesshe and also in the Lorde?
Show all 3 translations
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It may be that he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receiue him for euer,
Not now as a seruant, but aboue a seruant, euen as a brother beloued, specially to me: howe much more then vnto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord?
Cross-references (14)
- Genesis 50:20 (v15) As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.
- Matthew 23:8 (v16) But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
- Colossians 3:22 (v16) Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in…
- 1 Corinthians 7:22 (v16) For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord’s free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ’s bondservant.
- 1 Timothy 6:2 (v16) Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who…
Show all 14 cross-references
- Genesis 45:5-8 (v15) Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years…
- Ephesians 6:5-7 (v16) Servants, be obedient to those who according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as to…
- 1 Peter 1:22-23 (v16) Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from…
- Isaiah 20:6 (v15) The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the…
- Acts 9:17 (v16) Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by…
- Galatians 4:28-29 (v16) Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born…
- Hebrews 3:1 (v16) Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,
- Acts 4:28 (v15) to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
- 1 John 5:1 (v16) Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15 For perhaps he was separated. If we are…
15 For perhaps he was separated. If we are angry on account of offenses committed by men, our minds ought to be soothed, when we perceive that those things which were done through malice have been turned to a different end by the purpose of God. A joyful result may be regarded as a remedy for evils, which is held out to us by the hand of God for blotting out offenses. Thus Joseph — when he takes into consideration, that the wonderful providence of God brought it about, that, though he was sold as a slave, yet he was elevated to that high rank, from which he could provide food for his brethren and his father — forgets the treachery and cruelty of his brethren, and says, that he was sent before on their account. (Genesis 45:5.)
Paul therefore reminds Philemon that he ought not to be so greatly offended at the flight of his slave, for it was the cause of a benefit not to be regretted. So long as Onesimus was at heart a runaway, Philemon, though he had him in his house, did not actually enjoy him as his property; for he was wicked and unfaithful, and could not be of real advantage. He says, therefore, that he was a wanderer for a little time, that, by changing his place, he might be converted and become a new man. And he prudently softens everything, by calling the flight a departure, and adding, that it was only for a time.
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That thou mightest receive him for ever. Lastly, he contrasts the perpetuity of the advantage with the short duration of the loss.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Thus he assuageth the harder kind of speech, which…
Thus he assuageth the harder kind of speech, which is to say, he ran away.
For a little time.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season,…
15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;
Ver. 15. For perhaps he therefore] God hath a hand in ordering our disorders to his own glory and our good. He teacheth us by our temptations. This made Mr Fox say that his graces did him most hurt, and his sins most good.
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He departed for a season] Here the apostle makes the best of an ill matter. Converts are to be gently handled, and their former evil practices not to be aggravated.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Onesimus in departing designed no such thing, but possibly…
Onesimus in departing designed no such thing, but possibly God, in the wisdom of his providence, suffered him to depart from thee, and to fall into theft, that he might upon that occasion come to a quicker sense and conviction of sin, and see a need of a Saviour; that, being turned from sin unto God, and having embraced Christ our common Saviour, thou mightest receive, love, and embrace him αιωνιον, for ever, this ever, in this life, that is, so long as you both should live.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v15 Here our apostle answers an objection which possibly Philemon…
Here our apostle answers an objection which possibly Philemon might make: Thus, "Onesimus ran away from me; what reason have I to receive him again?" The apostle seems thus to rely upon it: if his departing from thee was so managed by the wise and merciful providence of God, that it might be an occasion of thy receiving him again for ever, then, for all his departure thou oughtest to receive him. But verily thus it is, the wisdom of God has thus overruled the matter; he went from thee a fugitive, thievish and purloining; but he returns, a convert, a Christian, a brother in the faith, and as such to be entertained by thee, being doubly related to thee, both as a servant, and as a fellow-member of Christ.
Observe here, 1. The large extent, and next the overruling power, of the Divine Providence: its extent, it reaches not only to kingdoms and nations, but to families and persons, even to poor bond-slaves; a fugitive runs not from his service, but the providence of God eyes and observes it, nay wisely and mercifully overrules it.
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Oh! the depth of divine knowledge and wisdom! the providence of God concerns itself, and has a hand in those actions of men which are sinful, without any blemish to his holiness; he concurs to the act but not to the alaxy and disorder of the action; he that rides a lame horse is the cause of his going, but not of his halting.
Observe, 2. The privilege of our spiritual conjunction in Christ above any other civil conjunction being effected by the bond of the Spirit, is indissoluble, it is for ever. Death itself cannot dissolve it, yea, it knits the knot faster: He departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever.
Observe, 3. That although Christianity doth not take away the degrees of persons, and the civil differences between man and man, yet it maketh us all equal and fellow-brethern in Christ. Receive him now, not barely as a servant, but above a servant, as a brother in Christ; you and he are now brethern by grace.
Learn hence, That religious servants are more than ordinary servants, they are brethren in Christ; and when humility, fidelity, and prudence are found with them, as they are more than ordinary servants, so God expects that we should give them more than ordinary respect; and we sin in denying it. O servants, would you have high respect showed to you? become then first humble servants to Jesus Christ, and then faithful and prudent servants where God has placed you, and you shall never want respect either from God or men: for them that honour God, he will honour.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv15–16 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season,.... The…
For perhaps he therefore departed for a season,.... The apostle in this clause seems to soften this business of Onesimus in running away from his master; he calls it not a running away, but a departure, an absence from him, and that but for a little while; and suggests that the hand of God might be in it; that there was an overruling providence that attended it, such as was in Joseph's going down into Egypt; and that this separation of Onesimus from his master, for a short time, was in order that they should come together again, and never part more, as follows:
that thou shouldest receive him for ever; or during life, referring to the law in Exo 21:6 or to all eternity, since they were in the same spiritual relation, partakers of the same grace, and had a right to the same heavenly inheritance, and should be together with Christ for evermore.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv15–16 God might permit him to be separated (a soft…
God might permit him to be separated (a soft word) for a season, that thou mightest have him forever - Both on earth and in heaven.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Verse 15. He-departed for a season] This is another…
Verse 15. He-departed for a season] This is another most delicate stroke. He departed thy slave, thy unfaithful slave; he departed for a short time; but so has the mercy of God operated in his behalf, and the providence of God in thine, that he now returns, not an unfaithful slave, in whom thou couldst repose no confidence, but as a brother, a beloved brother in the Lord, to be in the same heavenly family with thee for ever. Thou hast, therefore, reason to be thankful to God that he did depart, that he might be restored to thee again infinitely better than he was when be left thee. God has permitted his unfaithfulness, and overruled the whole both to his advantage and thine. The apology for Onesimus is very similar to that made by Joseph for his brethren, Ge 45:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v15 Phm 1:15-16. For perhaps he therefore departed — Δια…
Phm 1:15-16. For perhaps he therefore departed — Δια τουτο εχωρισθη, for this reason he was separated; a soft expression, to denote Onesimus’s running away from his master; for it contains an insinuation that this had happened providentially; for a season — Προς ωραν, for an hour, a little while; that thou shouldest receive him — Ινα αιωνιον αυτον απεχης, mightest have or possess him; for ever — That is, as Dr. Doddridge paraphrases the clause, “That he might not only be dear and useful to thee during all the remainder of his life, as a servant, whose ear is, as it were, bored to the door of thy house, (to allude to the Hebrew custom, Exo 21:6,) but that he might indeed be a source of eternal delight to thee 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 here made the same kind of apology for Onesimus which Joseph made for his brethren, (Gen 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. Not now as a servant — Or slave, as he was formerly, when ignorant and wicked, much less as a fugitive slave, to be long frowned upon; but above a slave, or even a common servant — As standing in another, a much more dear and honourable relation; as a brother beloved, especially to me — Whom he has attended with great assiduity in my afflictions; but how much more unto thee — To whom he belongs; both in the flesh — As a dutiful servant; and in the Lord — As a fellow-Christian. That Philemon might not be offended at him for calling his fugitive slave his brother, the apostle acknowledges him for his own brother also, as being now a son of God, and an heir of life eternal.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv15–16 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season -…
For perhaps he therefore departed for a season - Perhaps on this account, or for this reason - διὰ τοῦτο dia touto - he left you for a little time. Greek, “for an hour” - πρὸς ὥραν pros hōran. The meaning is, that it was possible that this was permitted in the Providence of God in order that Onesimus might be brought under the influence of the gospel, and be far more serviceable to Philemon as a Christian, than he could have been in his former relation to him. What appeared to Philemon, therefore, to be a calamity, and what seemed to him to be wrong on the part of Onesimus, might have been permitted to occur in order that he might receive a higher benefit. Such things are not uncommon in human affairs.
That thou shouldest receive him for ever - That is, in the higher relation of a Christian friend and brother; that he might be united to thee in eternal affection; that he might not only be with thee in a far more endearing relation during the present life than he was before, but in the bonds of love in a world that shall never end.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15–16 A little while. Literally, ad horam, Greek: pros oran.
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
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A little while. Literally, ad horam, Greek: pros oran.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15–16 perhaps--speaking in human fashion, yet as one believing that…
perhaps--speaking in human fashion, yet as one believing that God's Providence probably (for we cannot dogmatically define the hidden purposes of God in providence) overruled the past evil to ultimately greater good to him. This thought would soften Philemon's indignation at Onesimus' past offense. So Joseph in Gen 45:5.
departed--literally, "was parted from thee"; a softening term for "ran away," to mitigate Philemon's wrath.
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receive him--Greek, "have him for thyself in full possession" (see on Phi 4:18). The same Greek as in Mat 6:2.
for ever--in this life and in that to come (compare Exo 21:6). Onesimus' time of absence, however long, was but a short "hour" (so Greek) compared with the everlasting devotion henceforth binding him to his master.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15. Departed… season… for ever—A beautiful apologetic for the…
15. Departed… season… for ever—A beautiful apologetic for the fugitive. He sinned, but even his sins are divinely overruled and transformed into an instrument for the good of you both.
