David Pawson - Philemon

Copyright “This David Pawson video is the copyright of ©David Pawson Teaching Trust 2020 and is streamed with the permission of the David Pawson Teaching Trust. For a full library of David’s teaching resources please visit www.davidpawson.org”

THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS 13.2.26 BY JOHN DUNNING.

PAUL’s LETTER TO “PHILEMON”.

INTRODUCTION

One day, when Paul was in his rented accommodation under house arrest, he suddenly found himself confronted by a runaway slave. That was serious, as Roman law allowed slave ‘owners’ to crucify slaves who ran away, by arguing that they were treated as property.

-

1). BACKGROUND (to Paul’s letter to Philemon).

This slave had run away from a brand new convert of Paul’s in Colossae.  The name of the owner was Philemon who was the new convert of Paul’s in Colossae. The slave was Onesimus who had run away. 

Following Philemon’s conversion, Paul would have baptised Philemon by believers immersion because that is what he taught. Then Paul would have laid hands on him to receive the Holy Spirit because that is also what he taught must happen after conversion and believer’s baptism... 

That was how Paul would have been invited back to the home of Philemon. We know Paul had been to Philemon’s house as Paul invites himself back to the home of Philemon at the end of this letter. That explains how the slave of Philemon, called Onesimus, must have first met Paul, as Onesimus would have served Paul as one of the jobs of a slave was to wash the feet of guests as they arrived. Onesimus must have become so impressed by Paul and his message that he too wanted what Paul preached. He had seen what his master had responded to. 

This fact is a clue as to how Onesimus came to meet up with Paul. Having learned where Paul was going next he followed him. As he was going absent without leave, he was risking his life as slaves that ran away were crucified. Onesimus could have run away anywhere else but he went to where Paul was staying. That increased the chances of being caught by running away to someone who knew him. This all adds up to him wanting to hear the gospel for himself, as Paul then led Onesimus to Jesus Christ, as his Lord and Saviour. The problem now was, what should Paul tell Onesimus to do?  

a). On the one hand, Paul teaches us in a letter to Timothy that slavery is a terrible sin that endangers the slaver’s soul of hell itself, so he knew it was wrong…

b). On the other hand, if Onesimus had been caught while on the run, his owner had the legal right to have him crucified. So it’s what we would call Catch-22…

-

2). CONTENT... 

Given the circumstances, Paul does the best he can, by making the best of a bad job. 

The bad news for Onesimus is that he tells him he has to go back and face the music for running away. 

However, Paul has a trick up his sleeve… The slave’s master, Philemon, was one of Paul’s converts at Colossae.

He gives Onesimus this letter to take back with him to Philemon. The gift from the church at Philippi, (by Lydia giving where God prompted her), achieved so much more, by enabling Paul to write this letter, and Colossians, and offer to repay any debt he incurred.

Paul appeals to Philemon at every level, in order to get him to forgo his legal right to punish Onesimus severely, from crucifixion down to branding him as a runaway slave, (which was the least punishment.

- Paul appeals to Philemon on the grounds that as Paul is his spiritual father, he too has a debt he owes Paul.

- Paul begs Philemon to treat Onesimus with the same mercy that Jesus Christ had already shown him. 

- Paul says he is coming to pay him a visit soon…

- He writes to Philemon offering to pay whatever the slave may owe, v.18, (probably from the gift from the church at Phillippi, which enabled Paul to be generous, by offering to pay however much money he felt Onesimus owed him.) 

Paul says something like this … 

-

“Philemon, I exhausted myself to bring you the gospel, to show you the way to eternal life. You owe me your life. If you are at all grateful for that, then pay it forward. The debt you owe me for all my efforts, I want you to pay off by having mercy on Onesimus. If Onesimus owes you anything at all, I will pay it myself personally when I visit you soon. 

And now one more thing… 

Onesimus has now found Jesus Christ just as you did, so he is now your brother and will be even more useful to you than he was before. 

What is more, I am an old man now, please don’t add to my grey hair. Please do me this kindness.  And by the way, I am coming to visit you soon.”

-

Well, that’s my paraphrase of Paul’s appeal! Who would not be touched by an appeal like that?

The message of Philemon is one of putting our past right, and forgiving all who ask for it… The storyline would make a great movie backdrop. What God had done for Paul, Paul is doing for this slave. 

So after the conversion of Onesimus, Paul sends him back to his master with this letter asking to have the slave forgiven without incurring any punishment. 

3). EPILOGUE

The relevancy for us is that we were on the run from God and Jesus paid our debt so that we could return to God. What Jesus did for us, we must do for others. 

In the same way that God has forgiven us, we must forgive others. Paul set the example 

by offering to pay Philemon however much Onesimus had cost him, if he would only forgive Onesimus just as God had forgiven him, in Jesus Christ.

-

I once quoted v.15 from this letter when writing to a Portuguese pastor about his wayward son, who had run away from his wife in Portugal, and visited England to stay with me. That son became a Christian whilst staying with me, and I sent him back to Portugal with a letter to his father quoting v.15 from Paul’s letter to Philemon. As the father spoke no English, I wrote using a Bible reference. The student returned to his wife (and parents) and to his law degree studies. That shows how relevant this book still is to us today.

You and I are like Onesimus. We deserve God’s judgement, but in His mercy, God offers forgiveness and reconciliation in exchange for repentance - if we go to Him in repentance and faith. He is a God who loves mercy. Only you can decide how your own story ends… - because Onesimus ended up becoming a pillar in the church, which we discover from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, where “Onesimus” is mentioned (4:9) as a ‘dear and faithful follower’; which hints he was given his freedom, and which we will study next…

Do share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

If you’re not yet a member, simply join up and support us! 

---------  Click HERE for our previous posts  --------

Inspirational Radio… 

We have launched our new online discipleship ‘radio’ station…. which is streamed from our new website:-  https://InternetChristianRadio.com/

Our new website station “Inspirational Media Radio”, has hour-long Bible readings, David Pawson sermons, testimonies, and classic hymns. Just follow the website links. 

PS: In order to cut costs, our office has needed to move to being more of a part time service provider, so bear with us if there is a time lag in our responsiveness. If you wish to help sustain us, Memberships help us and enables you to have substantial benefits all round: