I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
Parallel Translations
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I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
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I thake my God makinge mencio all wayes of the in my prayers
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I giue thanks to my God, making mention alwaies of thee in my praiers,
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Philemon 1:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.
- Ephesians 1:16 don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
- Philippians 1:3 I thank my God whenever I remember you,
- Colossians 1:3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
- 1 Thessalonians 1:2 We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers,
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds,
- 2 Timothy 1:3 I thank God, whom I serve as my forefathers did, with a pure conscience. How unceasing is my memory of you in my petitions, night and day
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (22 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. I give thanks to my God. It deserves…
4. I give thanks to my God. It deserves attention, that he at the same time prays for that very thing for which he “gives thanks.” Even the most perfect, so long as they live in the world, never have so good ground for congratulation as not to need prayers, that God may grant to them, not only to persevere till the end, but likewise to make progress from day to day.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 4 I thank my God, making mention of thee…
4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
Ver. 4. I thank my God] Thus the apostle begins most of his Epistles. As any man is more or less gracious, so is he thankful. The same Greek word for grace signifieth thankfulness, χαρις. Neither is there anything that seals up more comfort to the soul than for a man to be able from the bottom of his heart to praise God. Self-love may make a hypocrite pray from the bottom of his heart, &c.
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 See Poole on "2Ti 1:3".
See Poole on "2Ti 1:3".
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 Observe here, Our apostle’s holy insinuation and pious wisdom;…
Observe here, Our apostle’s holy insinuation and pious wisdom; that he might make a more easy way for his petition, he labours to possess Philemon with an opinion of his endeared affection towards him, and of his continual prayers even by name for him: I thank my God, making mention of thee in my prayers.
Where note, That St. Paul did, and we may, make particular mention of persons and churches in our daily prayers to Almighty God: I make mention of thee always in my prayers.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. I thank my God] For all the…
Verse 4. I thank my God] For all the good he has bestowed upon you, making mention of thee always in my prayers, that thou mayest hold fast all that thou hast got, and get all that thou dost farther need.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Phm 1:4-6. I thank my God, &c. — This…
Phm 1:4-6. I thank my God, &c. — This epistle, which infinitely transcends all the wisdom of this world, gives us an admirable specimen how Christians ought to treat of secular affairs from higher principles; making mention of thee in my prayers — See Rom 1:9; Hearing of thy love and faith — “By telling Philemon that he thanked God always in his prayers for his increasing faith and love, he, in a very delicate manner, prepared him for listening to the request he was about to make in behalf of Onesimus. For it was telling him, in an indirect manner, that his own benevolent disposition would lead him to pardon Onesimus, although he had greatly offended him.” That the communication of thy faith may become effectual, &c. — That is, that thy liberality to the saints, proceeding from thy faith, or the fruits of thy faith communicated to them, in the many good offices which thou dost, may be effectual for bringing others to the acknowledgment of those good things which are in thee and thy family; in, or toward, Christ Jesus — Or, as others understand the verse, the apostle prayed that Philemon’s endeavours to communicate his faith in Christ to others, or to bring them to believe in Christ as he did, might be rendered effectual through the evident excellence of his own example and that of his family, inducing them to entertain a favourable opinion of that religion which produced such beneficial effects on the conduct of those who embraced it.
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 I thank my God - That is, for what…
I thank my God - That is, for what I hear of you.
Making mention of thee always in my prayers - See a similar declaration respecting the church at Ephesus, Eph 1:16. It would appear from this that Paul, in his private devotions, was in the habit of mentioning churches and individuals by name. It would seem, also, that though he was a prisoner, yet he somehow found opportunity for secret devotion. And it would appear further, that, though encompassed with many cares and sorrows, and about to be put on trial for his life, he did not forget to remember a Christian brother though far distant from him, and to bear him on his heart before the throne of grace. To remember with affectionate concern these churches and individuals, as he did, Paul must have been a man of much prayer.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Expression of Christian Sympathy and Recognition
II
Expression of Christian Sympathy and Recognition
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Phm_1:4-7
4I thank my God [always],3 making mention of thee always [omit here “always”] in my prayers. 5Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward [unto] all [the] saints; 6That the communication [or, fellowship] of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you [us]4 in [unto, for] Christ Jesus. 7For we have [or, I had] great joy5 and consolation in thy love, because the bowels [hearts] of the saints are [have been] refreshed by thee, brother.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Phm_1:4. I thank my God, &c. (comp. Rom_1:8; 1Co_1:4; Col_1:3). A thankful acknowledgment of the good already received would incline the heart of Philemon to hear the request which is to follow with so much the greater favor. [In thus thanking God for what Philemon was, we see the Apostle’s habit of recognizing the graces of Christians as the fruits of grace. For other similar instances, see Rom_1:8; 1Co_1:4; 1Th_1:2; 2Th_1:3. In speaking of God as my God (τῷ θεῷ μου), he expresses a tender sense of his reconciliation to Him, and of his consciousness of an interest in His love.—H.]—Always (πάντοτε) must be connected not with the following μνείαν, κ.τ.λ. (so Luther), but with εὐχαριστῶ. See Col_1:3. [Ellicott adopts the other connection both here and in Col_1:3. But our author’s view is that of most interpreters, as Koch, De Wette, Meyer, Wiesinger. Paul evidently combines the verb and adverb in 1Co_1:4; Eph_1:16; 2Th_1:3; and if there be any doubt here and in Col_1:4, the rule certainly should prevail over an apparent exception, and especially when the sense which adhering to the rule affords is equally good.—πάντοτε of itself may precede or follow the word qualified. See Gersdorf’s Beiträge, P. 498. Lachmann and Tischendorf insert no comma after πάντοτε, because their rule is not to separate a verb and participle, and not because they would here connect πάντοτε and the participle.—H.]—The participial clause which follows (μνείαν σου ποιούμενος, κ.τ.λ.), making mention of thee in my prayers, states the occasion on which he expressed these thanks. Everything which he heard of Philemon gave him abundant reason, agreeably to his own precept, to accompany his prayer with thanksgiving (Col_4:2). Notandum quod, pro quo gratias agit, pro eodem simul precatur. Nunquam enim tarnda est vel perfectissimis gratulandi materia, quamdiu in hoc mundo vivunt, quin precibus indigeant, ut det illis Deus non tantum perseverare usque in finem, sed in dies etiam proficere. Hœc enim laus, quam mox Philemoni tribuit, breviter complectitur totam christiani hominis perfectionem. Calvin.—[The prayer of the Apostle in this instance consisted at the same time of thanksgiving (εὐχαριστία) and intercession (μνείαν σου).—H.]
Phm_1:5. Ἀκούων, hearing (not ἀκούσας merely, having heard), perhaps from Onesimus himself, who might easily have spoken with Paul concerning the good in the house and the heart of Philemon. [Epaphras, who was a Colossian and then at Rome (Col_1:7; Col_4:12), may have brought similar tidings, or have confirmed them.—This participle (ἀκούων) states the ground of εὐχαριστῶ in Phm_1:4, not of μνείαν σου ποιούμενος. The reason for his giving thanks would not be named at all, unless it be found in this clause; and as we see from other passages (Rom_1:8; Eph_1:16; Col_1:4), to leave the act unexplained would be contrary to Paul’s usage.—H].—Of thy love and faith. By the former term, we are to think not so much of love to men in general, as rather of Christian love to the brethren; by the latter, not of fidelity, which would conflict with the usual signification of this word, especially when it is connected with ἀγαπῇ, but of that living faith of the heart of which Jesus Christ is the object.—Which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward [unto] all the saints (ἥν ἔχεις πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους). With most interpreters we prefer to regard these words as a Chiasm, and construe them as if they stood: τὴν πίστιν, ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν, καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην, ἣν ἔχεις εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. [Render: the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and the love which thou hast unto all the saints.] “There is nothing strange,” says Winer, (N. T. Gr., p. 365) “in such a Chiasm.” It is in favor of this view that the change of preposition (πρός, εἰς) can be fully explained only in this way, and further that it becomes then unnecessary to understand πίστιν in an unusual and impossible sense, as is unavoidable if this word refers also to εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους. That in this case the love is mentioned as a fruit before faith as the root, can surprise no one. As Bengel says: “Primo loco ponitur amor, quia ad amoris specimen hortatur Philuemonem, cui ordo fidei et amoris pridem erat notus.” By this reference to Christian love for the brethren as universal, unqualified in its nature, a claim is indirectly asserted for Onesimus, the newly-converted brother, for a share in that love.—[The foregoing is the almost universally accepted view. So Theodoret, Calvin, Grotius, Estius, Bengel, Koch, Rothe, De Wette, Wiesinger, Alford. Yet a few critics still, chiefly in order to avoid such a transposition of the words, render πίστινfidelity, instead of faith; and thus would have the word denote qualities which Philemon could exercise at the same time towards Christ and towards his followers. But πίστις has this sense very rarely in the New Testament, and never when coupled, as here, with ἀγάπη; comp. Eph_1:15; 1Th_3:6; 1Ti_1:14; 2Ti_1:13; see also Col_1:4. Meyer, it is true, objects to the passages referred to, as irrelevant, because the order in which the terms occur there is πίστις, ἀγάπη; and hence different from that here. But no writer is so mechanical as to place his words always in the same order, and ἀγάπη, as the fruit of faith, may be mentioned first, as naturally as πίστις, the antecedent or source of love. Especially may the love be named first in this instance, because, as Calvin suggests, Paul would expect Philemon in effect to manifest his love to Onesimus as evidence that he had a genuine faith in Christ. Ellicott argues that τὴν πίστιν may belong, in its ordinary sense, both to πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν and to εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἁγίους, i. e., faith toward the Lord Jesus, which is evinced at the same time unto the saints. But that view leaves τὴν ἀγάπην without any specified object to which the love is directed (since ἣν ἔχεις would strictly carry forward τὴν πίστιν only), and (which is still more decisive) overlooks the manifest relation in which this passage stands to Col_1:3-4, where the terms in question are distributed without ambiguity. The Apostle says there to the Colossians: “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you; since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints.” That Epistle was written at the same time with this; and it is hardly possible that the expressions so nearly coincident should not be intended to convey the same meaning.—Ἁγίοι, קְדוֹשִׁים, saints, designates Christians as holy or consecrated, i. e., to the service of Christ or God. As used in the New. Testament, the appellative belongs to all who profess to be disciples, and does not distinguish one class of them (as the Roman Catholics pretend) as superior in point of excellence to the rest of men. It refers to the normal or prescribed standard of Christian character rather than the actual one; for we find it applied sometimes to those who were censured for their want of a correct Christian life. Thus, for example, those addressed by this title in 1Co_1:2 were among those whose conduct the Apostle condemns so severely in 1Co_3:1; 1Co_11:21.—H.]
Phm_1:6. That the communication of thy faith may become effectual. That (ὅπως) connects this clause immediately with Phm_1:4, and includes at once the contents and the object of the intercession, concerning which the Apostle has already declared at what time it takes place and under what circumstances it is called forth. So Chrysostom, Winer, De Wette, Meyer would refer this verse directly to Phm_1:5, and find indicated here the aim or tendency of ἣν ἔχεις, i.e., of the faith which Philemon has, which seems to us by no means necessary, and affords a sense least clear and simple. [Having stated that he prayed so constantly for his friend, Paul would naturally mention what it was that he desired in his behalf; and would be understood most readily as pointing out that object. For an exact parallel to this connection, see Eph_1:16, where the language is almost identically the same that we have here, and where the telic clause (ἳνα ὁ θεός, κ.τ.λ.) can refer only to μνείαν … προσευχῶν μου. It is Paul’s habit, in fact, whenever he speaks of praying for others, to specify the blessing or result which he would secure for them; comp. Rom_1:10; Php_1:9; Col_1:9; Col_4:12; 2Th_1:11. To deny that ὃπως in this place goes back to Phm_1:4, makes προσεωχῶν μου an exception to that practice.—H].—1. The communion (or fellowship) of thy faith (ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεώς σου, communio fidei tuœ), i. e., the faith which thou dost possess and manifest in common with us (so Luther, Bengel, and others). No grammatical objection lies against this view, though controverted by Meyer and others (comp. Php_1:5; Php_2:1, and other passages). The objection also that nobiscum in the case has to be read arbitrarily into the text, we cannot admit to be valid, especially when we see that ἐν ἡμῖν follows so immediately. See other views enumerated and considered in Meyer on this passage.—[The explanation thus stated is the one generally adopted. It is peculiar to this view that it limits the Christian unity to a single point, viz., that of the community of faith (=κατὰ κοινὴν πίστιν in Tit_1:4), and thus fails to recognize the entire contents of the κοινωνία or fellowship of believers as unfolded by other related passages. On the whole, no single expression in the Epistle is so uncertain as this. It may be well to mention some of the other principal opinions. (1) May not κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως mean fellowship or participation in the traits of character or virtues, in the blessings, pursuits, hopes, which result from faith (genit. subjecti or auctoris) in the Redeemer, and which makes those who profess this faith co-partners (κοινωνοί) with each other? This use of the genitive would be similar to δικαιοσύνη πίστεως (Rom_4:13), righteousness or justification on which faith secures, and χαρὰ τῆς πίστεως (Php_1:25), joy which springs from faith, and the like. Meyer objects that the genitive after κοινωνία (except where it is that of a person) in the N. T. usage points out properly the object in which the participation consists. But this relation of the two nouns is not a necessary one; for nothing is more common than the genitive of cause or source after the governing noun. In this instance we may infer the object of participation from the idea of the word itself, just as in Gal_2:9 we infer it from the subsequent clause (κοινωνίας ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.). Such essentially must be the use and meaning of κοινωνία in 1Jn_1:6; 1Jn_1:1, though in John’s writings the subjective part, the community or kindredship of character, seems to prevail over that of the personal benefits of the common faith. The train of thought then would be this: Having such evidence (ἀκούων, κ.τ.λ.) that Philemon was a sharer in the grace of the gospel, the Apostle prays that his friend’s participation in the blessings of Christian fellowship, founded on his faith and evinced as so real by his love, may become more and more perfect by his full comprehension of all the duties and virtues (παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ) which honor the Christian name (εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν). Approximations to this same idea of a copartnership which links all believers to each other, with variations in the language, will be found in 1Co_9:23; Eph_3:6; Eph_4:13; Coloss. Phm_1:12; 1Ti_6:2; Heb_3:1; 1Pe_5:1. (2) The participation of thy faith enjoyed by others, i. e., in the fruits of this faith, his charities and other acts of piety. So Meyer, whom Ellicott follows. But in the preceding verse it is the love which is shown to the saints, while Christ is the object of the faith; and hence with that meaning we should have expected κοινωνία τῆς ἀγάπης σου, rather than of πίστεώς σου. Besides, if we must refer ὃπως, κ.τ.λ.. to εὐχαριστῶ, the Apostle in that case appears as offering thanks for acts of Philemon yet to be performed (γένηται); and if, as others prefer, we refer ὃπως (see above) more strictly to προσευχῶν, then the prayers in which Paul remembers Philemon so constantly (μνείαν σου ποιούμενος) are prayers in fact not so much for him, as for others. (3). It is understood of the impartation (communication in that sense) of his faith, i. e., by the same metonymy as before, of its effects in the form of charitable acts. But in this instance, too, τῆς ἀγάπης would be a more obvious word than τῆς πίστεως. It may be urged also that the phraseology with that sense is unlike Paul’s. It is characteristic of him that he shrinks as it were instinctively from giving any apparent countenance to the idea that one person may impart faith to another. See Eph_2:8.—H.]—This faith, however, which Philemon shares in common with Paul and others [or this co-partnership with them into which his faith brings him] should not leave him empty or unfruitful, but Paul desires that it should show itself effective, appear in outward acts, viz.: In the knowledge of every good thing which is in us (see the critical remarks) unto (for) Christ Jesus.Ἐπίγνωσις, plena et accurata cognitio, such as can arise only out of love; see Php_1:9. (Comp. here the profound remark of Pascal: “Human things one must know, in order to love them; divine things he must love, in order to know them.”) The faith, therefore, which is common to Philemon and others, must show its power in the fact, that it helps him (combined with love) to an ever-growing and better knowledge—of what? Everything (in a Christian sense) good which is in us (Philemon, Paul, and all other believers). The expression is somewhat peculiar, but appears in its true light when we view it in connection with the special object of the letter, for the better attainment of which the Apostle is preparing the way by this remark. If the faith of Philemon shows itself in a more and more radical knowledge of the good which is found in others, he will by no means take amiss the request which Paul is about to address to him. He will not allow himself to be kept by any resentment from perceiving and appreciating the good which is already manifest in the newly-converted Onesimus; he will gladly make common cause with the Apostle in a case like the present, in which he can do so much to cherish and promote that which is good.—[It is surprising that any should understand this knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις) not as Philemon’s, but that which others might acquire from his example respecting the nature and requirements of the gospel. The analogy of this passage to Php_1:9-11 shows the incorrectness of that view: “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” See also Col_2:2. That faith and knowledge, truth and obedience, may assist each other, may go hand in hand, is everywhere, as here, the burden of the Apostle’s prayer for the saints.—Ἐν ἡμῖν, in us (see on the text), because the soul is the sphere in which the believer’s faith operates. It is beautifully presupposed here that “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report” (Php_4:8) they all (πᾶν ἀγαθόν) have their proper dwelling-place and home in the bosoms of Christians, and that it is their duty as it should be their glory to furnish to the world the outward proof of this inner Christendom, and thus give, each one for himself, the evidence that the idea and the reality are not in his case separated from each other. It is thus that God is glorified (Mat_5:16).—H.]—For Jesus Christ (εἰς Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν) does not connect itself with ἐνεργὴς γένηται (De Wette), but points out the direction and tendency of what is morally good, which the Apostle would have Philemon duly recognize. It contributes to the promotion of the cause and work of the Lord, and is also for this reason a worthy object of the regard and exemplification of Philemon. [Εἰς Χριστόν lit. unto Christ, i. e., for his praise and honor.—H.]
Phm_1:7. For we have [or, I had] great joy, &c.—For the reading here, see notes on the text. Before the Apostle brings forward his urgent request in behalf of Onesimus, he states yet further the subjective ground of the thanksgiving mentioned in Phm_1:4. He had cause for it in the joy which he as well as Timothy [if the verb be plural] derived from what they heard respecting Philemon, and in the consolation also (παράκλησιν) from that source which the Apostle so much needed in his state of captivity. Calvin: “Hoc autem est rarœ charitatis, ex aliormn bono tantum percipere gaudii.” [Πολλὴν belongs apparently to both nouns. See Win. § 59. 5 (6th ed.) If we read ἔσχον, I had, the aorist refers to the time when Paul received the joyful information.—H.]—In thy love (lit. upon as the cause, ἐπί) defines the source or occasion of Paul’s joy and consolation, and this love as appears from what immediately follows, is love not to the Lord directly, but his suffering members on earth.—Because (ὅτι) the hearts, strictly the bowels (σπλάγχυα); comp. Php_1:8; 2Co_6:12, and below, Phm_1:12; Phm_1:20. [This use of the term, =רַחֲמִים, as denoting the seat of the affections, is a common Hebraism.] What saints (ἀγίων) and what consolation are here meant we are not told more definitely. It is not necessary to restrict the statement to poor believers and worldly benefactions. All that Philemon did for the Colossians who met together in his house, and for others in wider circles, may not improperly come within the scope of this language. For he showed himself in truth a brother (ἀδελφέ), as Paul terms him with so much love and tenderness at the end of this exhortation.—[They may have been not Colossians merely whom Philemon aided, but persons from other places, especially missionary friends whom he entertained in his house, or forwarded on their journeys. See Tit_3:13; 3 John Phm_1:6. In this hospitality and benevolence of Philemon we have on illustration of that trait in the character of the primitive disciples, which compelled the heathen to exclaim: “See how these Christians love one another!”—H.]
Footnotes:
[3]Phm_1:4. [For the place of always, see Notes on the text.—H.]
[4]Phm_1:6. The received text has ἐν ὑμῖν, in you. We read ἐν ἡμῖν, in us, with A. C. D. E. I. K. and others. [So Tischendorf, Meyer, Wiesinger; The origin of ὑμιν is seen readily in the natural reference to the Colossians.—H.]
[5]Phm_1:7. We find no sufficient ground for preferring χάριν to χαράν, nor ἔσχον or ἔσχομεν for ἔχομεν. See the testimonies in Tischendorf. [Green (Developed Criticism, p. 164) decides for χάριν chiefly because, as being less obvious, it might be more easily displaced. On the contrary, as Meyer suggests, εὐχαριστῶ (Phm_1:4) may have led some copyist to substitute χάριν for χαράν. As to the other verb, there is more doubt. The received ἔχομεν, we have (as in A. v.), has much less support than ἔσχον, I had, as Griesbach, Lachmann, Wordsworth, Ellicott, and others decide. Tischendorf has both forms in different editions. Meyer prefers ἔσχομεν, we had, but without sufficient reason. We have εσχον in Sinaitic Codex.—H.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain always--joined by ALFORD with, "I thank my God."
always--joined by ALFORD with, "I thank my God."
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 4. My God—Note, Act_27:23. Always qualifies thank.
4. My God—Note, Act_27:23. Always qualifies thank.
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 4–7. Thanksgiving and Prayer
4–7. Thanksgiving and Prayer
4. I thank my God] For the phrase precisely cp. Rom_1:8; 1Co_1:4; Php_1:3 (where see our note). All the Epistles of St Paul, save only Galatians, contain a thanksgiving in their first greetings.
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“My God:”—so Rom., 1 Cor., Phil., just quoted, and Php_4:19. Profound personal appropriation and realization speaks in the phrase.
making mention of thee] So Rom_1:9; Eph_1:16, where see note; 1Th_1:2; and cp. Php_1:3. How often the names written in his Epistles must have been uttered in his prayers!
always] Alford, Lightfoot, and R.V., connect this word with “I give thanks”; the Greek order of the sentence allowing it. Ellicott divides as A.V. The question, happily unimportant, is very much one of rhythm and balance, and we think this inclines to A.V. If so, he means that Philemon is habitually mentioned whenever his converts are present in his thanksgivings.
in] Lit., “on”; on occasion of, at the times of.
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 (4) I thank my God . . .—Note the…
(4) I thank my God . . .—Note the almost exact verbal coincidence with the salutations in Eph_1:15-16; Php_1:3-4; Col_1:3-4, with, however, the natural distinction that this is briefer and simpler in style.
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 I thank my God always. We ought, therefore, to…
I thank my God always. We ought, therefore, to thank God, not only for gifts bestowed upon ourselves, but also for those bestowed upon others. This is a habitual phrase of St. Paul. (comp. Rom_1:8 1Co_1:4 Eph_1:16 Php_1:3 1Th_1:2 2Th_1:3 2Ti_1:3) "It is to be noted that for the thing on account of which he gives thanks, he at the same time prays" (Calvin). For no good work is ever so complete in us that it does not need to be "continued and ended" in us by God. Making mention of thee in my prayers. The foregoing remark attain applies. Grotius observes that "we learn from this that all addresses to God may be called prayers proseucav , even those in which nothing is asked but thanks are given." But this is apparently not such a case; the petition which St. Paul offered for Philemon being stated in Ver. 6. And thus Chrysostom explains the passage. "Always" may be connected with "I thank," or with "making mention," preferably the former (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, Lightfoot).
Vers. 4, 5. The constituent parts of acceptable prayer: thanksgiving, intercession, personal petitions.
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1. An example of these here, incidentally given, not purposely, St. Paul"s practice with regard to Philemon. He was not familiarly known to the apostle. Perhaps it was with a certain surprise he learned that the great apostle habitually "made mention of him" in his prayers. In like manner, many Christians are being helped, without their own knowledge, by the prayers of others. The apostles example to be followed.
2. Thanksgiving a necessary part of prayer. "I thank my God." If this be omitted, we are ungrateful, and so our devotion will not be acceptable to God. We must thank God for past mercies bestowed upon us and upon others. Our service is not really devotion without this, but the reverse. A want of duty towards God therefore a sin. (Psa_109:7)
3. Intercession for others. "Making mention of thee always in my prayers." This the duty thrown upon us by our Christian fellowship. In this the "communion of saints" is shown forth. It is not to be confined to our immediate connections and friends. Philemon was not intimately known to St. Paul, yet he was remembered by him. Prayer without intercession is selfish, and therefore unacceptable to God. It may be that their too manifest selfishness of tone is the reason that many of our prayers do not obtain from God the answer they crave. (Isa_1:15) It ought always to embrace the whole Church of Christ, not merely that part of it in which we are immediately interested. This would have a reflex action upon ourselves, and would tend towards eventual union among us; for when the sympathies of the heart are wide, the sympathies of the intellect will hardly remain narrow.
4. Petitions for our personal needs are never likely to be absent from our prayers. The danger will be that they should form too large a part of them. They need to be restrained and regulated, not indulged. As the Christian grows in saintliness, his prayers for self will come to be more and more for spiritual blessings instead of temporal. At length they will be merged in the comprehensive petition that God"s will may be done in the petitioner, and his Name glorified.
5. To cease analysis, and take a complete view of prayer, we find it to sum up in itself all the sentiments which the human soul should entertain towards its Divine Creator. "Prayer is the soul"s sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed.
Therefore gratitude, confidence, affection, hope, anxiety for others or for ourselves, penitence, should all in their degree enter into our prayers. But none of these should monopolize them.
Love"s outcome in prayer.
"Making mention of thee always in my prayers." We may judge of the reality of our affection by the current of our thoughts. Do we find them tending towards some absent friends daily? Then we have evidence that ours is not the superficial love that can live only in the presence of its object. With the Christian thought turns to prayer. There on the throne of the universe is One who can best befriend our dearest friends.
I THERE WAS BLESSEDNESS IN THE EXPERIENCE. "I thank my God making mention," etc. It was not a prayer touched with sorrow for Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus, or with anxiety about their faith and character. It was the prayer of one who rejoiced that the Christ above could keep them from falling.
II THERE WAS PURPOSE IN THE PRAYER. Paul remembers its subject-matter. When he heard of their love and faith towards the Lord Jesus, he prayed that their faith might not be merely personal or selfish, but that their religion might be, in the modern speech, "altruistic," which is "otherism" as opposed to "selfism." Paul prayed that the communication of their faith might be effectual, that the light might shine on others so as to guide them, that the fountain might flow into other hearts so as to refresh them. W.M.S.
Vers. 4-7. Recognition of the Christian character and services of Philemon.
This is after the apostle"s usual manner.
I THE THANKSGIVING. "I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers.
1. Though it is not unlawful to praise men for their graces or virtues, God is first to be thanked as the Author of these dispositions. "We rejoice or, "boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ". (Rom_5:11) It is the privilege of the believer to speak of God as "my God," according to the tenure of the covenant: "I will be thy God." Therefore the apostle says, "Whose I am, and whom I serve". (Act_27:23)
2. The occasion of his thanksgiving. "Making mention of thee in my prayers." It mingled with his daily prayers.
(1) Though a prisoner, the apostle had constant opportunities for secret devotion.
(2) He was always mindful of others in his supplications. Many have no secret prayer; others pray only for themselves; the apostle prays for others. The saints had an individual place in the apostle"s heart.
(3) It is right to pray even for those who are the subjects of thanksgiving. The saints are not perfect, and therefore need to be prayed for, that they may enjoy a more abundant life in Christ Jesus. (Joh_10:10)
II THE CAUSE OR REASON OF THE THANKSGIVING. "Hearing of thy love and of the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints.
1. A good report extols Gods Name and recommends religion. "By it the ancients obtained a good report". (Heb_11:3)
2. Good men love to hear, as well as report, the praises of good men.
3. We ought to pray fervently for those who enjoy the greatest graces.
4. The graces of Philemon were faith in Christ and love to the saints.
(1) These graces, though distinguished from one another, never exist separately. "Faith worketh by love," and never without it. Love proceeds from faith, even love to the saints. (1Th_2:3)
(2) The Object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore it is called the faith of Jesus Christ. (Rom_3:26) Faith, as an act of the understanding, sees Christ, and, as an act of will, trusts in him for eternal life.
(3) The objects of love are the saints. Christ is to be loved in the saints, who are to be loved next to Christ. All the saints are to be loved, no matter what their character, disposition, or talents.
III THE OBJECT OR PURPORT OF THE APOSTLE"S PRAYER. "That the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you unto Christ.
1. The fellowship referred to the kindly offices of sympathy and charity which were the offspring of Philemons faith. The apostle"s prayers had in view the furtherance of Philemon"s faith on its practical side. Faith is a bountiful grace, and is communicative in its very nature.
2. The energetic operation of faith
1. glorifies God;
2. refreshes the saints;
3. stops the mouths of malicious men;
4. and attests the true character of the saints even in the society of hypocrites.
3. The drift of a practical faith is towards a fuller knowledge and appreciation of good in Christian men. "The knowledge of the result and the reward of faith manifesting itself in deeds of love." Insight springs from obedience.
4. The growth of faith in its upward tendency is "unto Christ," as its Goal and final Resting-place, depending as it does upon union with him, and tending to intensify the experience of that union.
IV THE MOTIVE FOR THE APOSTLE"S THANKSGIVING. "For I had great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints have been refreshed by thee, brother.
1. Whatever causes joy and consolation is just ground for thanksgiving. "For what thanksgiving can we render again unto God for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God?". (1Th_3:9) Thanks ever be to that God who fills our hearts "with food and gladness." The Apostle John found his joy in learning that his children walked in truth. (2Jn_1:4)
2. The proofs of Philemons love to the saints.
(1) The apostle rejoices in a love which carries blessings to others rather than himself.
(2) The saints ought to be refreshed in several ways.
(a) By words of consolation, which we can easily extract from the promises of our Lord in the Word.
(b) By our deeds of charity. So the apostle himself was "oft refreshed" by Onesiphorus during his long imprisonment.
(c) By our prayers for the afflicted saints.
(3) The motives that prompt to this compassionate dealing with the saints are
(a) that we herein imitate God, "who comforteth those who are cast down"; (2Co_1:4)
(b) we refresh the bowels of Christ himself;
(c) God will not forget our labor of love. T.C. (1Th_1:3)
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 I thank my God
Phm_1:4
I thank my God
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A thankful commendation
Paul has the habit of beginning all his letters with thankful commendations, and assurances of a place in his prayers.
The exceptions are 2 Corinthians, where he writes under strong and painful emotion, and Galatians, where a vehement accusation of fickleness takes the place of the usual greeting. But these exceptions make the habit more conspicuous. But though this is a habit, it is not a form, but is the perfectly simple and natural expression of the moments feelings. He begins his letters so, not in order to please and to say smooth things, but because he feels lovingly, and his heart fills with a pure joy which speaks most fitly in prayer. To recognise good is the way to make good better. Teachers must love if their teaching is to help. The best way to secure the doing of any signal act of Christian generosity, such as Paul wished of Philemon, is to show absolute confidence that it will be done, because it is in accordance with what we know of the doers character. Its a shame to tell Arnold a lie; he always trusts us, the Rugby boys used to say. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
A thankful interest in God
God cannot be possessed except as a personal good; and yet cannot be possessed and enjoyed as a personal good only, any more than sunshine can be held as mere private property. The more of such blessings a neighbour enjoys, there is the more for any one else to use and enjoy. So there is that in vital personal interest in God which at once guarantees a thankful spirit in the possessor, and acts as a safeguard against the spirit of self-worship. The law of the solar system is that the more quickly a planet revolves round the sun, the more slowly it turns round its own axis; and the very principle which regulates its speed makes it sway to and fro from its own centre towards neighbouring orbs, while keeping it balanced in its course round the central one of all. No wonder there exhales from Pauls heart the incense of pure thanks to God for all the evidences of Philemons goodness and grace, as inwrought by saving mercy, and as working outwardly in acts of love and kindness unto others! Far from the expression of his self-interest, My God being self-confined, his very thanks are absorbed with the good in another. The more a fire shoots its flame and heat towards heaven, the farther out from itself will it shoot its warmth. So the more vehemently the soul can possess itself of God and be possessed by Him, the more ardently will it be carried upward with its thanks and outward with its intense desires for the good of others. Thoughts of Gods mercies will ever be found lying very close to thoughts of others needs. To be able to thank God sincerely for the good we see in others, is the best security for our feeling intensely solicitous for their further good. (A. H. Drysdale, M. A.)
Prayerful thanksgiving
I. His prayerful thanksgiving.
1. The mingling of thanks with intercession is true prayer--the discovery of a reason in blessings bestowed for craving and expecting more (Psa_115:12).
2. Thanksgiving insures further grace by fostering a spirit of dependence.
3. Gratitude for the good in others is a spiritual grace. Disinterested love--the prime feature of heavenliness--Christ-likeness.
II. The occasion of his gratitude. Two leading characteristics of Christianity are specified as being possessed by Philemon.
1. Faith fixed on Christ. This is--
(1) The absolute source of salvation.
(2) The principle of the saved life.
(3) The spring of beneficent activity.
2. Love of the brethren proving the faith. Such affection--
(1) Impartial.
(2) Discriminating.
(3) Active. A grace of the heart first, the force of life afterward.
III. The object of his petition. Twofold: Increase--
1. In practical godliness. Be ye enlarged is the Divine mandate in the natural and spiritual realm. Paul prays for that very thing for which he gives thanks. The most perfect need prayers for their perseverance and progress.
2. In the number of believers. The eloquence of good deeds cannot be resisted. Everything in us that is good makes known our faith and impels us to make acknowledgment of our relation to Christ. His reflected light in us will attract men to seek Him for themselves.
IV. The greatness of his joy. Great heart he who could be glad for others sakes under such conditions!
1. His triumph in adversity. Thinks little of his own troubles. Mentions them only to appeal to his friends heart in the interests of another.
2. His unselfishness. The hearts of the saints are refreshed. This was the fountain of his pleasure. Singular love to feel so much joy on account of the benefit received by others.
Learn:
1. To cultivate sympathy.
2. To master circumstances.
3. To commend the gospel.
4. To advance in every good. (A. W. Johnson.)
Praises and prayers
I. The object. I thank my God, etc.
1. God is the Author of all good (Hos_14:8).
2. To him, therefore, is all praise due (1Ch_29:13-14).
3. It is the privilege of good men to approach Him as their God.
4. Our prayers and praises should be for others as well as for ourselves.
II. The circumstance. Always, etc.
III. The matter.
1. Of his praises, on account of Philemon--
(1) Love for Christ.
(2) Faith in Christ.
(3) Love to saints.
2. Of his prayers.
(1) That fruits may abound.
(2) That others may be won.
(3) That God may be glorified.
IV. The reason. (M. Henry, D. D.)
The growth of graces
We learn from hence that all Christians (especially teachers) are greatly to rejoice and praise God when they see that professors grow forward in heavenly graces. It is a matter of great joy and comfort to see men grow in graces as they do in years, and to increase in heavenly things as they multiply their days.
1. It serveth exceedingly to advance the glory of God that men grow in godliness, which ought to be an effectual reason to move us to rejoice; for what is there that should more cheer us, than when Gods name is magnified, and His truth extolled among the sons of men.
2. The forwardness of one is a notable means to draw forward another. For as one wicked man maketh another, and he that is seduced is an instrument to seduce another; so he that is truly converted will not rest in the quiet fruit and inward comfort of his own conversion, but labour to convert others, and so make them partakers of that comfort which they have found.
3. It is a great comfort to the pastors and teachers of the Church, when such as are taught do grow in grace and prosper by those means that are brought and offered unto them. The apostle calleth the Philippians his brethren, beloved and longed for, his joy and his crown; wherein he accounteth their growth, his honour; their increasing, his rejoicing; their faith, his hope; their flourishing, his felicity. It is a great comfort to the husbandman after his toiling and tilling, after his planting and ploughing, to see the fruits of his labours, and to behold the increase of the earth. So it fareth with the spiritual husbandman, whose labour is greater and oftener, enduring all the year long, whose patience is greater in waiting for the early and latter rain, whose gain and profit is less in tilling a dry and barren soil, that yieldeth little or no increase, but a crop of cares, a bundle of briars and bushes, and an harvest of thorns and thistles, that are reserved for the fire.
4. The graces of God, and the growing in these graces, are fruits of their election, and seals of their salvation, so that the angels in heaven rejoice at the conversion of a sinner. (W. Attersoll.)
Christian congratulation
I. For his gratulation, or rejoicing with Philemon in his graces, it is set down in the form of thanksgiving, I thank.
1. Where observe, the manner of true Christian congratulating and rejoicing with our friends, for any good thing they have; namely, to rejoice in the Lord; giving Him first of all His due, the praise of all that good they have. The rejoicing of the world is carnal and profane. God is never so much as thought upon. The parties whom we congratulate, they are dignified and almost deified. Oh, I admire your wisdom, eloquence, learning, etc., will the flatterer, or the inordinate lover of his friend, say. But Paul would say, I admire the goodness and mercy of God towards you, in enriching you with these gifts, I thank God for your wisdom, etc.; so all the praise is given wholly to God, whereas before it was wholly derived from God to man, and so God was defrauded and defeated of His right. Not that it is unlawful to praise men endued with the graces and gifts of Gods Spirit; nay, it is a duty we owe unto them; but it must be performed in that wise sort, that God in the first place be praised; for by this means we shall both in ourselves take away suspicion of flattery, and in our brother commended, suspicion of pride.
2. The title that Paul giveth God in this his thanksgiving, My God.
(1) The privilege of every true Christian. He hath a peculiarity and special propriety in God, that look as a man may say of his inheritance, his house and lands, These be mine, so he may as truly say of God, God is mine; I am righted and interested in Him. This privilege is conferred upon us in the covenant of grace which runs in this tenor, I will be thy God, and thou shalt be one of My people.
(2) The nature of true justifying faith, which is, to apply God in special to the believer. True faith doth not only believe that God is the God of His elect in general, but that He is his God in special, as Paul here saith, My God.
II. The second effect whereby Paul declareth his love towards them, is his daily praying for them. Making mention of you always in my prayers.
1. Even in our private and solitary prayers, we must be mindful of our brethren.
2. Observe, that Paul did pray even for those for whom he gave thanks; from whence it followeth, that there is no man so perfect that he hath need only to give thanks for that good he hath received, and not to ask some good thing he wanteth. Unto thanksgiving, there fore, for ourselves or others, petition must be annexed both for the continuance and increase of that good we give thanks for.
III. We may observe, that Philemon was such an one as ministered to Paul just occasion, as of prayer, so likewise of thanksgiving. We must labour herein to be like him, that others, specially Gods ministers, who either see us, or hear of us, may have cause not only to pray for us, but also to praise God for us. (D. Dyke, B. D.)
Making mention of thee always in my prayers--
Good men need our prayers
The best men, cumulated with the greatest graces of the Spirit, had need be prayed for. St. Paul was rapt up into the third heaven, where he saw secrets not to be uttered, yet he desires the Ephesians prayers. St. Peter was a stout champion; yet Christ prays that his faith should not fail. Philemon abounded in all good gifts, of knowledge, faith and love, yet St. Paul ceased not to pray for him.
1. The best of all know but in part, love in part; therefore we had need to pray for them, that their defects may be supplied, that they may increase daily more and more.
2. Here we are wayfaring men, we are not come to our journeys end; therefore we had need to be prayed for, that we may persevere to the end, and have the crown of life. (W. Jones, D. D.)
Happy in being prayed for
Alexander counted Achilles happy, that he had such a trumpeter of his praises as Homer was. Philemon might count himself happy, that he had such a worthy man to pray for him as St. Paul. (W. Jones, D. D.)
A large prayer list
What a list of persons for whom he daily entreated God must St. Paul have had! If he thus prayed especially for this convert in the comparatively small city of Colosse, what numbers must he have mentioned in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Philippi, in Thessalonica? And notice how in these supplications for private persons he mentions thanksgivings. He remembers not only their wants, but the blessings already bestowed upon them. (M. F. Sadler, M. A.)
The benefit we may confer on others by praying for them
When we are poor and can do our brethren no other good, yet may we benefit them by our prayers. When we see our brethren in necessity, in danger, in affliction, in persecution, in sickness, and in great misery; when we have no hand to help them, no power to deliver them, no means to succour them, no favour to speak for them; yet, we have hearts to lift up for them to God, the Father of all mercies, and the God of all consolation, and by praying unto Him for them, we shall do them much good, give them much comfort, minister unto them much help, and procure unto them speedy deliverance. This shall be more available and profitable unto them than all other means of help and succour used for their safety without this. Let such as are of the greatest gifts earnestly crave and call for the prayers of those that have lesser and smaller gifts. This reproveth such as never regard them, nor require them, that think they have no need of them, nor know the necessity of them. It is all one to these men, whether they be prayed for or not; whom God no doubt doth oftentimes cross in the works of their hands, that they do not prosper, because they make no account of the Churchs prayers. It reproveth such also as regard not the public assemblies of the faithful, and the meeting of the congregation of Christ in one place, where prayers are made for the Church, where praises are sung, and thanks are rendered for the blessings of God; yea, heaven and earth are made to ring and rebound with sounding out His glory, as it were with the voice of one man. All our churches, for the most part on the Lords day, assemble at one hour, we come together at one time, a blessed hour, a blessed time; the best hour, the best time in the whole week. Oh, how should we love it, how should we desire it, how should we delight in it? Then do we pray for the Church, then the Church prayeth for us; then are we mindful of our brethren, then are our brethren likewise mindful of us; then is God mindful of us all. (W. Attersoll.)
Intercessory prayer a means for diffusing good
It is matter of thank fulness that the privilege of intercession is the property of all Christians. While perishable good--such as friends, health, riches--are denied to thousands, there is not one so poor or so powerless as may not be a benefactor, not to individuals merely, but to the Church and to mankind, through the common privilege of prayer. It enables the weakest and most lonely to direct the arm of Omnipotence, and to help the objects of their affection from afar. It gives power to bless those who are separated from our presence by half the globe, and secures to the absent child the comfort of a parents presence, whom he shall never meet except in heaven. Surely some good Christian is praying for us tonight. has been heard from the lips of a pious seaman, when the tempest that was driving them in resistless fury towards destruction suddenly veered round, and saved them from the rocks on which they expected to be dashed the next moment; and God only, and the good angels whom He sends to minister to His children, can tell what good thoughts have been inspired, what temptations have been averted, what peace has been communicated, through the power of some absent believers prayers. Let it be our care to make use of this practicable and powerful instrument of diffusing good. The poorest can obtain it; the humblest believer is already in possession of it. Say not thou canst do nothing for men if thou canst give them thy love, thy Christian example, and thy prayers. (R. Nisbet, D. D.)
Prayer and attainment
Prayer is based on a supreme contentedness with Divine gifts and blessings but also on a sublime uncontentedness with human attainments in them. It therefore catches up thankfulness and petition into a happy unity, as the railway train holds its passengers at rest and yet in motion at the same moment. True prayer is free alike from querulous discontent and from cloddish self-content. The very satisfaction of the traveller at the well with the water it affords, bids him draw more largely on its supply for himself and others. And so Paul is thankful for all that God is and does, for all He has and offers, as manifested in the evangelic faith and love of Philemon; but he cannot think of either Philemon or himself resting satisfied where so much more remains to be possessed. To have nothing further to ask and yearn after were to have the mainspring of activity and improvement utterly broken. To pray is therefore a privilege and a relief. To pray for others is especially so to a loving and benevolent heart. We might have been permitted to pray only for ourselves; but amid the separations and scatterings of earth, God has been pleased to put intercession for one another as an instrument of mutual interest and blessing into the hands of all who would promote each others good. (A. H. Drysdale, M. A.)
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 Chapter 5 Part 2
Chapter 5 Part 2
Phm_1:4-7 (R.V.)
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PAULS was one of those regal natures to which things are possible that other men dare not do. No suspicion of weakness attaches to him when he pours out his heart in love, nor any of insincerity when he speaks of his continual prayers for his friends, or when he runs over in praise of his converts. Few men have been able to talk so much of their love without betraying its shallowness and self-consciousness, or of their prayers without exciting a doubt of their manly sincerity. But the Apostle could venture to do these things without being thought either feeble or false, and could unveil his deepest affections and his most secret devotions without provoking either a smile or a shrug.