For ever—A word suggestive of an immortal fellowship, and so intimating that it does not imply a perpetual servitude.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15. For] He gives a new reason for Onesimus’…
15. For] He gives a new reason for Onesimus’ return. Perhaps it was on purpose for such a more than restoration that he was permitted to desert Philemon. So to send him back is to carry out God’s plan.
perhaps] He claims no insight into the Divine purpose, where it is not revealed to him.
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departed] Lit., was parted. From one point of view, that of providential permission, the runaway was sent away. Chrysostom (quoted by Lightfoot) beautifully compares Gen_45:5, where Joseph says to his brethren, “God did send me before you.”
for a season] Lit., “for an hour.” So 2Co_7:8; Gal_2:5.
receive him] The Greek verb is often used of receiving payment; e.g. Mat_6:2; Mat_6:5; Mat_6:16. We might almost paraphrase, “get him paid back”; as if he had been “lent to the Lord.”
for ever] Lit., “eternal,” aiônion. The adjective tends to mark duration as long as the nature of the subject allows. And by usage it has a close connexion with things spiritual. “For ever” here thus imports both natural and spiritual permanence of restoration; “for ever” on earth, and then hereafter; a final return to Philemon’s home, with a prospect of heaven in Philemon’s company.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–16 (15) For perhaps he therefore departed (or, was parted).—This…
(15) For perhaps he therefore departed (or, was parted).—This is a further reason for sending Onesimus back. St. Paul now touches on Onesimus’ “being parted” from Philemon, using a phrase not only (as has been noted) euphemistic, but also one which suggested that his running away was, however unconsciously, overruled by a higher hand. God, in His wisdom, “parted” him from Philemon “for a season, that he might receive him for ever.” The phrase “for ever” is the word always used for “eternal.” The contrast with “for a season” might be satisfied here by the merely relative sense of “perpetual” or “life-long service;” but, considering that the phrase is used in direct reference to the brotherhood of the Communion of Saints, it is better to take it in its absolute sense, of fellowship in the life eternal.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–16 Therefore; for this purpose (final cause). Departed for a…
Therefore; for this purpose (final cause). Departed for a season. He was therefore parted from thee for a time (Revised Version). Forever; everlastingly (accusative, not an adverb). The relation of master and slave would have been in any case, and would still be, terminated by death. But it was now replaced by a new relation of Christian brotherhood, which would be permanent a great advantage. So Calvin, Grotius, and many others. Meyer"s objection does not seem of much weight. (compare the Perpetua mancipia of Exo_21:6 Deu_15:17) Baur thinks that in this verse he has reached the core of the Epistle the ethical truth which it seeks to embody (but see Introduction: "Authenticity and Characteristics").
Treasures in heaven.
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I CHRISTIANS HAVE THE PROMISE, NOT ONLY OF THE LIFE THAT NOW IS, BUT OF THAT WHICH IS TO COME. (1Ti_4:8) Philemon had had before a legal property in Onesimus, which was, however, temporary, because it necessarily ended at latest with the life of either man. But in gaining the tie of Christian fellowship with him, he obtained an interest in him which would endure permanently; and so Philemon had, in a sense, "received him forever.
II THIS IS THEREFORE A TYPICAL INSTANCE. The world has only temporal and temporary treasures to offer; religion has eternal and abiding ones. "The things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal"; (2Co_4:18) the one has time for its sphere of action, and is bounded by time; the other has eternity.
III SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND BLESSINGS ARE BEGUN IN THIS WORLD, but will not be fully possessed by the blessed until after the final judgment. They are an inheritance in heaven." The Christian, as he "grows in grace," possesses -more and more completely:
1. Love and subjection towards God.
2. Love, sympathy, and forgiveness towards his neighbor.
3. Watchfulness and self-control over himself.
The apostle enumerates these spiritual blessings without classification, (Gal_5:23) as "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." The sum and substance and crown of them all is righteousness an approximation, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit of God, to the ideal of perfect manhood; that is, "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". (Eph_4:13) And this righteousness prepares the soul for the presence of God. (Luk_17:21) While other treasures, therefore, are possessions of the body, or at most of the mind, treasures in heaven" belong to the soul, that is, to the immortal and permanent part of man"s nature, and are to be valued accordingly.
IV HOW ETERNAL BLESSINGS ARE TO BE DESIRED AND SOUGHT FOR.
1. In preference to all other things, because of their greater importance. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God", (Mat_6:33) and also Vers. 19, 20, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven," etc.
2. With all earnestness. Strive to enter in", (Luk_13:24) as men who are so much in earnest as to be "violent". (Mat_11:12)
3. By the practice of graces given: of faith, (2Pe_1:5) of charity and almsgiving, (1Ti_6:18, 1Ti_6:19) of the knowledge of the Savior and of heavenly things. (2Pe_3:18)
V THE CHRISTIAN HAS THE GUARANTEE OF GOD HIMSELF that his hopes for eternal happiness shall not be disappointed. (2Ti_1:12 1Pe_4:19)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv15–16
Phm_1:15
Perhaps
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Contingency
The word is used to express every degree of contingency from the faintest possibility to the highest probability.
Two reasons may underlie the peculiar timidity and hesitation implied.
1. This departure might have been allowed with a view to a higher good. This case might have been like Josephs (Gen_45:5). Certainly a beginning which appeared so unpromising looked like the very path that had led to happiness. Had not Onesimus fled from Philemon, he would not have arrived in Rome, nor have found St. Paul. Had not Paul been imprisoned, Onesimus would never have believed, or been baptized, or become a minister of Christ--perhaps a bishop and martyr. Taking the two extreme points of the story, add connecting them together, it might be said, Onesimus became a minister of the gospel, because he fled from his master. St. Paul softens the sentence by the words, it may be, because the judgments of God are hidden, and it is culpably rash to pronounce certainly on that which must be doubtful for creatures like ourselves.
2. If he had not so qualified his statement, slaves might have appealed with too much readiness to the example of Onesimus. (Bp. Wm. Alexander.)
Perhaps
Paul will not be too sure of what God means by such and such a thing, as some of us are wont to be, as if we had been sworn of Gods privy council. Perhaps, is one of the hardest words for minds of a certain class to say; but in regard to all such subjects, and to many more, it is the motto of the wise man, and the shibboleth which sifts out the patient, modest lovers of truth from rash theorists and precipitate dogmatisers. Impatience of uncertainty is a moral fault which mars many an intellectual process; and its evil effects are nowhere more visible than in the field of theology. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Perhaps,--therefore
I. Uncertainties. God often allows us no more than a perhaps; and for a time does not give us the slightest indication in any direction of what good turn our trial is to take. And it is wonderful of what use this perhaps, with its uncertainty, is to the believer. While he is saying perhaps this, or perhaps that, his mind wanders away far afield, seeing how a blessing may come from this unlikely quarter or from that, and how his trouble may link in with one thing and another, until he gets up from his thoughts full of wonder at what Gods resources are, and full of happiness at the thought that he is within such reach of blessing, and that it can travel to him by such hundreds of hitherto unknown ways. The very uncertainty which is so harassing to the natural man is educational to the believer; he is taught to look out for God in all possible directions; the very uncertainty prevents his trying to fix God to this mode of action, or to that. The perhaps of the believer never dies; when it sees one door plainly closed, it immediately opens another; that is its very nature.
II. Separations.
1. Separations are to be traced farther back than what we call the accidental circumstances which apparently have caused them. It is soul teaching, and soul strengthening, when we discern that things are of the Lord.
2. We have God deep in the background of trial for good, if we by our waywardness hinder Him not. The loss for a season to Philemon of the services of Onesimus was great; but it was to be met by a greater gain. The bringing of good out of evil is the prerogative of God. He permits the evil, to produce the good.
3. Here there seems to meet us, also, a working of what might almost be said to be a law of Gods dealing with us in our present fallen state, viz., that loss must precede gain; that seed corn must die, before harvest corn can be reaped.
III. Restorations. If we could but introduce those words forever in their deep meaning into our trials--into the decision as to the course of action we would pursue--into the results which naturally belong to them, how differently would things be often done from the way in which they are now. Let us apply the forever to earths great things to make them small, and to Christs small things to make them great. The tears which at the most we can shed are but few--the watercourse of a cheek is short; but who can tell the depth of the pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal; or, whither flows that stream, concerning which all that we are told is this--that it proceedeth out of the throne of the Lamb. It is through temporary losses that we, if we yield ourselves to their teaching and power, pass to eternal gains. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
The runaway slave sent back
I. Perhaps he therefore departed, etc. Wonderful dealings of God in providence--ordering all, overruling even faults. Onesimus had done wrong; yet God, instead of giving him up to the consequences, in mercy overruled all for good; led him to Rome; brought under Pauls teaching, where converted. Doubtless he had suffered hardships and want. Humbled thus perhaps. Thus often. Chastisement, suffering; yet good at last. Even faults often overruled. Some in prison for crime have there learnt the way of salvation. Wild young man enlists, sent abroad, there learns the way. Boy goes to sea, endures hardship, brought to repentance. The therefore runs through all.
II. Observe how confidently Paul asks Philemon to forgive. Could he have done so, unless Philemon had been a Christian? No. Little hope of mercy otherwise. Nothing would have been thought too heavy punishment for dishonest runaway slave. What change the gospel makes! Thankful for it even in this view. Thankful to be born and live under it. Paul, we may be sure, appealed not in vain. Onesimus forgiven and restored. All past forgotten. Of all the fruits of the gospel, none more striking or peculiar than forgiveness of injuries.
III. But more than forgiveness was expected of him, and doubtless not in vain. He and Onesimus now, not merely master and servant, but fellow Christians, brethren. Surely he would be a slave no more!
1. This is such forgiveness as we receive, returning and confessing. Not bare pardon, but rich and full blessing too. Made free; made happy. Servants, yet children too. All in Christ
2. Such also the forgiveness we should practise. Not grudging, but bountiful, generous. And every Christian we should treat as a brother. (F. Bourdillon, M. A.)
Departed for a season--
Sin not to be exaggerated
He does not say, Perhaps he therefore ran away; he uses a word of better report: he departed, was separated from thee, by the permissive hand of Gods providence. After men have repented of their sins, we must not aggravate, but in some measure extenuate them. Not Noahs drunkenness, but Noahs unadvised drinking; Not Davids adultery, but the matter of Uriah; not Peters apostasy, but Peters denial; not Onesimus running away, but departing. Before they be humbled, we must be as trumpeters to waken them out of their sins; after that, we must be as nurses to cherish them: before corazives, after lenitives: before, we must come with the law as a schoolmaster to whip them; after, with the gospel to comfort them; before, we must be Boanerges, sons of thunder; after, Barnabases, sons of consolation. (W. Jones, D. D.)
Philemon and Onesimus
I. What sort of results St. Paul expected to flow from the reconciling and combining power of the Christian faith. Certainly slavery was repugnant to the spirit of Christianity, to the spirit of Him who had vindicated the rights of our human nature, and who had indefinitely enhanced its dignity by taking that nature upon Him at His incarnation. But the business of the apostles was of a higher and of a Diviner sort then that of inaugurating a violent social revolution. The revolt of Sparticus with all that had followed was still fresh in the memory of the world, and the apostles addressed themselves to the practical task of lodging the Christian faith and life in the minds and hearts of masters and slaves alike, confident that in time that faith would act as a powerful solvent upon the institution, by eating out its very spirit. The Christian master would feel that the slave was certainly as a man his equal, and possibly in the kingdom of the Redeemer his superior, and that he too, the while, had a Master in heaven. And the Christian slave would feel that the circumstances of this life mattered little if, through the Divine redemption, he were secure for the next; and he would see in his masters will, wherever he could, nothing less than the will of God. The apostles, then, would not anticipate the slow but certain action of the Christian principles upon society, the infiltration of the Christian spirit into the Imperial codes; the gradual legislation of the great Catholic councils; the work which, too long delayed, is associated in our latter days with the honoured names of Wilberforce and Clarkson. When Philemon received Onesimus, a great Christian enterprise of reconciling classes had indeed begun. What are we doing to further it?
II. How entirely, for the time being, St. Pauls interest is concentrated on a single soul. He writes just as though there was no person in the world to think about except Onesimus, add relatively to Onesimus his master Philemon. Now, here is a lesson which is much needed, it seems, in our day. Our fashion is to think and speak of religion as an abstract influence, to forget that to be worth anything it must be a power reigning in the individual life. We talk grandly and vaguely about the tendencies of the age, about the dangers of the age, about the modern spirit, about a number of fine abstract phrases and conceptions, which just slightly, each one of them, stimulate the imagination, and which exact no sacrifice whatever from the will. We utter or we listen to these imposing abstractions at a public meeting, and we forget that they mean nothing--nothing whatever--apart from the life and experience of each separate soul. They are creations of our own thought; but souls, they are independent realities. The soul is there, whether we think about it or not. All the real good that is to be done in the Church or in the world must begin with individual characters, with single souls. Phrases die away upon the breeze--souls remain. They remain in their ignorance, in their perplexity, in their sorrows. They remain awaiting death, awaiting eternity. Many a teacher of two or three children, of a few pupils, who seem dull and irresponsive, and little likely to do their instructor credit--many a teacher is often tempted to wish that he had what is called a larger sphere of action, where he might control great issues, and become a leader or a fashioner of the thought of the lime. If any such one hears me, let him think of Paul, the aged apostle of the nations, working away as the dreary hours passed, working away on the dull brain and on the sluggish affections of the slave Onesimus. The world, it has been well said, is not saved by abstract ideas, however brilliant. The world is saved by the courageous individualising efforts of Christian love.
III. How a Christian should look at the events of life, at the commonplace and trivial events, as well as those which appear to be striking and important. Every such event has a purpose, whether we can trace it or not. It is a purpose which will be made plain in the eternal world, in the mysterious state of existence which awaits every one of us when we have passed the gate of death. To St. Paul, the future life was just as certain as the shining of the sun in the heavens, and therefore he writes quite naturally to Philemon: Perhaps Onesimus was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou mightest receive him forever. And yet observe the perhaps! St. Paul will not encourage us in a rash and presumptuous confidence when we endeavour to interpret in detail Gods providences in this life by the light of the next. We may conjecture that such and such an event is permitted for such and such an end, which will be agreeable to the known will and attributes of God; we cannot know that it is so. Some well-meaning, but unthinking people, undertake to interpret a human life, just as they undertake the Revelation of St. John, with an easy reliance on their own insight, which nothing but ignorance of the real difficulties of the subject can possibly explain. St. Paul saw as far as most men into the purposes of God, and yet, when he would interpret Gods purpose in respect of a given human life, he reverently adds Perhaps--Perhaps he therefore was parted from thee for a season, that thou mightest receive him forever. St. Paul describes what took place, but in his own religious language. Onesimus had robbed Philemon and had fled from justice: St. Paul says, He was parted from thee for a time. St. Paul sees a higher hand in what seemed to be only the act of Onesimus. If Onesimus robbed and fled from his master, God permitted him to do so, and this permission we are told was probably given in order to bring about the conversion of Onesimus to the Christian faith and his reunion with his master Philemon, first in this life at Colosse, and then forever in the life everlasting. Now, what is here remarkable is that even the misconduct of Onesimus seems to have been, according to St. Paul, permitted for a purpose which would be made plain in the future life. God knew what he was doing in permitting the misconduct of Onesimus. It was for Philemon to forget the petty and personal aspects of the case, to recognise Gods hand and mind in it; to throw his thought upward and forward from the present to the future; upward from the lower world of sense and time, to the mighty world, with its immense proportions, of eternity. Observe this is a rule of thought. It is not for us men a rule of action. Never are we authorised to do evil that good may come, though we are bound to extract all the good we can out of the evil that may be done by others; and to trace Gods hand in bringing good out of evil which He permits His creatures to work. (Canon Liddon.)
The story of a runaway slave
I. Look at Onesimus as an instance of Divine grace.
1. In his election. Were there no free men, that God must elect a slave? Were there no faithful servants, that He must choose one who had embezzled his masters money? Were there none of the educated and polite, that He must needs look upon a barbarian? Were there none among the moral and the excellent, that infinite love should fix itself upon this degraded being, who was now mixed up with the very scum of society? I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion, rolls like thunder alike from the cross of Calvary and from the mount of Sinai. The Lord is a Sovereign, and doeth as He pleases. Let us admire that marvellous electing love which selected such a one as Onesimus!
2. In his conversion. Look at him! How unlikely he appears to become convert. He is an Asiatic slave of about the same grade as an ordinary Lascar, or heathen Chinee. He was, however, worse than the ordinary Lascar, who is certainly free, and probably an honest man, if he is nothing else. This man had been dishonest, and he was daring withal, for after taking his masters property he was bold enough to make a long journey, from Colosse to Rome. Some of us, I have no doubt, are quite as wonderful instances of Divine election and effectual calling as Onesimus was. Let us, therefore, record the lovingkindness of the Lord, and let us say to ourselves, Christ shall have the glory of it. The Lord hath done it; and unto the Lord be honour, world without end.
3. The grace of God was conspicuous in the character which it wrought in Onesimus upon his conversion, for he appears to have been helpful, useful, and profitable. So Paul says. What wonders the grace of God can do! Many plans are employed in the world for the reformation of the wicked and the reclaiming of the fallen, and to every one of these, as far as they are rightly bottomed, we wish good success; for whatever things are lovely and pure, and of good report, we wish them God speed. But mark this word--the true reforming of the drunkard lies in giving him a new heart; the true reclaiming of the harlot is to be found in a renewed nature. The lowest strata of society will never be brought into the light of virtue, sobriety, and purity, except by Jesus Christ and His gospel; and we must stick to that. Let all others do what they like, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. A very interesting instance of sin overruled. The Lord must have Onesimus in Rome to hear Paul, and the sin of Onesimus, though perfectly voluntary on his part, so that God had no hand in it, is yet overruled by a mysterious providence to bring him where the gospel shall be blest to his soul. Now, I want to speak to some of you Christian people about this matter. Have you a son who has left home? Is he a wilful, wayward young man, who has gone away because he could not bear the restraints of a Christian family? It is a sad thing it should be so, but do not despond. You do not know where he is, but God does; and you cannot follow him, but the Spirit of God can. Many a sailor boy has been wild, reckless, Godless, Christless, and at last has got into a foreign hospital. Ah, if his mother knew that he was down with the yellow fever, how sad her mind would be, for she would conclude that her dear son will die away at Havannah or somewhere, and never come home again. But it is just in that hospital that God means to meet with him. A sailor writes to me something like that. He says, My mother asked me to read a chapter every day, but I never did. I got into the hospital at Havannah, and, when I lay there, there was a man near to me who was dying, and he died one night; but before he died he said to me, Mate, could you come here? I want to speak to you. I have got something that is very precious to me here. I was a wild fellow, but reading this packet of sermons has brought me to the Saviour, and I am dying with a good hope through grace. Now, when I am dead and gone, will you take these sermons and read them, and may God bless them to you. And will you write a letter to the man that preached and printed those sermons, to tell him that God blessed them to my conversion, and that I hope He will bless them to yourself? It was a packet of my sermons, and God did bless them to that young man who, I have no doubt whatever, went to that hospital because there a man who had been brought to Christ would hand to him the words which God had blessed to himself and would bless to his friend. You do not know, dear mother, you do not know. The worst thing that can happen to a young man is sometimes the best thing that can happen to him.
