Opening Prayer
Father, we cannot help but praise you for Jesus Christ. Even during this last week, we can look back and see how he has brought us through and all the wonderful things he has done for us. And if we have done wrong this week, it was because we forgot that he was there and tried to live without him — tried to make our own decisions without seeking his mind, tried to fight our own battles in our own strength. We confess now that we have failed and that we need him every hour of every day.
We thank you that there is no need that he cannot meet, that there is no situation of which he is not master, that there is no sorrow too deep for the comfort of his love, that there is no temptation too great that it cannot be conquered in his strength, that there is no sin so great that it cannot be washed whiter than snow by his blood.
And so we praise you for giving us your Son — his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his return, and the place that he is preparing for us now. Father, may this day be an anticipation of heavenly glory. Grant that your word may speak to every one of us in simple, unmistakable tones. Amen.
The Text of Philemon
Philemon is not easy to find — it is only a single page. Working backwards from the end of your Bible: Revelation, then the short letters of Peter, John and James, then the large book of Hebrews, and next is Philemon. Just a little personal letter. You might at first wonder why it is in the Bible.
From Paul in jail for preaching the good news about Jesus Christ, and from Brother Timothy. To Philemon, our much-loved fellow worker, and to the church that meets in your home, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus, who like myself is a soldier of the cross. May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you his blessings and his peace.
I always thank God when I am praying for you, dear Philemon, because I keep hearing of your love and trust in the Lord Jesus and in his people. I pray that as you share your faith with others it will grip their lives too, as they see the wealth of good things in you that come from Christ Jesus. I myself have gained much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because your kindness has so often refreshed the hearts of God’s people.
Now I want to ask a favour of you. I could demand it of you in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do, but I love you and prefer just to ask you. I, Paul, an old man now, here in jail for the sake of Jesus Christ — my plea is that you show kindness to my child Onesimus, whom I won to the Lord while here in my chains, and I will send him back to you. Onesimus, whose name means ‘useful,’ has not been of much use to you in the past, but now he is going to be of real use to both of us.
I am sending him back to you, and with him comes my own heart. I really wanted to keep him here with me while I am in these chains for preaching the good news — and you would have been helping me through him — but I did not want to do it without your consent. I did not want you to be kind because you had to, but because you wanted to. Perhaps you could think of it this way: that he ran away from you for a little while, so that now he can be yours forever — no longer only a slave, but something much better, a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you too, because he is not only a servant but also your brother in Christ.
If he has harmed you in any way or stolen anything from you, charge it to me. I, Paul, personally guarantee this by writing it here with my own hand. But I will not mention how much you owe me — the fact is you owe me your very soul. Yes, dear brother, give me joy with this loving act, and my weary heart will praise the Lord.
I have written to you because I am positive that you will do what I ask, and even more. Please keep your guest room ready for me, for I am hoping that God will answer your prayers and let me come to you soon. The blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon your spirit. Paul.
Introduction: The Bible’s Unlikely Origins
One of the most surprising things about the Bible is that no one intended to write it. It is a collection of songs, poems, hymns, letters, and historical records — forty writers, writing in three languages over fourteen centuries — none of whom realised they were contributing to a single book.
This is especially true of the letters of the New Testament. Most were written to churches and are somewhat formal and theological. But scattered among them are letters from one Christian to another — personal correspondence. God has selected these letters and declared: this is my truth; this is the medium through which my Spirit will teach people right to the end of time.
And so we have this little letter, hastily written by Paul and sent by runner to the town where Philemon lived. Pawson approaches it at three different levels, showing that you can go deeper and deeper into the Word of God and find more and more in it.
Level 1: The Personal Approach
The first level is the personal — getting into the letter and seeing the people involved as real men and women of flesh and blood, with temptations, passions and weaknesses just like us, and seeing how the grace of God can take very ordinary people and transform them. There are three people at the heart of this letter: Paul the writer, Philemon the reader, and Onesimus — the man about whom the whole letter is written.
Paul the Writer
The man who wrote this letter is completely different from the man we first encounter in Acts — breathing threats, seeking the blood of Christians, throwing them into jail. Here is a man pleading that a runaway slave be let off; a man who was harsh and cruel, now loving, kind, gentle and peaceful. What happened?
He has got older — between 55 and 60. But age alone does not soften a man. He has also suffered greatly, but suffering is not always a softener either. The real answer is this: Paul has been a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for thirty years. He has been chained to Jesus. And if you live with someone at close quarters, you will inevitably become like them. Paul, having been chained to Christ for thirty years, has taken on Christ’s character.
Four notes sound clearly in this little letter: gratitude — an old man in jail is thankful; joy — vivid and exuberant, despite his circumstances; confidence — ‘get your guest room ready, I am praying I will get out of this jail’; and humility — ‘I could demand this of you, but I do not. I ask you.’ The man who once stalked the Damascus road throwing his weight around will not even use his apostolic authority to issue an order.