He has the habit of beginning all his letters with thankful commendations and assurances of a place in his prayers. The exceptions are 2 Corinthians, where he writes under strong and painful emotion, and Galatians, where a vehement accusation of fickleness takes the place of the usual greeting. But these exceptions make the habit more conspicuous. Though this is a habit, it is not a form, but the perfectly simple and natural expression of the moments feelings. He begins his letters so, not in order to please and to say smooth things, but because he feels lovingly, and his heart fills with a pure joy which speaks most fitly in prayer. To recognise good is the way to make good better. Teachers must love if their teaching is to help. The best way to secure the doing of any signal act of Christian generosity, such as Paul wished of Philemon, is to show absolute confidence that it will be done, because it is in accordance with what we know of the doers character. "Its a shame to tell Arnold a lie: he always trusts us," the Rugby boys used to say. Nothing could so powerfully bare swayed Philemon to grant Pauls request, as Pauls graceful mention of his beneficence, which mention is yet by no means conscious diplomacy, but instinctive kindliness.
The words of this section are simple enough, but their order is not altogether clear. They are a good example of the hurry and rush of the Apostles style, arising from his impetuosity of nature. His thoughts and feelings come knocking at "the door of his lips" in a crowd, and do not always make their way out in logical order. For instance, he begins here with thankfulness, and that suggests the mention of his prayers, Phm_1:4.
Then he gives the occasion of his thankfulness in verse 5, "Hearing of thy love and of the faith which thou hast"; etc. He next tells Philemon the subject matter of his prayers in Phm_1:6, "That the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual," etc. These two verses thus correspond to the two clauses of Phm_1:4, and finally in Phm_1:7 he harks back once more to his reasons for thankfulness in Philemons love and faith, adding, in a very lovely and pathetic way, that the good deeds done in far off Colossae had wafted a refreshing air to the Roman prison house, and, little as the doer knew it, had been a joy and comfort to the solitary prisoner there.
I. We have, then, here the character of Philemon, which made Paul gladand thankful. The order of the language is noteworthy. Love is put before faith. The significance of this sequence comes out by contrast with similar expressions in Eph_1:15 : "Your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints" (A.V). and Col_1:4 : "Your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have toward all the saints," where the same elements are arranged in the more natural order, corresponding to their logical relation; viz., faith first, and love as its consequence. The reason for the change here is probably that Onesimus and Epaphras, from whom Paul would be likely to hear of Philemon, would enlarge upon his practical benevolence, and would naturally say less about the root than about the sweet and visible fruit. The arrangement then is an echo of the talks which had gladdened the Apostle. Possibly, too, love is put first, because the object of the whole letter is to secure its exercise towards the fugitive slave; and seeing that the Apostle would listen with that purpose in view, each story which was told of Philemons kindness to others made the deeper impression on Paul. The order here is the order of analysis, digging down from manifestation to cause: the order in the parallel passages quoted is the order of production ascending from root to flower.
Another peculiarity in the arrangement of the words is that the objects of love and faith are named in the reverse order to that in which these graces are mentioned, "the Lord Jesus" being first, and "all the saints" last. Thus we have, as it were, "faith towards the Lord Jesus" imbedded in the centre of the verse, while "thy love toward all the saints," which flows from it, wraps it round. The arrangement is like some forms of Hebrew poetical parallelism, in which the first and fourth members correspond, and the second and third, or like the pathetic measure of "In Memoriam," and has the same sweet lingering cadence; while it also implies important truths as to the central place in regard to the virtues which knit hearts in soft bonds of love and help, of the faith which finds its sole object in Jesus Christ.
The source and foundation of goodness and nobility of character is faith in Jesus the Lord. That must be buried deep in the soul if tender love toward men is to flow from it. It is "the very pulse of the machine." All the pearls of goodness are held in solution in faith. Or, to speak more accurately, faith in Christ gives possession of His life and Spirit, from which all good is unfolded; and it further sets in action strong motives by which to lead to every form of purity and beauty of soul; and still further, it brings the heart into glad contact with a Divine love which forgives its Onesimuses, and so it cannot but touch the heart into some glad imitation of that love which is its own dearest treasure. So that, for all these and many more reasons, love to men is the truest visible expression, as it is the direct and necessary result, of faith in Christ. What is exhaled from the heart and drawn upwards by the favours of Christs self-sacrificing love is faith; when it falls on earth again, as a sweet rain of pity and tenderness, it is love.
Further, the true object of faith and one phase of its attitude towards that object are brought out in this central clause. We have the two names which express, the one the divinity, the other the humanity of Christ. So the proper object of faith is the whole Christ, in both His natures, the Divine-human Saviour. Christian faith sees the divinity in the humanity, and the humanity around the divinity. A faith which grasps only the manhood is maimed, and indeed has no right to the name. Humanity is not a fit object of trust. It may change; it has limits; it must die. "Cursed be the man that maketh flesh his arm," is as true about faith in a merely human Christ as about faith in any other man. There may be reverence, there may be in some sense love, obedience, imitation; but there should not be, and I see not how there can be, the absolute reliance, the utter dependence, the unconditional submission, which are of the very essence of faith, in the emotions which men cherish towards a human Christ. The Lord Jesus only can evoke these. On the other hand, the far off splendour and stupendous glory of the Divine nature become the object of untrembling trust, and draw near enough to be known and loved, when we have them mellowed to our weak eyes by shining through the tempering medium of His humanity.
The preposition here used to define the relation of faith to its object is noteworthy. Faith is "toward" Him. The idea is that of a movement of yearning after an unattained good. And that is one part of the true office of faith. There is in it an element of aspiration, as of the soaring eagle to the sun, or the climbing tendrils to the summit of the supporting stem. In Christ there is always something beyond, which discloses itself the more clearly, the fuller is our present possession of Him. Faith builds upon and rests in the Christ possessed and experienced, and just therefore will it, if it be true, yearn towards the Christ unpossessed. A great reach of flashing glory beyond opens on us, as we round each new headland in that unending voyage. Our faith should and will be an ever-increasing fruition of Christ, accompanied with increasing perception of unreached depths in Him, and increasing longing after enlarged possession of His infinite fulness.
Where the centre is such a faith, its circumference and outward expression will be a widely diffused love. That deep and most private emotion of the soul, which is the flight of the lonely spirit to the single Christ, as if these two were alone in the world, does not bar a man off from his kind, but effloresces into the largest and most practical love. When one point of the compasses is struck deeply and firmly into that centre of all things, the other can steadily sweep a wide circle. The widest is not here drawn, but a somewhat narrower, concentric one. The love is "toward all saints." Clearly their relation to Jesus Christ puts all Christians into relation with one another. That was an astounding thought in Philemons days, when such high walls separated race from race, the slave from the free, woman from man; but the new faith leaped all barriers, and put a sense of brotherhood into every heart that learned Gods fatherhood in Jesus. The nave of the wheel holds all the spokes in place. The sun makes the system called by its name a unity, though some planets be of giant bulk and swing through a mighty orbit, waited on by obedient satellites, and some be but specks and move through a narrow circle, and some have scarce been seen by human eye. All are one, because all revolve round one sun, though solemn abysses part them, and though no message has ever crossed the gulfs from one to another.
The recognition of the common relation which all who bear the same relation to Christ bear to one another has more formidable difficulties to encounter today than it had in these times when the Church had no stereotyped creeds and no stiffened organisations, and when to the flexibility of its youth were added the warmth of new conviction and the joy of a new field for expanding emotions of brotherly kindness. But nothing can absolve from the duty. Creeds separate, Christ unites. The road to "the reunion of Christendom" is through closer union to Jesus Christ. When that is secured, barriers which now keep brethren apart will be leaped, or pulled down, or got rid of somehow. It is of no use to say, "Go to, let us love one another." That will be unreal, mawkish, histrionic. "The faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus" will be the productive cause, as it is the measure, of "thy love toward all the saints."
But the love which is here commended is not a mere feeling, nor does it go off in gushes, however fervid, of eloquent emotion. Clearly Philemon was a benefactor of the brotherhood, and his love did not spend only the paper money of words and promises to pay, but the solid coin of kindly deeds. Practical charity is plainly included in that love of which it had cheered Paul in his imprisonment to hear. Its mention, then, is one step nearer to the object of the letter. Paul conducts his siege of Philemons heart skilfully, and opens here a fresh parallel, and creeps a yard or two closer up. "Surely you are not going to shut out one of your own household from that widereaching kindness." So much is most delicately hinted, or rather, left to Philemon to infer, by the recognition of his brotherly love. A hint lies in it that there may be a danger of cherishing a cheap and easy charity that reverses the law of gravity, and increases as the square of the distance, having tenderness and smiles for people and Churches which are well out of our road, and frowns for some nearer home. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how shall he love" his brother "whom he hath not seen?"
II. In Phm_1:6 we have the apostolic prayer for Philemon, grounded on the tidings of his love and faith. It is immediately connected with "the prayers" of verse 4 by the introductory "that," which is best understood as introducing the subject matter of the prayer. Whatever then may be the meaning of this supplication, it is a prayer for Philemon, and not for others. That remark disposes of the explanations which widen its scope, contrary, as it seems to me, to the natural understanding of the context.
"The fellowship of thy faith" is capable of more than one meaning. The signification of the principal word and the relation expressed by the preposition may be variously determined. "Fellowship" is more than once used in the sense of sharing material wealth with Christs poor, or more harshly and plainly, charitable contribution. So we find it in Rom_15:26 and 2Co_9:13. Adopting that meaning here, the "of" must express, as it often does, the origin of Philemons kindly gifts, namely, his faith; and the whole phrase accords with the preceding verse in its view of the genesis of beneficence to the brethren as the result of faith in the Lord.
The Apostle prays that this faith-begotten practical liberality may became efficacious, or may acquire still more power; i.e., may increase in activity, and so may lead to "the knowledge of every good thing that is in us." The interpretation has found extensive support, which takes this as equivalent to a desire that Philemons good deeds might lead others, whether enemies or friends, to recognise the beauties of sympathetic goodness in the true Christian character. Such an explanation hopelessly confuses the whole, and does violence to the plain requirements of the context, which limit the prayer to Philemon. It is this "knowledge" of which Paul is thinking. The same profound and pregnant word is used here which occurs so frequently in the other epistles of the captivity, and which always means that deep and vital knowledge which knows because it possesses. Usually its object is God as revealed in the great work and person of Christ. Here its object is the sum total of spiritual blessings, the whole fulness of the gifts given us by, and, at bottom, consisting of, that same Christ dwelling in the heart, who is revealer, because He is communicator, of God. The full, deep knowledge of this manifold and yet one good is no mere theoretical work of the understanding, but is an experience which is only possible to him who enjoys it.
The meaning of the whole prayer, then, put into feebler and more modern dress is simply that Philemons liberality and Christian love may grow more and more, and may help him to a fuller appropriation and experience of the large treasures "which are in us," though in germ and potentiality only, until brought into consciousness by our own Christian growth. The various readings "in us," or "in you" only widen the circle of possessors of these gifts to the whole Church, or narrow it to the believers of Colossae.
There still remain for consideration the last words of the clause, "unto Christ." They must be referred back to the main subject of the sentence, "may become effectual." They seem to express the condition on which Christian "fellowship," like all Christian acts, can be quickened with energy, and tend to spiritual progress; namely, that it shall be done as to the Lord. There is perhaps in this appended clause a kind of lingering echo of our Lords own words, in which he accepts as done unto Him the kindly deeds done to the least of His brethren.
So then this great prayer brings out very strongly the goal to which the highest perfection of Christian character has still to aspire. Philemon was no weakling or laggard in the Christian conflict and race. His attainments sent a thrill of thankfulness through the Apostles spirit. But there remained "very much land to be possessed"; and precisely because he had climbed so far, does his friend pray that he may mount still higher, where the sweep of view is wider, and the air clearer still. It is an endless task to bring into conscious possession and exercise all the fulness with which Christ endows His feeblest servant. Not till all that God can give, or rather has given, has been incorporated in the nature and wrought out in the life, is the term reached. This is the true sublime of the Christian life, that it begins with the reception of a strictly infinite gift, and demands immortality as the field for unfolding its worth. Continual progress in all that ennobles the nature, satisfies the heart, and floods the mind with light is the destiny of the Christian soul, and of it alone. Therefore unwearied effort, buoyancy, and hope which no dark memories can dash nor any fears darken should mark their temper, to whom the future offers an absolutely endless and limitless increase in the possession of the infinite God.
There is also brought out in this prayer the value of Christian beneficence as a means of spiritual growth. Philemons "communication of faith" will help him to the knowledge of the fulness of Christ. The reaction of conduct on character and growth in godliness is a familiar idea with Paul, especially in the prison epistles. Thus we read in his prayer for the Colossians, "fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." The faithful carrying out in life of what we already know is not the least important condition of increasing knowledge. If a man does not live up to his religion, his religion shrinks to the level of his life. Unoccupied territory lapses. We hold our spiritual gifts on the terms of using them. The practice of convictions deepens convictions; not that the exercise of Christian graces will make theologians, but it will give larger possession of the knowledge which is life.
While this general principle is abundantly enforced in Scripture and confirmed by experience, the specific form of it here is that the right administration of wealth is a direct means of increasing a Christians possession of the large store treasured in Christ. Every loving thought towards the sorrowful and the needy, every touch of sympathy yielded to, and every kindly, Christlike deed flowing from these, thins away some film of the barriers between the believing soul and a full possession of God, and thus makes it more capable of beholding Him and of rising to communion with Him. The possibilities of wealth lie, not only in the direction of earthly advantages, but in the fact that men may so use it as to secure their being "received into everlasting habitations." Modern evangelical teachers have been afraid to say what Paul ventured to say on this matter, for fear of obscuring the truth which Paul gave his life to preach. Surely they need not be more jealous for the doctrine of "justification by faith" than he was; and if he had no scruples in telling rich men to "lay up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come," by being "ready to communicate," they may safely follow. There is probably no more powerful cause of the comparative feebleness of average English Christianity than the selfish use of money, and no surer means of securing a great increase in the depth and richness of the individual Christian life than the fuller application of Christian principle, that is, of the law of sacrifice, to the administration of property.
The final clause of the verse seems to state the condition on which Philemons good deeds will avail for his own growth in grace, and implies that in him that condition is fulfilled. If a man does deeds of kindness and help to one of these little ones, as "unto Christ," then his beneficence will come back in spiritual blessing on his own head. If they are the result of simple natural compassion, beautiful as it is, they will reinforce it, but have no tendency to strengthen that from which they do not flow. If they are tainted by any self-regard, then they are not charitable deeds at all. What is done for Christ will bring to the doer more of Christ as its consequence and reward. All life, with all its varied forms of endurance and service, comes under this same law, and tends to make more assured and more blessed and more profound the knowledge and grasp of the fulness of Christ, in the measure in which it is directed to Him, and done or suffered for His sake.
III. The present section closes with a very sweet and pathetic representation of the Apostles joy in the character of his friend.
The "for" of Phm_1:7 connects not with the words of petition immediately before, but with "I thank my God" (Phm_1:4), and gives a graceful turn-graceful only because so unforced and true-to the sentence. "My thanks are due to you for your kindness to others, for, though you did not think of it you have done me as much good as you did them." The "love" which gives Paul such "great joy and consolation" is not love directed to himself, but to others; and the reason why it gladdened the Apostle was because it had "refreshed the hearts" of sorrowful and needy saints in Colossae. This tender expression of affectionate joy in Philemons good deeds is made wonderfully emotional by that emphatic "brother" which ends the verse, and by its unusual position in the sentence assumes the character of a sudden, irrepressible shoot of love from Pauls heart towards Philemon, like the quick impulse with which a mother will catch up her child, and cover it with caresses. Paul was never ashamed of showing his tenderness, and it never repels us. These final words suggest the unexpected good which good deeds may do. No man can ever tell how far the blessing of his trivial acts of kindness, or other pieces of Christian conduct, may travel. They may benefit one in material fashion, but the fragrance may reach many others. Philemon little dreamed that his small charity to some suffering brother in Colossae would find its way across the sea, and bring a waft of coolness and refreshing into the hot prison house. Neither Paul nor Philemon dreamed that, made immortal by the word of the former, the same transient act would find its way across the centuries, and would "smell sweet and blossom in the dust" today. Men know not who are their audiences, or who may be spectators of their works; for they are all bound so mystically and closely together, that none can tell how far the vibrations which he sets in motion will thrill. This is true about all deeds, good and bad, and invests them all with solemn importance. The arrow shot travels beyond the archers eye, and may wound where he knows not. The only thing certain about the deed once done is that its irrevocable consequences will reach much farther than the doer dreamed, and that no limits can be set to the subtle influence which, for blessing or harm, it exerts.
Since the diameter of the circle which our acts may fill is unknown and unknowable, the doer who stands at the centre is all the more solemnly bound to make sure of the only thing of which he can make sure, the quality of the influence sent forth; and since his deed may blight or bless so widely, to clarify his motives and guard his doings, that they may bring only good wherever they light.
May we not venture to see shining through the Apostles words the Masters face? "Even as Christ did for us with God the Father," says Luther, "thus also doth St. Paul for Onesimus with Philemon"; and that thought may permissibly be applied to many parts of this letter, to which it gives much beauty. It may not be all fanciful to say that, as Pauls heart was gladdened when he heard of the good deeds done in far off Colossae by a man who "owed to him his own self," so we may believe that Christ is glad and has "great joy in our love" to His servants and in our kindliness, when He beholds the poor work done by the humblest for His sake. He sees and rejoices, and approves when there are none but Himself to know or praise; and at last many, who did lowly service to His friends, will be surprised to hear from His lips the acknowledgment that it was Himself whom they had visited and succoured, and that they had been ministering to the Masters joy when they had only known themselves to be succouring His servants need.
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 4–7. I thank my God. Here he begins to…
4–7. I thank my God. Here he begins to speak directly to Philemon, whom he always mentions in his prayers.
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.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Phm_1:4. I thank my God.—There the apostle carries all…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Phm_1:4. I thank my God.—There the apostle carries all his joys and troubles into the presence of his God.
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Phm_1:5. Hearing of thy love.—Perhaps the bearer of the refreshing news was Epaphras. The love of Philemon is the chief element so far as the immediate purpose of the apostle is concerned. And of the faith.—The explanation of this order generally given is by the figure called chiasmus. In Phm_1:5, “love and faith”; in Phm_1:6-7, “faith and love.” Meyer’s explanation is that faith here means fidelity, and is not to be taken in the dogmatic sense.
Phm_1:6. That the communication of thy faith.—R.V. “fellowship.” Two interpretations of this phrase deserve consideration.
(1) Your friendly offices and sympathies, your kindly deeds of charity which spring from your faith.
(2) Your communion with God through faith. The parallel passages strongly support the former sense (Lightfoot).
Phm_1:7. Because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.—R.V. “hearts.” This letter, short as it is, contains this expression three times. Lightfoot considers the prominent idea to be that of terror, grief, despondency, etc., and the refreshing as a preparation for the renewal of labour or suffering.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Phm_1:4-7
Distinguished Christian Excellence—
I. Is an occasion of thanksgiving and prayer.—“I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers” (Phm_1:4). The frequent expression of the apostle’s thanks and prayers indicates his habitual devoutness of spirit. A prayerful heart is keenly appreciative of the least evidence of Christian excellence, and joyfully thanks God as the Source and Giver of all good. Prayer and gratitude are usually blended together.
II. Manifested in a loving heart (Phm_1:5).—Love, though mentioned first, is really the result of faith, but it is the grace the apostle in this instance wishes to prominently refer to, and to be exercised towards the runaway slave. Love is the essence, the strength, and the ornament of the Christian character. Without love all other graces are cold and inactive.
III. Practically appreciates the best things in the Christian life (Phm_1:6).—The apostle’s prayer for Philemon desires the enlargement of the fellowship of his faith so as to recognise and experience every good thing of which Christ is the source. The germs of all Christian excellencies are planted in the heart when we believe in Christ, but they must be nurtured into growth and expansiveness by exercise and by practical benevolence. In every Christian heart there are the potentialities of all good: every grace is developed by use.
IV. Shown in sympathetic benevolence (Phm_1:7).—Philemon’s good to others, in supplying the wants and cheering the hearts of the saints, was a joy and comfort to the apostle. All our works should be done, as a primal motive, to please God; but it is no small motive to persevere in well-doing, that our good deeds give pleasure to those we esteem and love. “Neither Paul nor Philemon dreamed that, made immortal by the word of the former, the same transient act would find its way across the centuries, and would ‘smell sweet and blossom in the dust’ to-day.”
Lessons.—
1. The Christian life is a life of love.
2. Christianity is practical benevolence.
3. Growth in piety is an occasion of joy to the good.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Phm_1:4. Thanksgiving and Prayer—
I. Are the evidences of a genuine Christian spirit.
II. Should be always united.
III. Act and react upon each other.
IV. Should be constantly cultivated.
V. Are pleasing to God.
Phm_1:5-7. Christian Love—
I. Is the product of a vital faith (Phm_1:5).
II. Is the love of God and man (Phm_1:5)
III. Sees good so far as it sees Christ in everything (Phm_1:6).
IV. Occasions joy to others by its timely and beneficent ministries.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 4-6. Paul testifies to the high Christian character and…
4-6. Paul testifies to the high Christian character and beautiful experience of Philemon, replete with Divine love and faith toward the Lord Jesus.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Phm 1:4-7 {R.V.}.
THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON
II.
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Phm 1:4-7 {R.V.}.
PAUL’S was one of those regal natures to which things arc possible that other men dare not do. No suspicion of weakness attaches to him when he pours out his heart in love, nor any of insincerity when he speaks of his continual prayers for his friends, or when he runs over in praise of his converts. Few men have been able to talk so much of their love without betraying its shallowness and self-consciousness, or of their prayers without exciting a doubt of their manly sincerity. But the Apostle could venture to do these things without being thought either feeble or false, and could unveil his deepest affections and his most secret devotions without provoking either a smile or a shrug.
He has the habit of beginning all his letters with thankful commendations and assurances of a place in his prayers. The exceptions are 2 Corinthians, where he writes under strong and painful emotion, and Galatians, where a vehement accusation of fickleness takes the place of the usual greeting. But these exceptions make the habit more conspicuous. Though this is a habit, it is not a form, but the perfectly simple and natural expression of the moment’s feelings. He begins his letters so, not in order to please, and to say smooth things, but because he feels lovingly, and his heart fills with a pure joy which speaks most fitly in prayer. To recognize good is the way to make good better. Teachers must love if their teaching is to help. The best way to secure the doing of aqy signal act of Christian generosity, such as Paul wished of Philemon, is to show absolute confidence that it will be done, because it is in accordance with what we know of the doer’s character. "It’s a shame to tell Arnold a lie: he always trusts us," the Rugby boys used to say. Nothing could so powerfully have swayed Philemon to grant Paul’s request, as Paul’s graceful mention of his beneficence, which mention is yet by no means conscious diplomacy, but instinctive kindliness.
The words of this section are simple enough, but their order is not altogether clear. They are a good example of the hurry and rush of the Apostle’s style, arising from his impetuosity of nature. His thoughts and feelings come knocking at " the door of his lips " in a crowd, and do not always make their way out in logical order. For instance, he begins here with thankfulness, and that suggests the mention of his prayers, v. 4. Then he gives the occasion of his thankfulness in v. 5, "Hearing of thy love and of the faith which thou hast," etc. He next tells Philemon the subject matter of his prayers in v, 6, "That the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual," etc. These two verses thus correspond to the two clauses of v, 4, and finally in v, 7 he harks back once more to his reasons for thankfulness in Philemon’s love and faith, adding, in a very lovely and pathetic way, that the good deeds done in far off Colossae had wafted a refreshing air to the Roman prison house, and, little as the doer knew it, had been a joy and comfort to the solitary prisoner there.
I. We have, then, here the character of Philemon, which made Paul glad and thankful.
The order of the language is noteworthy. Love is put before faith. The significance of this sequence comes out by contrast with similar expressions in Eph 1:15: "Your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints" {A.V.} and Col 1:4: "Your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have toward all the saints," where the same elements are arranged in the more natural order, corresponding to their logical relation; viz., faith first, and love as its consequence. The reason for the change here is probably that Onesimus and Epaphras, from whom Paul would be likely to hear of Philemon, would enlarge upon his practical benevolence, and would naturally say less about the root than about the sweet and visible fruit. The arrangement then is an echo of the talks which had gladdened the Apostle. Possibly, too, love is put first, because the object of the whole letter is to secure its exercise towards the fugitive slave; and seeing that the Apostle would listen with that purpose in view, each story which was told of Philemon’s kindness to others made the deeper impression on Paul. The order here is the order of analysis, digging down from manifestation to cause: the order in the parallel passages quoted is the order of production ascending from root to flower.
Another peculiarity in the arrangement of the words is that the objects of love and faith are named fn the reverse order to that in which these graces are mentioned, "the Lord Jesus" being first, and "all the saints" last. Thus we have, as it were, "faith towards the Lord Jesus" imbedded in the centre of the verse, while "thy love . . . toward all the saints," which flows from it, wraps it round. The arrangement is like some forms of Hebrew poetical parallelism, in which the first and fourth members correspond, and the second and third, or like the pathetic measure of In Memoriam, and has the same sweet lingering cadence; while it also implies important truths as to the central place in regard to the virtues which knit hearts in soft bonds of love and help, of the faith which finds its sole object in Jesus Christ.
The source and foundation of goodness and nobility of character is faith in Jesus the Lord. That must be buried deep in the soul if tender love toward men is to flow from it It is "the very pulse of the machine." All the pearls ofgoodness are held in solution in faith. Or, to speak, more accurately, faith in Christ gives possession of His life and Spirit, from which all good is unfolded; and it further sets in action strong motives by which to lead to every form of purity and beauty of soul; and, still further, it brings the heart into glad contact with a Divine love which forgives its Onesimuses, and so it cannot but touch the heart into some glad imitation of that love which is its own dearest treasure. So that, for all these and many more reasons, love to men is the truest visible expression, as it is the direct and necessary result, of faith in Christ. What is exhaled from the heart and drawn upwards by the fervors of Christ’s self-sacrificing love is faith; when it falls on earth again, as a sweet rain of pity and tenderness, it is love.
Further, the true object of faith and one phase of its attitude towards that object are brought out in this central clause. We have the two names which express, the one the divinity, the other the humanity of Christ. So the proper object of faith is the whole Christ, in both His natures, the Divine-human Saviour. Christian faith sees the divinity in the humanity, and the humanity around the divinity. A faith which grasps only the manhood is maimed, and indeed has no right to the name. Humanity is not a fit object of trust. It may change; it has limits; it must die. "Cursed be the man that maketh flesh his arm," is as true about faith in a merely human Christ as about faith in any other man. There may be reverence, there may be in some sense love, obedience, imitation; but there should not be, and I see not how there can be, the absolute reliance, the utter dependence, the unconditional submission, which are of the very essence of faith, in the emotions which men cherish towards a human Christ. The Lord Jesus only can evoke these. On the other hand, the far off splendor and stupendous glory of the Divine nature becomes the object of untrembling trust, and draws near enough to be known and loved, when we have it mellowed to our weak eyes by shining through the tempering medium of His humanity.
The preposition here used to define the relation of faith to its object is noteworthy. Faith is "toward" Him. The idea is that of a movement of yearning after an unattained good. And that is one part of the true office of faith. There is in it an element of aspiration, as of the soaring eagle to the sun, or the climbing tendrils to the summit of the supporting stem. In Christ there is always something beyond, which discloses itself the more clearly, the fuller is our present possession of Him. Faith builds upon and rests in the Christ possessed and experienced, and just therefore will it, if it be true, yearn towards the Christ unpossessed. A great reach of flashing glory beyond opens on us, as we round each new headland in that unending voyage. Our faith should and will be an ever increasing fruition of Christ, accompanied with increasing perception of unreached depths in Him, and increasing longing after enlarged possession of His infinite fullness.
Where the centre is such a faith, its circumference and outward expression will be a widely diffused love. That deep and most private emotion of the soul, which is the flight of the lonely spirit to the single Christ, as if these two were alone in the world, does not bar a man off from his kind, but effloresces into the largest and most practical love. When one point of the compasses is struck deeply and firmly into that centre of all things, the other can steadily sweep a wide circle. The widest is not here drawn, but a somewhat narrower, concentric one. The love is "toward all saints." Clearly their relation to Jesus Christ puts all Christians into relation with one another. That was an astounding thought in Philemon’s days, when such high walls separated race from race, the slave from the free, woman from man; but the new faith leaped all barriers, and put a sense of brotherhood into every heart that learned God’s fatherhood in Jesus. The nave of the wheel holds all the spokes in place. The sun makes the system called by its name a unity, though some planets be of giant bulk and swing through a mighty orbit, waited on by obedient satellites, and some be but specks and move through a narrow circle, and some have scarce been seen by human eye. All are one, because all revolve round one sun, though solemn abysses part them, and though no message has ever crossed the gulfs from one to another.
The recognition of the common relation which all who bear the same relation to Christ bear to one another has more formidable difficulties to encounter to-day than it had in these times when the Church had no stereotyped creeds and no stiffened organizations, and when to the flexibility of its youth were added the warmth of new conviction and the joy of a new field for expanding emotions of brotherly kindness. But nothing can absolve from the duty. Creeds separate, Christ unites. The road to "the reunion of Christendom" is through closer union to Jesus Christ. When that is secured, barriers which now keep brethren apart will be leaped, or pulled down, or got rid of somehow. It is of no use to say, "Go to, let us love one another." That will be unreal, mawkish, histrionic. "The faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus" will be the productive cause, as it is the measure, of "thy love toward all the saints."
But the love which is here commended is not a mere feeling, nor does it go off in gushes, however fervid, of eloquent emotion. Clearly Philemon was a benefactor of the brotherhood, and his love did not spend only the paper money of words and promises to pay, but the solid coin of kindly deeds. Practical charity is plainly included in that love of which it had cheered Paul in his imprisonment to hear. Its mention, then, is one step nearer to the object of the letter. Paul conducts his siege of Philemon’s heart skillfully, and opens here a fresh parallel, and creeps a yard or two closer up. "Surely you are not going to shut out one of your own household from that wide-reaching kindness." So much is most delicately hinted, or rather, left to Philemon to infer, by the recognition of his brotherly love. A hint lies in it that there may be a danger of cherishing a cheap and easy charity that reverses the law of gravity, and increases as the square of the distance, having tenderness and smiles for people and Churches which are well out of our road, and frowns for some nearer home. "He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how shall he love" his brother "whom he hath not seen?"
II. In V, 6 we have the apostolic prayer for Philemon, grounded on the tidings of his love and faith.
It is immediately connected with "the prayers" of v, 4 by the introductory "that," which is best understood as introducing the subject matter of the prayer. Whatever then may be the meaning of this supplication, it is a prayer for Philemon, and not for others. That remark disposes of the explanations which widen its scope, contrary, as it seems to me, to the natural understanding of the context.
"The fellowship of thy faith" is capable of more than one meaning. The signification of the principal word and the relation expressed by the preposition may be variously determined. "Fellowship" is more than once used in the sense of sharing material wealth with Christ’s poor, or more harshly and plainly, charitable contribution. So we find it in Rom 15:26 and 2Co 9:13, Adopting that meaning here, the "of" must express, as it often does, the origin of Philemon’s kindly gifts, namely, his faith; and the whole phrase accords with the preceding verse in its view of the genesis of beneficence to the brethren as the result of faith in the Lord.
The Apostle prays that this faith-begotten practical liberality may become efficacious, or may acquire still more power; i.e., may increase in activity, and so may lead to "the knowledge of every good thing that is in us." The interpretation has found extensive support, which takes this as equivalent to a desire that Philemon’s good deeds might lead others, whether enemies or friends, to recognize the beauties of sympathetic goodness in the true Christian character. Such an explanation hopelessly confuses the whole, and does violence to the plain requirements of the context, which limit the prayer to Philemon. It is his "knowledge" of which Paul is thinking. The same profound and prognant word is used here which occurs so frequently in the other epistles of the captivity, and which always means that deep and vital knowledge which knows because it possesses. Usually its object is God as revealed in the great work and person of Christ. Here its object IS the sum total of spiritual blessings, the whole fullness of the gifts given us by, and, at bottom, consisting of, that same Christ dwelling in the heart, who is revealer, because He is communicator, of God. The full, deep knowledge of this manifold and yet one good is no mere theoretical work of the understanding, but is an experience which is only possible to him who enjoys it.
The meaning of the wliole prayer, then, put into feebler and more modern dress is simply that Philemon’s liberality and Christian love may grow more and more, and may help him to a fuller appropriation and experience of the large treasures "which are in us," though in germ and potentiality only, until brought into consciousness by our own Christian growth. The various readings "in us," or "in you" only widen the circle of possessors of these gifts to the whole Church, or narrow it to the believers of Colossae.
There still remain for consideration the last words of the clause, "unto Christ." They must be referred back to the main subject of the sentence, "may become effectual." They seem to express the condition on which Christian "fellowship," like all Christian acts, can be quickened with energy, and tend to spiritual progress; namely, that it shall be done as to the Lord. There is perhaps in this appended clause a kind of lingering echo of our Lord’s own words, in which He accepts as done, unto Him the kindly deeds done to the least of His brethren.