III. Our text may be viewed as an example of relations improved. He therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever; not now as a servant, but a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee? You know we are a long while learning great truths. Perhaps Philemon had not quite found out that it was wrong for him to have a slave. Some men who were very good in their time did not know it. John Newton did not know that he was doing wrong in the slave trade, and George Whitfield, when he left slaves to the orphanage at Savannah, which had been willed to him, did not think for a moment that he was doing anything more than if he had been dealing with horses, or gold and silver. Public sentiment was not enlightened, although the gospel has always struck at the very root of slavery. The essence of the gospel is that we are to do to others as we would that others should do to us, and nobody would wish to be another mans slave, and therefore he has no right to have another man as his slave. Perhaps, when Onesimus ran away and came back again, this letter of Paul may have opened Philemons eyes a little as to his own position. No doubt he may have been an excellent master, and have trusted his servant, and not treated him as a slave at all, but perhaps he had not regarded him as a brother; and now Onesimus has come back he will be a better servant, but Philemon will be a better master, and a slave holder no longer. He will regard his former servant as a brother in Christ. Now, this is what the grace of God does when it comes into a family. It does not alter the relations; it does not give the child a right to be pert, and forget that he is to be obedient to his parents; it does not give the father a right to lord it over his children without wisdom and love, for it tells him that he is not to provoke his children to anger, lest they be discouraged; it does not give the servant the right to be a master, neither does it take away from the master his position, or allow him to exaggerate his authority, but all round it softens and sweetens. Rowland Hill used to say that he would not give a halfpenny for a mans piety if his dog and his cat were not better off after he was converted. There was much weight in that remark. Everything in the house goes better when grace oils the wheels. The mistress is, perhaps, rather sharp, quick, tart; well, she gets a little sugar into her constitution when she receives the grace of God. The servant may be apt to loiter, be late up of a morning, very slovenly, fond of a gossip at the door; but, if she is truly converted, all that kind of thing ends. She is conscientious, and attends to her duty as she ought. The master, perhaps--well, he is the master, and you know it. But when he is a truly Christian man--he has a gentleness, a suavity, a considerateness about him. The husband is the head of the wife, but when renewed by grace he is not at all the head of the wife as some husbands are. The wife also keeps her place, and seeks, by all gentleness and wisdom to make the house as happy as she can. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A runaway converted
Some years ago I was talking with an aged minister, and he began fumbling about in his waistcoat pocket, but he was a long while before he found what he wanted. At last he brought out a letter that was well nigh worn to pieces, and he said, God Almighty bless you! God Almighty bless you! And I said, Friend, what is it? He said, I had a son. I thought he would be the stay of my old age, but he disgraced himself, and he went away from me, and I could not tell where he went, only he said he was going to America. He took a ticket to sail for America from the London docks, but he did not go on the particular day that he expected. This aged minister bade me read the letter, and I read it, and it was like this: Father, I am here in America. I have found a situation, and God has prospered me. I write to ask your forgiveness for the thousand wrongs that I have done you, and the grief I have caused you, for, blessed be God, I have found the Saviour. I have joined the Church of God here, and hope to spend my life in Gods service. It happened thus: I did not sail for America the day I expected. I went down to the Tabernacle to see what it was like, and God met with me. Mr. Spurgeon said, Perhaps there is a runaway son here. The Lord call him by His grace. And he did. Now, said he, as he folded up the letter and put it into his pocket, that son of mine is dead, and he is in heaven, and I love you, and I shall do so as long as I live, because you were the means of bringing him to Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The providence of God in human life
The great idea underlying the present turn of thought is, that in every event of life, good or bad, God has not only an interest, but a meaning or purpose through it, all His own. There is not merely a general superintendence of Providence over the affairs of men, but a Providential agency at work in the very midst of them. Very different, no doubt, is the Divine agency from the human, with which it mysteriously mingles. Not more distinct is the Lord of all from the works of His own hands, than is His providential government distinct from what it regulates; yet moving freely in the midst of His creation, He no less freely interlaces human agencies with His own. Mans history, in short, is not the mere sum of his own thoughts and doings, any more than the well-compacted web is the mere sum of the weft threads shot across its range--there are the slowly unrolling warp threads as well; and not less surely is there the unfold ing of a providential agency to bind into one the crossing, and recrossing lines of human activity. Hence we continually see results issuing from trivial matters which the actors in them never contemplated. But the special feature in Divine Providence on which the apostles argument proceeds is the fact that God brings good out of mans evil. (A. H. Drysdale, M. A.)
The providence of God in the life of man
I. An encouraging view of the providence of God.
1. The minuteness of its operation.
2. The beneficence of its operation. Why did God permit evil in the world?
(1) To bind man more closely, lastingly, lovingly to Himself.
(2) To awaken nobler developments of human character.
(3) To manifest more conspicuously His own character and glory.
(4) To increase human joy. The joy of gratitude for redemption, of deliverance from direst perils, of victory over subtlest, strongest foes, etc.
II. A view of the preeminence of spiritual relationships.
1. Christianity does not weaken any of the bonds of our civil or other earthly relationships.
2. Personal Christianity exalts and ennobles all other relationships.
3. Spiritual relationships are preeminently over all others.
(1) They are independent of differences of rank and condition.
(2) They are perpetual in their duration.
(3) They centre and subsist in Jesus Christ. (W. Jones.)
More than a servant
1. Mark that the apostle entitleth the shameful running away of Onesimus, the servant of Philemon, by the name of a departure. If we will speak properly, a departing is one thing, a running away is another thing. For albeit everyone that runneth away departeth; yet everyone that departeth runneth not away from his master, because he may depart by consent either having leave and licence, or that the time of his service is expired. So a little before (Phm_1:11), he called him unprofitable, whereas he might lawfully have given him a harder title. This was not done in regard of the offence because it was small, but in regard of his repentance because it was great.
2. In the apostles answer to Philemons objection we may mark that we are bound to forgive and forget injuries and offences done unto us, when once God hath forgiven and covered the sins committed against Him and received the sinner that repenteth to mercy; when God maketh all things turn to our good that love Him and thereby recompenseth by a double benefit the loss and damage that we have sustained.
3. We may observe that Christian religion doth more strongly bind all persons to their particular callings and maketh the knot greater than it was. For that which he speaketh here of a Christian servant, even a brother, is true of all callings in the family and commonwealth. For as a faithful servant is more than a bare servant, so a Christian king is more than a king; a Christian master is more than a master; a Christian father is more than a father; a Christian husband is more than a husband; so on the other side a Christian wife is more than a wife; a Christian subject is more than a subject; and so of all the rest.
4. The apostle notwithstanding the great account he maketh of this servant doth not deny subjection to his master nor exempt him from the condition of a servant, but he addeth More than a servant. He saith not, he is no more a servant, but he is more than a servant; so that our Christian calling doth not abolish policy and politic constitutions and domestic government; but rather doth strengthen and sanctify them. He that is called to the truth being a servant, must not be discouraged and discontented, but rejoice in this that he is the Lords freeman.
5. When he styleth him A brother he doth after a sort signify he is equal unto him. For albeit in the commonwealth and private family it be necessary that some should be superiors and other inferiors; and that this disparity and inequality among men be the ordinance of God; yet in the kingdom of God and in Christ Jesus there is no distinction.
6. We may observe that he joineth love with Christian brotherhood, and calleth Onesimus A beloved brother, not only a servant, not only a brother, but a brother dear and beloved; signifying thereby that where a Christian calling is found, there charity and love is as a due debt required. (W. Attersoll.)
Forever--
A brother forever
There may probably be here an allusion to that which is written in the Hebrew law about the slavery of the children of the strangers that sojourned among the Israelites (Lev_25:46). Onesimus was to be his masters property--his to have and hold, to enjoy as his possession--forever, as the old law said of the slave in permanent servitude. But in how much a deeper and truer sense! To be with him not only for time, but in eternity, in the eternal communion of saints. The time of the absence of Onesimus, during which he was parted from Philemon, might have entailed some little discomfort upon his master. What of that? Why count up the weeks and months? They were but as the slaves little hour of holiday compared with the gain of a brother forever. (Bp. Wm. Alexander.)
Eternal friendship
Since he left Onesimus had obtained eternal life, and eternal life involves eternal interchange of friendship. His services to his old master were no longer barred by the gates of death. (Bp. Lightfoot.)
All things, even sin itself, are turboed by Gods providence to the good of the elect
I. The reasons of this doctrine are apparent, to settle our hearts and consciences therein.
1. The infinite wisdom and unsearchable power of God, who, as the apostle teacheth, bringeth light out of darkness, and worketh by contrary means, such as men count foolishness, as to save men by the foolish preaching of the gospel, that is, which is esteemed among the wise men of the world no better than foolishness.
2. It is the pleasure of God to confound the wisdom of man that cannot attain to great matters but by great means (1Co_1:27). God disposeth of all things as pleaseth Him, and oftentimes crosseth the devices of men. They intend one thing, but God bringeth to pass another, they purpose one end, but He will have another come forth to teach mans wisdom to be but foolishness.
3. He expresseth His wonderful love, making all things that fall out in the world to serve His Church.
II. This doctrine serveth for reproof, for comfort and for obedience.
1. For it serveth to reprove and convince sundry persons, that either know not or knowing do abuse this providence of God whereby He taketh care of all things that are in the world and directeth them to a right end.
(1) And first of all, we set against it and oppose unto it the dreams of atheists, epicures, libertines, who either deny wholly there is a God, or make Him sit as idle in heaven as themselves are upon the earth: so that albeit He know and see all things yet He worketh or ordereth not the special actions of men that fall out. These are they that pull God out of His kingdom and set up chance and fortune as an idol and make it their God. We must all learn and confess that the Lord, that is the Creator of heaven and earth, is also the Ruler and Governor of all creatures. The whole world, from the highest heaven to the centre of the earth, is subject to His providence.
