Introduction to Philemon
Authorship: Paul
Section titled “Authorship: Paul”- Paul’s autographic subscription (v 19)
- Co-sender: Timothy
Date: AD 61–62
Section titled “Date: AD 61–62”During Paul’s 1st Roman imprisonment.
Place of writing
Section titled “Place of writing”As one of the Prison Epistles, it was written while under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:16, 30)
- “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus” (vv 1, 10)
- “My imprisonment for the gospel” (v 13)
Addressees
Section titled “Addressees”Philemon (a slave-owner), Apphia, Archippus, and the church that met in Philemon’s house.
Purpose
Section titled “Purpose”- One of Philemon’s slaves (Onesimus) stole some money from Philemon and fled to Rome; somehow met Paul in Rome and became a Christian through Paul’s ministry (v 10); attended to Paul’s physical needs in prison.
- Paul would have liked to keep Onesimus but wrote this letter to send him back to his master.
- Paul hints that he would like Philemon to give Onesimus his freedom (manumission). He does not command Philemon to do this, but rather appeals to him “for love’s sake” (vv 8-10), “in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord” (v 14).
Outline
Section titled “Outline”- 1-7: Letter opening
- 8-22: Letter body—Paul’s appeal on behalf of Onesimus
- 23-25: Letter closing
Key Contribution
Section titled “Key Contribution”“No longer as a slave but more than a slave—as a beloved brother” (v 16). “What this letter does is to bring us into an atmosphere in which the institution [of slavery] could only wilt and die … Formal emancipation would be but a matter of expediency, the technical confirmation of the new relationship that had already come into being” (F. F. Bruce).