So then this great prayer brings out very strongly the goal to which the highest perfection of Christian character has still to aspire. Philemon was no weakling or laggard in the Christian conflict and race. His attainments sent a thrill of thankfulness through the Apostle’s spirit. But there remained "very much land to be possessed "; and precisely because he had climbed so far, does his friend pray that he may mount still higher, where the sweep of view is wider, and the air clearer still. It is an endless task to bring into conscious possession and exercise all the fullness with which Christ endows His feeblest servant. Not till all that God can give, or rather has given, has been incorporated in the nature and wrought out in the life, is the term reached. This is the true sublime of the Christian life, that it begins with the reception of a strictly infinite gift, and demands immortality as the field for unfolding its worth. Continual progress in all that ennobles the nature, satisfies the heart, and floods the mind with light is the destiny of the Christian soul, and of it alone. Therefore unwearied effort, buoyancy, and hope which no dark memories can dash nor any fears darken should mark their temper, to whom the future offers an absolutely endless and limitless irrcrease in the possession of the infinite God.
There is also brought out in this prayer the value of Christian beneficence as a means of spiritual growth. Philemon’s "communication of faith" will help him to the knowledge of the fulness of Christ. The reaction of conduct on character and growth in godliness is a familiar idea with Paul, especially in the prison epistles. Thus we read in his prayer for the Colossians, "fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." The faithful carrying out in life of what we already know is not the least important condition of increasing knowledge.
If a man does not live up to his religion, his religion shrinks to the level of his life. Unoccupied territory lapses. We hold our spiritual gifts on the terms of using them. The practice of convictions deepens convictions; not that the exercise of Christian graces will make theologians, but it will give larger possession of the knowledge which is life.
While this general principle is abundantly enforced in Scripture and confirmed by experience, the specific form of it here is that the right administration of wealth is a direct means of increasing a Christian’s possession of the large store treasured in Christ. Every loving thought towards the sorrowful and the needy, every touch of sympathy yielded to, and every kindly. Christlike deed flowing from these, thins away some film of the barriers between the believing soul and a full possession of God, and thus makes it more capable of beholding Him and of rising to communion with Him. The possibilities of wealth lie, not only in the direction of earthly advantages, but in the fact that men may so use it as to secure their being " received into everlasting habitations." Modern evangelical teachers have been afraid to say what Paul ventured to say on this matter, for fear of obscuring the truth which Paul gave his life to preach. Surely they need not be more jealous for the doctrine of "justification by faith" than he was; and if he had no scruples in telling rich men to " lay up in store for themselves a good foundation for the time to come," by being ““ready to communicate," they may safely follow. There is probably no more powerful cause of the comparative feebleness of average English Christianity than the selfish use of money, and no surer means of securing a great increase in the depth and richness of the individual Christian life than the fuller application of Christian principle, that is, of the law of sacrifice, to the administration of property.
The final clause of the verse seems to state the condition on which Philemon’s good deeds will avail for his own growth in grace, and implies that in him ‘ that condition is fulfilled. If a man does deeds of kindness and help to one of these little ones, as "unto Christ," then his beneficence will come back in spiritual blessing on his own head. If they are the result of simple natural compassion, beautiful as it is, they will reinforce it, but have no tendency to strengthen that from which they do not flow. If they are tainted by any self-regard, then they are not charitable deeds at all. What is done for Christ will bring to the doer more of Christ as its consequence and reward. All life, with all its varied forms of endurance’ and service, comes under this same law, and tends to make more assured and more blessed and more profound the knowledge and grasp of the fulness of Christ, in the measure in which it is directed to Him, and done or suffered for His sake.
III. The present section closes with a very sweet and pathetic representation of the Apostle’s joy in the character of his friend.
The "for" of v. 7 connects not with the words of petition immediately before, but with "I thank my God" {v. 4}, and gives a graceful turn - graceful only because so unforced and true - to the sentence. "My thanks are due to you for your kindness to others, for, though you did not think of it, you have done me as much good as you did them." The "love which gives Paul such "great joy and consolation" is not love directed to himself, but to others; and the reason why it gladdened the Apostle was because it had "refreshed the hearts" of sorrowful and needy saints in Colossae. This tender expression of affectionate joy in Philemon’s good deeds is made wonderfully emotional by that emphatic " brother " which ends the verse, and by its unusual position in the sentence assumes the character of a sudden, irrepressible shoot of love from Paul’s heart towards Philemon, like the quick impulse with which a mother will catch up her child, and cover it with caresses. Paul was never ashamed of showing his tenderness, and it never repels us.
These final words suggest the unexpected good which good deeds may do. No man can ever tell how far the blessing of his trivial acts of kindness, or other pieces of Christian conduct, may travel. They may benefit one in material fashion, but the fragrance may reach many others. Philemon little dreamed that his small charity to some suffering brother in Colossae would find its way across the sea, and bring a waft of coolness and refreshing into the hot prison house. Neither Paul nor Philemon dreamed that, made immortal by the word of the former, the same transient act would find its way across the centuries, and would "smell sweet and blossom in the dust" today. Men know not who are their audiences, or who may be spectators of their works; for they are all bound so mystically and closely together, that none can tell how far the vibrations which he sets in motion will thrill. This is true about all deeds, good and bad, and invests them all with solemn importance. The arrow shot travels beyond the archer’s eye, and may wound where he knows not. The only thing certain about the deed once done is, that its irrevocable consequences will reach much farther than the doer dreamed, and that no limits can be set to the subtle influence which, for blessing or harm, it exerts.
Since the diameter of the circle which our acts may fill is unknown and unknowable, the doer who stands at the centre is all the more solemnly bound to make sure of the only thing of which he can make sure, the quality of the influence sent forth; and since his deed may blight or bless so widely, to clarify his motives and guard his doings, that they may bring only good wherever they light
May we not venture to see shining through the Apostle’s words the Master’s face? "Even as Christ did for us with God the Father," says Luther, "thus also doth St. Paul for Onesimus with Philemon"; and that thought may permissibly be applied to many parts of this letter, to which it gives much beauty. It may not be all fanciful to say that, as Paul’s heart was gladdened when he heard of the good deeds done in far-off Colossae by a man who "owed to him his own self," so we may believe that Christ is glad and has "great joy in our love" to His servants and in our kindliness, when He beholds the poor work done by the humblest for His sake. He sees and rejoices, and approves when there are none but Himself to know or praise; and at last many, who did lowly service to His friends, will be surprised to hear from His lips the acknowledgment that it was Himself whom they had visited and succoured, and that they had been ministering to the Master’s joy when they had only known themselves to be succouring His servants need.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain Paul’s Thankfulness and Sympathy on Account of Philemon’s Christian…
Paul’s Thankfulness and Sympathy on Account of Philemon’s Christian State.
v. 4. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,
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v. 5. hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
v. 6. that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
v. 7. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
Paul’s may of finding reasons for thankfulness to God is illuminating as to his character and may well serve as an example to all Christians: I thank my God, always making mention of thee in my prayers. The fact that the apostle found so much to be thankful for in the life of Philemon as he knew it, would be sure to make a strong impression upon the latter and incline his heart all the more readily to grant Paul’s request, especially since this appeal was intended to stimulate a further evidence of the proper condition of mind. The apostle was united with his God, with Him whom he knew to be his highest gift, in daily prayer. This prayer included, above all: also thanksgiving for the gifts of grace which had been bestowed upon Philemon, which he could not help but mention. Note: It is a fine and laudable thing for all church-members to live such lives as will stimulate similar prayers of thanksgiving in the hearts of their pastors, just as it is a praiseworthy custom for a pastor to make daily mention of his parishioners in his prayers to his God.
The reason for this grateful prayer Paul now mentions: Hearing of thy love and the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. Whether Onesimus, after his conversion, had come to see many things in a different light than before and accordingly had related these facts to the apostle, or whether the latter had other sources of information, he knew, at any rate, that the report was true. There was evidence before the eyes of all that cared to investigate that Philemon bore in his heart a fervent love toward his Lord Jesus Christ and, in consequence of this, also toward all the brethren, the believers, or saints, as Paul calls them by reason of the fact that they have been consecrated to God by faith and are serving Him in lives of sanctification. This love was the result or outgrowth of faith, in itself a proof of the faith which had been wrought in his heart by the Gospel. The love which lives in the Christian’s heart and finds expression in his life is a proof both to himself and to others that faith has been enkindled in him by God, a fact which should, in turn, prove an incentive to him to nourish this flame with all carefulness.
Having registered the reason for his thankfulness, the apostle now states the content of his prayer: That the communication of thy faith may become effective by the knowledge of every good thing in you toward Christ Jesus. That is Paul’s intercession, that the same faith which lived in Philemon might be communicated to all the other Christians that heard of his example and that the effect of this transmission or communication might serve or help them all to understand all that was good in them toward Jesus Christ. A complete and accurate knowledge, an ever-growing and better understanding of the capabilities for good which faith in Jesus Christ works in the hearts of all believers gives them a calm reliance upon the power of God in them, a cheerful confidence to furnish to the world the outward proof of the faith which lives in them. All this, of course, contributes to the promotion of the cause and work of the Lord here on earth. Even here the apostle’s tactful diplomacy directs the attention of Philemon toward the fulfillment of the appeal which he was about to broach.
To this the apostle adds another ground for his attitude of thanksgiving as noted above: For I had great joy and encouragement on the basis of thy love, because the hearts of the saints are refreshed through thee, brother. The report regarding the excellent state of Philemon’s faith and love filled the apostle with great joy, it gave him much consolation and encouragement, just as similar accounts of their parishioners or experiences in which they figure serve to lighten the burden of faithful pastors in our days. The evidences of the love which lived in the heart of Philemon and was the motive in his work in the congregation were of a nature to relieve, to refresh the hearts of the saints. St. Paul probably has reference to everything that Philemon did for the Colossian Christians that met in his house, in dispensing both temporal and spiritual goods. The appreciation of the great apostle is most strongly brought out in the emphasis upon the word "brother," placed at the end of the sentence. It is by no means an objectionable ruse or a sordid trick to introduce a request to a Christian brother in this manner, provided always the statements that are made are in conformity with the truth. There ought to be more of this frank appeal to the love which lives in the hearts of the Christians by faith.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
The word "us" is plural and refers to Paul, those with him, and all Christians, including the readers. (See: Inclusive "We")
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that the fellowship of your faith
"that your working together with us"
be effective for the knowledge of everything good
"result in knowing what is good"
in Christ
"because of Christ"
the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you
Here "hearts" is a metonym for a person's emotions or inner being. This can be stated in active form. AT: "you have encouraged believers" or "you have helped the believers" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
you, brother
"you, dear brother" or "you, dear friend." Paul called Philemon "brother" because they were both believers and he emphasizing their friendship.
translationWords
pray
faith
love
lord
Jesus
saint
in Christ
joy
heart
brother
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:4-7 In his letters, Paul usually thanks God for…
1:4-7 In his letters, Paul usually thanks God for the faith and love of his readers and mentions his prayers for them (Rom 1:8-12; 1 Cor 1:4-9; 2 Cor 1:3-11; contrast Gal 1:6-10). Ancient Greek letters occasionally included a section of thanksgiving following the greeting.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.