(2) It reproveth such as from hence take encouragement to commit sin, to break out into sundry outrages, or to live securely because God can turn it to our good and maketh it serve to set forth His mercy. This is that presumption and sin of rebellion touched by the apostle, Why do we not evil that good may come thereof, whose damnation is just. So in another place. What shall we say then? Shall we continue still in sin that grace may abound? How shall we that are dead in sin live yet therein? We confess, indeed, that God is the sovereign cause of all events that are brought to pass, and whatsoever the enemies of the Church intend and enterprise, whether the sons of men, or the devil and his angels, He stayeth and hindreth or represseth and disappointeth, and always disposeth it to the good and salvation of His children. Nevertheless, this doth not excuse or free the instruments that He useth from fault. They do the will of God blindly and ignorantly, but they do cross His will openly and purposely, so that His providence doth not exempt the wicked from their evil doing.
2. This doctrine serveth greatly to comfort us both in prosperity and adversity, and that for the time to come we should repose our whole hope in God. For seeing all things come to pass by the providence of God so that not so much as sin itself is committed without His will, it is a great comfort many ways to Gods Church and chosen children. We know that He can moderate and will moderate the rage of the devil and the malice of wicked men that they shall not hurt or hinder their salvation. For the devil is the Lords servant or slave to work His will, albeit he do it unwillingly and by compulsion.
3. This providence of God in everything teacheth contentment of mind in every estate; yea, in adversity when we lie under the cross, so that all things go against us; forasmuch as Gods providence hath appointed us our lot and portion.
4. This should be a very strong reason unto us not to be unmeasurably dismayed when offences and great evils break out among us as oftentimes it falleth out, whereby many are ready to shrink back, and others are much disquieted to see the Church of God so troubled. We are not to think it strange or to forsake the faith through these scandals, for God would not suffer any evil to come to pass unless out of that evil He were able to bring good, and out of that sin to bring forth righteous ness to the glory of His great name, and for the salvation of His dear Church.
5. Seeing Gods providence extendeth to everything that is, and disposeth it according to His own pleasure, it directeth us in our obedience and putteth us in mind of a Christian duty, namely, to be patient in all adversity. This will keep us that we do not rage against second causes, that we do not mutter and murmur against God, that we seek not revenge against our enemies. We are ready in sickness to complain, in poverty to repine, in injuries and oppressions to retail and return like for like, and in all troubles to be impatient and to use unlawful means to deliver ourselves, not attending the Lords leisure; and the reason is because the providence of God is not learned of us we cannot depend upon Him, we know not that He hath all things in His power to employ them to His glory and to use them to our good. (W. Attersoll.)
Gods power to bring good out of evil
This must not make us do evil that good may come of it, which we are forbidden (Rom_3:1-31), for God only hath this skill, by reason of His infinite wisdom and power, to work good out of evil, to draw light out of darkness. He only hath the philosophers stone to turn dross into gold. In vain, therefore, is it for us to assay any such thing. The right use of this doctrine is for us to comfort ourselves when we see wicked men plotting and practising mischief against Gods poor Church. Their heads and hands work not so fast but God works as fast. When they go and strive one way He sets them a work another way; as the sun going in his own proper motion one way is every day, by the violent circumvolution of the heavens, turned another way: nay, He makes their striving against His glory and His Churchs good to be the means of furthering both. As in a boat, when the rowers go with their faces striving towards the east, they set the boat going apace towards the west. Onesimus in running away from his masters house, the Church of God, did as much as in him lay, strive against his own conversion, and yet it is made a means of conversion. Josephs brethren in selling him thought to have frustrated his dreams and to have made him sure forever having dominion over them; and yet their selling of him was the special means of accomplishing his dreams. Satan, in Christs death, thought to have wounded the Church to the death; and yet thereby we were healed of his deadly wounds. This is the work of the Lord, who knoweth how to catch the wise in their own wiles, and it must be marvellous in our eyes. Let not, then, the power and policy of all the Achitophels and Machiavels in the world, combining themselves against the gospel, dismay us; for God hath His oar in their boat, He hath a special stroke in all actions whatsoever, and can easily overreach and make stark fools of the wisest by making their own counsels and endeavours like Chushais, to overthrow those intentions which they seem to support. (D. Dyke, B. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v15 Chapter 5 Part 5
Chapter 5 Part 5
Phm_1:15-19 (R.V.)
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The first words of these verses are connected with the preceding by the "for" at the beginning; that is to say, the thought that possibly the Divine purpose in permitting the flight of Onesimus was his restoration, in eternal and holy relationship, to Philemon, was Pauls reason for not carrying out his wish to keep Onesimus as his own attendant and helper. "I did not decide, though I very much wished, to retain him without your consent, because it is possible that he was allowed to flee from you, though his flight was his own blamable act, in order that he might be given back to you, a richer possession, a brother instead of a slave."
I. There is here a Divine purpose discerned as shining through a questionable human act. The first point to note is, with what charitable delicacy of feeling the Apostle uses a mild word to express the fugitives flight. He will not employ the harsh, naked word "ran away." It might irritate Philemon. Besides, Onesimus has repented of his faults, as is plain from the fact of his voluntary return, and therefore there is no need for dwelling on them. The harshest, sharpest words are best when callous consciences are to be made to wince; but words that are balm and healing are to be used when men are heartily ashamed of their sins. So the deed for which Philemons forgiveness is asked is halt veiled in the phrase "he was parted."
Not only so, but the word suggests that behind the slaves mutiny and flight there was another Will working, of which, in some sense, Onesimus was but the instrument. He "was parted"-not that he was not responsible for his flight, but that, through his act, which in the eyes of all concerned was wrong, Paul discerns as dimly visible a great Divine purpose.
But he puts that as only a possibility: "Perhaps he departed from thee."-He will not be too sure of what God means by such and such a thing, as some of us are wont to be, as if we had been sworn of Gods privy council. "Perhaps" is one of the hardest words for minds of a certain class to say; but in regard to all such subjects, and to many more, it is the motto of the wise man, and the shibboleth which sifts out the patient, modest lovers of truth from rash theorists and precipitate dogmatisers. Impatience of uncertainty is a moral fault which mars many an intellectual process; and its evil effects are nowhere more visible than in the field of theology. A humble "perhaps" often grows into a "verily, verily"-and a hasty, overconfident "verily, verily," often dwindles to a hesitating "perhaps." Let us not be in too great a hurry to make sure that we have the key of the cabinet where God keeps His purposes, but content ourselves with "perhaps" when we are interpreting the often questionable ways of His providences, each of which has many meanings and many ends. But however modestly he may hesitate as to the application of the principle, Paul has no doubt as to the principle itself: namely, that God, in the sweep of His wise providence, utilises mens evil, and works it in, to the accomplishment of great purposes far beyond their ken, as nature, in her patient chemistry, takes the rubbish and filth of the dunghill and turns them into beauty and food. Onesimus had no high motives in his flight; he had run away under discreditable circumstances, and perhaps to escape deserved punishment. Laziness and theft had been the hopeful companions of his flight, which, so far as he was concerned, had been the outcome of low and probably criminal impulses; and yet God had known how to use it so as to lead to his becoming a Christian. "With the wrath of man Thou girdest Thyself," twisting and bending it so as to be flexible in Thy hands, and "the remainder Thou dost restrain." How unlike were the seed and the fruit-the flight of a good-for-nothing thief and the return of a Christian brother! He meant it not so; but in running away from his master, he was running straight into the arms of his Saviour. How little Onesimus knew what was to be the end of that days work, when he slunk out of Philemons house with his stolen booty hid away in his bosom! And how little any of us know where we are going, and what strange results may evolve themselves from our actions! Blessed they who can rest in the confidence that, however modest we should be in our interpretation of the events of our own or of other mens lives, the infinitely complex web of circumstance is woven by a loving, wise Hand, and takes shape, with all its interlacing threads, according to a pattern in His hand, which will vindicate itself when it is finished!
The contrast is emphatic between the short absence and the eternity of the new relationship: "for a season"-literally an hour-and "forever." There is but one point of view which gives importance to this material world, with all its fleeting joys and fallacious possessions. Life is not worth living, unless it be the vestibule to a life beyond. Why all its discipline, whether of sorrow or joy, unless there be another, ampler life, where we can use to nobler ends the powers acquired and greatened by use here?
What an inconsequent piece of work is man, if the few years of earth are his all! Surely, if nothing is to come of all this life here, men are made in vain, and had better not have been at all. Here is a narrow sound, with a mere ribbon of sea in it, shut in between grim, echoing rocks. How small and meaningless it looks as long as the fog hides the great ocean beyond! But when the mist lifts, and we see that the narrow strait leads out into a boundless sea that lies flashing in the sunshine to the horizon, then we find out the worth of that little driblet of water at our feet. It connects with the open sea, and that swathes the world. So is it with "the hour" of life; it opens out and debouches into the "forever," and therefore it is great and solemn. This moment is one of the moments of that hour. We are the sport of our own generalisations, and ready to admit all these fine and solemn things about life, but we are less willing to apply them to the single moments as they fly. We should not rest content with recognising the general truth, but ever make conscious effort to feel that this passing instant has something to do with our eternal character and with our eternal destiny.
That is an exquisitely beautiful and tender thought which the Apostle puts here, and one which is susceptible of many applications. The temporary loss may be eternal gain. The dropping away of the earthly form of a relationship may, in Gods great mercy, be a step towards its renewal in higher fashion and for evermore. All our blessings need to be past before reflection can be brought to bear upon them, to make us conscious how blessed we were. The blossoms have to perish before the rich perfume, which can be kept in undiminished fragrance for years, can be distilled from them. When death takes away dear ones, we first learn that we were entertaining angels unawares; and as they float away from us into the light, they look back with faces already beginning to brighten into the likeness of Christ, and take leave of us with His valediction, "It is expedient for you that I go away." Memory teaches us the true character of life. We can best estimate the height of the mountain peaks when we have left them behind. The softening and hallowing influence of death reveals the nobleness and sweetness of those who are gone. Fair country never looks so fair as when it has a curving river for a foreground; and fair lives look fairer than before, when seen across the Jordan of death.
To us who believe that life and love are not killed by death, the end of their earthly form is but the beginning of a higher heavenly. Love which is "in Christ" is eternal. Because Philemon and Onesimus were two Christians, therefore their relationship was eternal. Is it not yet more true, if that were possible, that the sweet bonds which unite Christian souls here on earth are in their essence indestructible, and are affected by death only as the body is? Sown in weakness, will they not be raised in power? Nothing of them shall die but the encompassing death. Their mortal part shall put on immortality. As the farmer gathers the green flax with its blue bells blooming on it, and throws it into a tank to rot, in order to get the fine fibre which cannot rot, and spin it into a strong cable, so God does with our earthly loves. He causes all about them that is perishable to perish, that the central fibre, which is eternal, may stand clear and disengaged from all that was less Divine than itself. Wherefore mourning hearts may stay themselves on this assurance, that they will never lose the dear ones whom they have loved in Christ, and that death itself but changes the manner of the communion, and refines the tie. They were as for a moment dead, but they are alive again. To our bewildered sight they departed and were lost for a season, but they are found, and we can fold them in our heart of hearts forever.
But there is also set forth here a change, not only in the duration, but in the quality of the relation between the Christian master and his former slave, who continues a slave indeed, but is also a brother. "No longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother, beloved specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord." It is clear from these words that Paul did not anticipate the manumission of Onesimus. What he asks is, that he should not be received as a slave. Evidently then he is to be still a slave in so far as the outward fact goes-but a new spirit is to be breathed into the relationship. "Specially to me"; he is more than a slave to me. I have not looked on him as such, but have taken him to my heart as a brother, as a son indeed, for he is especially dear to me as my convert. But however dear he is to me, he should be more so to thee, to whom his relation is permanent, while to me it is temporary. And this Brotherhood of the slave is to be felt and made visible "both in the flesh" - that is, in the earthly and personal relations of common life, "and in theLord"-that is, in the spiritual and religious relationships of worship and the Church.
As has been well said, "In the flesh, Philemon has the brother for his slave; in the Lord, Philemon has the slave for his brother." He is to treat him as his brother therefore both in the common relationships of everyday life and in the acts of religious worship.
That is a pregnant word. True, there is no gulf between Christian people nowadays like that which in the old times parted owner and slave; but, as society becomes more and more differentiated, as the diversities of wealth become more extreme in our commercial communities, as education comes to make the educated mans whole way of looking at life differ more and more from that of the less cultured classes, the injunction implied in our text encounters enemies quite as formidable as slavery ever was. The highly educated man is apt to be very oblivious of the brotherhood of the ignorant Christian, and he, on his part, finds the recognition just as hard. The rich mill owner has not much sympathy with the poor brother who works at his spinning jennies. It is often difficult for the Christian mistress to remember that her cook is her sister in Christ. There is quite as much sin against fraternity on the side of the poor Christians who are servants and illiterate, as on the side of the rich who are masters or cultured. But the principle that Christian brotherhood is to reach across the wall of class distinctions is as binding today as it was on these two good people, Philemon the master and Onesimus the slave.
That brotherhood is not to be confined to acts and times of Christian communion, but it is to be shown and to shape conduct in common life. "Both in the flesh and in the Lord" may be put into plain English thus: A rich man and a poor one belong to the same church; they unite in the same worship, they are "partakers of the one bread," and therefore, Paul thinks, "are one bread." They go outside the church door. Do they ever dream of speaking to one another outside? "A brother beloved in the Lord"-on Sundays, and during worship and in Church matters-is often a stranger "in the flesh" on Mondays, in the. street and in common life. Some good people seem to keep their brotherly love in the same wardrobe with their Sunday clothes. Philemon was bid, and all are bid, to wear it all the week, at market as well as church.
II. In the next verse, the essential purpose for which the whole letter was written is put at last in an articulate request, based upon a very tender motive. "If then thou countest me as a partner, receive him as myself." Paul now at last completes the sentence which he began in verse 12, and from which he was hurried away by the other thoughts that came crowding in upon him. This plea for the kindly welcome to be accorded to Onesimus has been knocking at the door of his lips for utterance from the beginning of the letter; but only now, so near the end, after so much conciliation, he ventures to put it into plain words; and even now he does not dwell on it, but goes quickly on to another point. He puts his requests on a modest and yet a strong ground, appealing to Philemons sense of comradeship-"if thou countest me a partner"-a comrade or a sharer in Christian blessings. He sinks all reference to apostolic authority, and only points to their common possession of faith, hope, and joy in Christ. "Receive him as myself." That request was sufficiently illustrated in a preceding chapter, so that I need only refer to what was then said on this instance of interceding love identifying itself with its object, and on the enunciation in it of great Christian truth.
III. The course of thought next shows-Love taking the slaves debt on itself.
"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught." Paul makes an "if" of what he knew well enough to be the fact; for no doubt Onesimus had told him all his faults, and the whole context shows that there was no uncertainty in Pauls mind, but that he puts the wrong hypothetically for the same reason for which he chooses to say, "was parted," instead of "ran away," namely, to keep some thin veil over the crimes of a penitent, and not to rasp him with rough words. For the same reason, too, he fails back upon the gentler expressions, "wronged" and "oweth," instead of blurting out the ugly word "stolen." And then, with a half-playful assumption of lawyer-like phraseology, he bids Philemon put that to his account. Here is my autograph-"I Paul write it with mine own hand"-I make this letter into a bond. Witness my hand; "I will repay it." The formal tone of the promise, rendered more formal by the insertion of the name-and perhaps by that sentence only being in his own handwriting-seems to warrant the explanation that it is half playful; for he could never have supposed that Philemon would exact the fulfilment of the bond, and we have no reason to suppose that, if he had, Paul could really have paid the amount. But beneath the playfulness there lies the implied exhortation to forgive the money wrong as well as the others which Onesimus had done him.
The verb used here for "put to the account of" is, according to the commentators, a very rare word; and perhaps the singular phrase may be chosen to let another great Christian truth shine through. Was Pauls love the only one that we knew of which took the slaves debts on itself? Did anybody else ever say, "Put that on mine account"? We have been taught to ask for the forgiveness of our sins as debts, and we have been taught that there is One on whom God has made to meet the iniquities of us all. Christ takes on Himself all Pauls debt, all Philemons, all ours. He has paid the ransom for all, and He so identifies Himself with men that He takes all their sins upon Him, and so identifies men with himself that they are "received as Himself." It is His great example that Paul is trying to copy here. Forgiven all that great debt, he dare not rise from his knees to take his brother by the throat, but goes forth to show to his fellow the mercy which he has found, and to model his life after the pattern of that miracle of love in which is his trust. It is Christs own voice which echoes in "put that on mine account."
IV. Finally, these verses pass to a gentle reminder of a greater debt: "That I say not unto thee how that thou owest to me even thine own self besides."
As his child in the Gospel, Philemon owed to Paul much more than the trifle of money of which Onesimus had robbed him; namely his spiritual life, which he had received through the Apostles ministry. But he will not insist on that. True love never presses its claims, nor recounts its services. Claims which need to be urged are not worth urging. A true, generous heart will never say, "You ought to do so much for me, because I have done so much for you." To come down to that low level of chaffering and barter is a dreadful descent from the heights where the love which delights in giving should ever dwell.
Does not Christ speak to us in the same language? We owe ourselves to Him, as Lazarus did, for He raises us from the death of sin to a share in His own new, undying life. As a sick man owes his life to the doctor who has cured him, as a drowning man owes his to his rescuer, who dragged him from the water and breathed into his lungs till they began to work of themselves, as a child owes its life to its parent-so we owe ourselves to Christ. But He does not insist upon the debt; He gently reminds us of it, as making His commandment sweeter and easier to obey. Every heart that is really touched with gratitude will feel, that the less the giver insists upon his gifts, the more do they impel to affectionate service. To be perpetually reminded of them weakens their force as motives to obedience, for it then appears as if they had not been gifts of love at all, but bribes given by self-interest; and the frequent reference to them sounds like complaint, But Christ does not insist on His claims, and therefore the remembrance of them ought to underlie all our lives and to lead to constant glad devotion.
One more thought may be drawn from the Words. The great debt which can never be discharged does not prevent the debtor from receiving reward for the obedience of love. "I will repay it," even though thou owest me thyself. Christ has bought us for His servants by giving Himself and ourselves to us. No work, no devotion, no love can ever pay our debt to Him. From His love alone comes the desire to serve Him; from His grace comes the power. The best works are stained and incomplete, and could only be acceptable to a Love that was glad to welcome even unworthy offerings, and to forgive their imperfections. Nevertheless He treats them as worthy of reward, and crowns His own grace in men with an exuberance of recompense far beyond their deserts. He will suffer no man to work for Him for nothing; but to each He gives even here great reward in keeping His commandments, and hereafter "an exceeding great reward," of which the inward joys and outward blessings that now flow from obedience are but the earnest. His merciful allowance of imperfections treats even our poor deeds as rewardable; and though eternal life must ever be the gift of God, and no claim of merit can be sustained before His judgment seat, yet the measure of that life which is possessed here or hereafter is accurately proportioned to and is, in a very real sense, the consequence of obedience and service. "If any mans work abide, he shall receive a reward," and Christs own tender voice speaks the promise, "I will repay, albeit I say not unto thee how thou owest to Me even thine own self besides."
Men do not really possess themselves unless they yield themselves to Jesus Christ. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth himself, in glad surrender of himself to his Saviour, he and only he is truly lord and owner of his own soul. And to such a one shall be given rewards beyond hope and beyond measure-and, as the crown of all, the blessed possession of Christ, and in it the full, true, eternal possession of himself, glorified and changed into the image of the Lord who loved him and gave Himself for him.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15–17. Perhaps he therefore departed, etc. Perhaps his departure…
15–17. Perhaps he therefore departed, etc. Perhaps his departure was providential, to lead to his conversion, to give you a faithful helper, and to save him forever.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv15–16 15. “For he suddenly departed for an hour on…
15. “For he suddenly departed for an hour on this account, that you may receive him eternally,
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v15 Phm 1:15-19 {R.V}.
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
V.
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Phm 1:15-19 {R.V}.
THE first words of these verses are connected with the preceding by the "for" at the beginning; that is to say, the thought that possibly the Divine purpose in permitting the flight of Onesimus was his restoration, in eternal and holy relationship, to Philemon, was Paul’s reason for not carrying out his wish to keep Onesimus as his own attendant and helper. "I did not decide, though I very much wished, to retain him without your consent, because it is possible that he was allowed to flee from you, though his flight was his own blamable act, in order that he might be given back to you, a richer possession, a brother instead of a slave."
I. There is here a Divine purpose discerned as shining through a questionable human act.
The first point to note is, with what charitable delicacy of feeling the Apostle uses a mild word to express the fugitive’s flight. He will not employ the harsh naked word "ran away." It might irritate Philemon. Besides, Onesimus has repented of his faults, as is plain from the fact of his voluntary return, and therefore there is no need for dwelling on them. The harshest, sharpest words are best when callous consciences are to be made to wince; but words that are balm and healing are to be used when men are heartily ashamed of their sins. So the deed for which Philemon’s forgiveness is asked is half veiled in the phrase "he was parted."
Not only so, but the word suggests that behind the slave’s mutiny and flight there was another Will working, of which, in some sense, Onesimus was but the instrument He "was parted" - not that he was not responsible for his flight, but that, through his act, which in the eyes of all concerned was wrong, Paul discerns as dimly visible a great Divine purpose.
But he puts that as only a possibility: "Perhaps he departed from thee." He will not be too sure of what God means by such and such a thing, as some of us are wont to be, as if we had been sworn of God’s privy council. "Perhaps" is one of the hardest words for minds of a certain class to say; but in regard to all such subjects, and to many more, it is the motto of the wise man, and the shibboleth which sifts out the patient, modest lovers of truth from rash theorists and precipitate dogmatizers. Impatience of uncertainty is a moral fault which mars many an intellectual process; and its evil effects are nowhere more visible than in the field of theology. A humble "perhaps" often grows into a "verily, verily" - and a hasty, over-confident "verily, verily," often dwindles to a hesitating " perhaps." Let us not be in too great a hurry to make sure that we have the key of the cabinet where God keeps His purposes, but content ourselves with " perhaps " when we are interpreting the often questionable ways of His providences, each of which has many meanings and many ends.
But however modestly he may hesitate as to the application of the principle, Paul has no doubt as to the principle itself: namely, that God, in the sweep of His wise providence, utilizes even men’s evil, and works it in, to the accomplishment of great purposes far beyond their ken, as nature, in her patient chemistry, takes the rubbish and filth of the dunghill and turns them into beauty and food. Onesimus had no high motives in his flight; he had run away under discreditable circumstances, and perhaps to escape deserved punishment. Laziness and theft had been the hopeful companions of his flight, which, so far as he was concerned, had been the outcome of low and probably criminal impulses; and yet God had known how to use it so as to lead to his becoming a Christian. "With the wrath of man Thou girdest Thyself," twisting and bending it so as to be flexible in Thy hands, and "the remainder Thou dost restrain." How unlike were the seed and the fruit - the flight of a good-for-nothing thief and the return of a Christian brother! He meant it not so; but in running away from his master, he was running straight into the arms of his Saviour. How little Onesimus knew what was to be the end of that day’s work, when he slunk out of Philemon’s house with his stolen booty hid away in his bosom! And how little any of us know where we are going, and what strange results may evolve themselves from our actions! Blessed they who can rest in the confidence that, however modest we should be in our interpretation of the events of our own or of other men’s lives, the infinitely complex web of circumstance is woven by a loving, wise Hand, and takes shape, with all its interlacing threads, according to a pattern in His hand, which will vindicate itself when it is finished!
The contrast is emphatic between the short absence and the eternity of the new relationship: "for a season" - literally an hour - and "for ever." There is but one point of view which gives importance to this material world, with all its fleeting joys and fallacious possessions Life is not worth living, unless it be the vestibule to a life beyond. Why all its discipline, whether of sorrow or joy, unless there be another, ampler life, where we can use to nobler ends the powers acquired and greatened by use here ? What an inconsequent piece of work is man, if the few years of earth are his all! Surely, if nothing is to come of all this life here, men are made in vain, and had better not have been at all. Here is a narrow sound, with a mere ribbon of sea in it, shut in between grim, echoing rocks. How small and meaningless it looks as long as the fog hides the great ocean beyond! But when the mist lifts, and we see that the narrow strait leads out into a boundless sea that lies flashing in the sunshine to the horizon, then we find out the worth of that little driblet of water at our feet. It connects with the open sea, and that swathes the world. So is it with "the hour" of life; it opens out and debouches into the "for ever," and therefore it is great and solemn. This moment is one of the moments of that hour. We are the sport of our own generalizations, and ready to admit all these fine and solemn things about life, but we are less willing to apply them to the single moments as they fly. We should not rest content with recognizing the general truth, but ever make conscious effort to feel that this passing instant has something to do with our eternal character and with our eternal destiny.
That is an exquisitely beautiful and tender thought which the Apostle puts here, and one which is susceptible of many applications. The temporary loss may be eternal gain. The dropping away of the earthly form of a relationship may, in God’s great mercy, be a step towards its renewal in higher fashion and for evermore. All our blessings need to be past before reflection can be brought to bear upon them, to make us conscious how blessed we were. The blossoms have to perish before the rich perfume, which can be kept in undiminished fragrance for years, can be distilled from them. When death takes away dear ones, we first learn that we were entertaining angels unawares; and as they float away from us ‘into the light, they look back with faces already beginning to brighten into the likeness of Christ, and take leave of us with His valediction, "It is expedient for you that I go away." Memory teaches us the true character of life. We can best estimate the height of the mountain peaks when we have left them behind. The softening and hallowing influence of death reveals the nobleness and sweetness of those who are gone. Fair country never looks so fair as when it has a curving river for a foreground; and fair lives look fairer than before, when seen across the Jordan of death.
To US who believe that life and love are not killed by death, the end of their earthly form is but the beginning of a higher heavenly. Love which is "in Christ" is eternal. Because Philemon and Onesimus were two Christians, therefore their relationship was eternal. Is it not yet more true, if that were possible, that the sweet bonds which unite Christian souls here on earth are in their essence indestructible, and are affected by death only as the body is? Sown in weakness, will they not be raised in power. Nothing of them shall die but the encompassing death. Their mortal part shall put on immortality. As the farmer gathers the green flax with its blue bells blooming on it, and throws it into a tank to rot, in order to get the firm fibre which cannot rot, and spin it into a strong cable, so God does with our earthly loves. He causes all about them that is perishable to perish, that the central fibre, which is eternal, may stand clear and disengaged from all that was less Divine than itself. Wherefore mourning hearts may stay themselves on this assurance, that they will never lose the dear ones whom they have loved in Christ, and that death itself but changes the manner of the communion, and refines the tie. They were as for a moment dead, but they are alive again. To our bewildered sight they departed and were lost for a season, but they are found, and we can fold them in our heart of hearts for ever.
But there is also set forth here a change, not only in the duration but in the quality of the relation between the Christian master and his former slave, who continues a slave indeed, but is also a brother. "No longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord." It is clear from these words that Paul did not anticipate the manumission of Onesimus. What he asks is, that he should not be received as a slave. Evidently then he is to be still a slave in so far as the outward fact goes - but a new spirit is to be breathed into the relationship. "Specially to me"; he is more than a slave to me. I have not looked on him as such, but have taken him to my heart as a brother, as a son indeed, for he is especially dear to me as my convert. But however dear he is to me, he should be more so to thee, to whom his relation is permanent, while to me it is temporary. And this Brotherhood of the slave is to be felt and made visible "both in the flesh" - that is, in the earthly and personal relations of common life, "and in the Lord" - that is, in the spiritual and religious relationships of worship and the Church.
As has been well said, "In the flesh, Philemon has the brother for his slave; in the Lord, Philemon has the slave for his brother." He is to treat him as his brother therefore both in the common relationships of every-day life and in the acts of religious worship.
That is a pregnant word. True, there is no gulf between Christian people now-a-days like that which in the old times parted owner and slave; but, as society becomes more and more differentiated, as the diversities of wealth become more extreme in our commercial communities, as education comes to make the educated man’s whole way of looking at life differ more and more from that of the less cultured classes, the injunction implied in our text encounters enemies quite as formidable as slavery ever was. The highly educated man is apt to be very oblivious of the brotherhood of the ignorant Christian, and he, on his part, finds the recognition just as hard. The rich mill-owner has not much sympathy with the poor brother who works at his spinning-jennies. It is often difficult for the Christian mistress to remember that her cook is her sister in Christ. There is quite as much sin against fraternity on the side of the poor Christians who are servants and illiterate, as on the side of the rich who are masters or cultured. But the principle that Christian brotherhood is to reach across the wall of class distinctions is as binding to-day as it was on these two good people, Philemon the master and Onesimus the slave.
That brotherhood is not to be confined to acts and times of Christian communion, but is to be shown and to shape conduct in common life. "Both in the flesh and in the Lord" may be put into plain English thus : A rich man and a poor one belong to the same church; they unite in the same worship, they are " partakers of the one bread," and therefore, Paul thinks, "are one bread." They go outside the church door. Do they ever dream of speaking to one another outside? "A brother beloved in the Lord" - on Sundays, and during worship and in Church matters - is often a stranger "in the flesh" on Mondays, in the street and in common life. Some good people seem to keep their brotherly love in the same wardrobe with their Sunday clothes. Philemon was bid, and all are bid, to wear it all the week, at market as well as church.
II. In the next verse, the essential purpose for which the whole letter was written is put at last in an articulate request, based upon a very tender motive.
"If then thou countest me as a partner, receive him as myself." Paul now at last completes the sentence which he began in v, 12, and from which he was hurried away by the other thoughts that came crowding in upon him. This plea for the kindly welcome to be accorded to Onesimus has been knocking at the door of his lips for utterance from the beginning of the letter; but only now, so near the end, after so much conciliation, he ventures to put it into plain words; and even now he does not dwell on it, but goes quickly on to another point. He puts his requests on a modest and yet a strong ground, appealing to Philemon’s sense of comradeship - "if thou countest me a partner" - a comrade or a sharer in Christian blessings. He sinks all reference to apostolic authority, and only points to their common possession of faith, hope, and joy in Christ. "Receive him as myself." That request was sufficiently illustrated in the preceding chapter, so that I need only refer to what was then said on this instance of interceding love identifying itself with its object, and on the enunciation in it of great Christian truth.
III. The course of thought next shows - Love taking the slave’s debts on itself
"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught." Paul makes an "if" of what he knew well enough to be the fact; for no doubt Onesimus had told him all his faults, and the whole context shows that there was no uncertainty in Paul’s mind, but that he puts the wrong hypothetically for the same reason for which he chooses to say, "was parted" instead of "ran away," namely, to keep some thin veil over the crimes of a penitent, and not to rasp him with rough words. For the same reason, too, he falls back upon the gentler expressions, "wronged" and "oweth," instead of blurting out the ugly word "stolen." And then, with a half playful assumption of lawyer-like phraseology, he bids Philemon put that to his account. Here is my autograph - "I Paul write it with mine own hand" - I make this letter into a bond. Witness my hand; "I will repay it." The formal tone of the promise, rendered more formal by the insertion of the name - and perhaps by that sentence only being in his own handwriting - seems to warrant the explanation that it is half playful; for he could never have supposed that Philemon would exact the fulfilment of the bond, and we have no reason to suppose that, if he had, Paul could really have paid the amount. But beneath the playfulness there lies the implied exhortation to forgive the money wrong as well as the others which Onesimus had done him.
The verb used here for put to the account of is, according to the commentators, a very rare word; and perhaps the singular phrase may be chosen to let another great Christian truth shine through. Was Paul’s love the only one that we know of which took the slave’s debts on itself? Did anybody else ever say, "Put that on mine account"? We have been taught to ask for the forgiveness of our sins as "debts," and we have been taught that there is One on whom God has made to meet the iniquities of us all. Christ takes on Himself all Paul’s debt, all Philemon’s, all ours. He has paid the ransom for all, and He so identifies Himself with men that He takes all their sins upon Him, and so identifies men with Himself that they are "received as Himself." It is His great example that Paul is trying to copy here. Forgiven all that great debt, he dare not rise from his knees to take his brother by the throat, but goes forth to show to his fellow the mercy which he has found, and to model his life after the pattern of that miracle of love in which is his trust. It is Christ’s own voice which echoes in "put that on mine account."
IV. Finally, these verses pass to a gentle reminder of a greater debt: "That I say not unto thee how that thou owest to me even thine own self besides."
As his child in the Gospel, Philemon owed to Paul much more than the trifle of money of which Onesimus had robbed him; namely his spiritual life, which he had received through the Apostle’s ministry. But he will not insist on that. True love never presses its claims, nor recounts its services. Claims which need to be urged are not worth urging. A true, generous heart will never say, "You ought to do so much for me, because I have done so much for you." To come down to that low level of chaffering and barter is a dreadful descent from the heights where the love which delights in giving should ever dwell.
Does not Christ speak to us in the same language? We owe ourselves to Him, as Lazarus did, for He raises us from the death of sin to a share in His own new, undying life. As a sick man owes his life to the doctor who has cured him, as a drowning man owes his to his rescuer, who dragged him from the water and breathed into his lungs till they began to work of themselves, as a child owes its life to its parent - so we owe ourselves to Christ. But He does not insist upon the debt; He gently reminds us of it, as making His commandment sweeter and easier to obey. Every heart that is really touched with gratitude will feel, that the less the giver insists upon his gifts, the more do they impel to affectionate service. To be perpetually reminded of them weakens their force as motives to obedience, for it then appears as if they had not been gifts of love at all, but bribes given by self-interest; and the frequent reference to them sounds like complaint. But Christ does not insist on His claims, and therefore the remembrance of them ought to underlie all our lives and to lead to constant glad devotion.
One more thought may be drawn from the words. The great debt which can never be discharged does not prevent the debtor from receiving reward for the obedience of love. "I will repay it," even though thou owest me thyself, Christ has bought us for His servants by giving Himself and ourselves to us. No work, no devotion, no love can ever repay our debt to Him, From His love alone comes the desire to serve Him; from His grace comes the power. The best works are stained and incomplete, and could only be acceptable to a Love that was glad to welcome even unworthy offerings, and to forgive their imperfections. Nevertheless He treats them as worthy of reward, and crowns His own grace in men with an exuberance of recompense far beyond their deserts. He will suffer no man to work for Him for nothing; but to each He gives even here great reward in keeping His commandments," and hereafter " an exceeding great reward," of which the inward joys and outward blessings that now flow from obedience are but the earnest His merciful allowance of imperfections treats even our poor deeds as rewardable; and though eternal life must ever be the gift of God, and no claim of merit can be sustained before His judgment seat, yet the measure of that life which is possessed here or hereafter is accurately proportioned to and is, in a very real sense, the consequence of obedience and service. "If any man’s work abide, he shall receive a reward," and Christ’s own tender voice speaks the promise, "I will repay, albeit I say not unto thee how thou owest to Me even thine own self besides." Men do not really possess themselves unless they yield themselves to Jesus Christ. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth himself, in glad surrender of himself to his Saviour, he and only he is truly lord and owner of his own soul. And to such an one shall be given rewards beyond hope and beyond measure - and, as the crown of all, the blessed possession of Christ, and in it the full, true, eternal possession of himself, glorified and changed into the image of the Lord who loved him and gave Himself for him.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v15 Another Point Urged by the Apostle.
Another Point Urged by the Apostle.
v. 15. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever;
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v. 16. not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord!
v. 17. If thou count me, therefore, a partner, receive him as myself.
v. 18. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account;
v. 19. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
v. 20. Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord; refresh my bowels in the Lord.
The apostle here adds a thought as though it had just occurred to him: For perhaps he for this reason departed for a while that thou mightest have him back for good, no longer as a slave, but above a slave, as a beloved brother, most of all to me, but how much more to thee, in the flesh as well as in the Lord! This is a reference to the dispensation of God, who thus arranged and directed matters that Onesimus was not only led to Rome, but there became personally known to Paul and thus received the knowledge of his salvation. Philemon was to consider the entire affair as though his slave had taken a journey of a few months, and had now returned for good, more closely connected with his master than before. Though still a slave in his station, yet he no longer bore the character of a slave according to the world’s acceptation of the term, The disgraceful, degrading element had vanished from the relation. He was now, so far as Paul was concerned, a dearly beloved brother, being the sharer of his bonds and his son in the faith. Much more closely should Philemon, then, consider himself united with his slave by the twofold bond of the material and the spiritual relation. Onesimus, the slave, served the temporal interests of his master, being employed in such work as was of use to his body; Onesimus, the Christian, was bound to him by the ties of a common faith, a much more intimate and cordial relationship than that afforded by any earthly connection.
This being the true state of affairs, the circumstances of the slave’s return being such as just pictured, the apostle could urge: If, then, thou considerest me a partner, receive him as myself. Paul here reminds Philemon that their own relationship was not merely that of friends or companions according to the manner of the world, but that of partakers of a common faith. This fact alone placed Philemon under obligation to Paul; for to deny his request was to declare the termination of the fellowship which united them in Christ. Such a contingency, however, being unthinkable, the apostle pleads that Philemon accept Onesimus as though he himself were standing there. This included that he should not think of inflicting the penalty which the laws permitted him to inflict, namely, that of branding the fugitive and even putting him to death, but that he should make a free and unequivocal confession of Christian brotherhood by forgiving the wrong which he had suffered, and receiving Onesimus in that spirit.
Following up the advantage which this argument gave him with another, the apostle writes: But if he has done thee any wrong or owes anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, have written it with my own hand, I will repay; without mentioning the fact to thee that thou owest even thyself to me. Here St. Paul removes a possible difficulty that might stand in the way of a reconciliation such as he wished it. Undoubtedly the offense of Onesimus was that he had embezzled or stolen some of his master’s goods before absconding. At the same time, of course, he had deprived Philemon of his services during his absence, a fact which naturally resulted in some damage to the master. But Paul, with characteristic energy, removed this difficulty. He personally guaranteed the payment of the money, if Philemon wanted to insist upon indemnity; let it be charged to his personal account: he pledged himself, with his own handwriting: to make good the shortage. At the same time, however, by a figure of speech which brought out the indebtedness of Philemon to himself in the strongest possible manner: he urged his Colossian friend to remember his obligation to him, namely, that it was due to his work in the Gospel that Philemon was now the possessor of the highest and greatest blessings in life, those guaranteed by the redemption of Christ. In reality St. Paul means to sap, Philemon owed him far more than Onesimus stood in debt for, and could therefore well afford to overlook the transgression of the slave. Pleadingly, therefore. the apostle adds: Yes, brother, let me have profit of thee; refresh my heart in Christ. Here again there is a play on the name of Onesimus, as the apostle asks Philemon to accord him the filial services which he may well expect, and thus to refresh his heart which has been troubled on account of this matter. The real source of the relief afforded by such an action on the part of Philemon would, of course, be the Lord, who would make him willing to perform the duty that lay before him with a willing heart.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv15–16 1:15 you lost Onesimus (literally he went away): This…
1:15 you lost Onesimus (literally he went away): This might be a euphemism for running away, in order not to mention Onesimus’s offense directly. • so that you could have him back forever: It is implied that God providentially arranged events to lead to Onesimus’s salvation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.