Nor is Paul confined in his activity. He prays constantly — and you cannot stop a man praying. His prayer breaks out of that jail and changes people. And he is still doing evangelism: ‘I have had a child, Philemon — in my old age.’ You cannot stop a man of God having children; there is reproductive life in him.
Onesimus the Runaway Slave
His name means ‘useful’ — a slave name, given by his owner in hope (as it turned out, initially a false hope) that he would prove a good servant. He ran away and, like all runaway slaves, headed for the vast metropolis of Rome to lose himself in the crowd.
Nobody knows how a runaway slave hiding in the back streets of Rome found his way into the jail where Paul lay in chains. But they met. And when Onesimus told Paul his story and named his master, one of the most remarkable coincidences in the New Testament took place: Paul knew Philemon. He was another Christian. And so there was only one thing to do: Onesimus had to go back. Paul gave him this covering letter to soften the reception.
According to the letter, this man is now genuinely useful — industrious, loyal, beloved. You will not be merely getting a slave back; you will be getting someone you will love. A very different person from the one who ran away.
Philemon the Reader
Reading between the lines, Philemon was a wealthy man — a successful businessman with a large house and many slaves, the kind of person who could easily have been corrupted and possessed by his possessions. And yet Jesus has made him a man of love and generosity, whose kindness thrills people’s hearts.
The conclusion of this first level: God can change anyone. Whether intellectual, runaway slave, or prosperous businessman — when Jesus gets hold of you, he turns you into someone attractive, helpful, and loving.
Three Difficult Things
The result of all this transformation is that each of these three people was prepared to do something hard — something against their natural inclinations. For Paul, it was very hard to let Onesimus go. For Onesimus, it was harder still to go back voluntarily into slavery. For Philemon, it was very hard to receive back a man who had been useless and disloyal. Yet because Jesus had touched all three, they did the right thing even when it was difficult.
One tradition suggests that twenty years later there was an elder of the church in that very town called Onesimus. Did the runaway slave become the pastor of the congregation? The very fact that Paul’s letter survived tells us it worked — a failed letter would never have been preserved.
Level 2: The Social Approach
Going deeper, this letter speaks directly to the greatest social evil of its day: slavery. In the Roman Empire, one in every three people was a slave — sixty million human beings bought and sold like cattle, with no rights whatsoever. Their master could kill them and it was not a crime.
Paul has been criticised for sending Onesimus back and for writing elsewhere, ‘slaves, be obedient to your masters.’ Was he simply supporting the system? Look more closely. Paul did two things that would ultimately crack the institution of slavery from the inside.
First: he loved the slave. You cannot go on ill-treating a person you love. Second: he declared the slave a beloved brother. That is the new wine that would burst the old bottle. In Christ there is neither bond nor free — every Christian is equally a slave of Jesus Christ, and that obliterates the distinction.
Paul lacked two things necessary to change a social injustice by direct action: political opportunity and the support of public opinion. What he did was inject love into the situation — slowly, surely — until people began to see people as people. Centuries later, when the political opportunity and public opinion finally existed, it was this little letter that inspired William Wilberforce.
The Christian way to attack social injustice is to get into the situation like leaven in the lump, like salt, like light — and inject love until people begin to see people as people. Then the injustice is smashed, not by violence, but by love. And whatever social injustice we face today, that remains the pattern.
Level 3: The Spiritual Approach
Going even deeper: in the behaviour of these men we see the pattern of Christianity itself — the pattern of Christ. The whole New Testament rests on the assumption that the pattern of Christ’s ministry to us is to be reflected in our lives toward each other. And that means you can read backwards from Christian behaviour to Christ.
A Picture of Sin
What is sin? It is to be a runaway slave. When God made us, he made us to serve him with our whole lives. Yet we are all in the position of runaway servants. We have not given God what he should have had from us. At our very best we are unprofitable servants. And like Onesimus, we have stolen: stolen the time God gave us, stolen the money he gave us, stolen the gifts he gave us and used them for ourselves.
The Punishment That Is Due
The most merciful punishment for a runaway slave in the Roman world was to brand his forehead with the letter F — for fugitivus— which he would bear for life. But the normal punishment was death by crucifixion. That, Pawson says plainly, is God’s punishment for runaway sinners. It is a crime deserving death.
The Pattern of Salvation
The Debt Paid.Paul says: ‘If he owes you anything, charge it to me. I will pay it back — I sign it with my own hand.’ In the ancient world, a debt was made public by nailing a parchment in the marketplace. If a friend was prepared to pay, he would fold the bond over, drive a nail through it, and sign his own name. The debt was cancelled. Paul quotes this image in Colossians 2:14: Christ has taken the bond written against us and nailed it to the cross. Jesus has written his own name across our debt to God and said: paid.
The Plea for Forgiveness.Paul not only offers to pay — he pleads with Philemon to forgive. And so we not only have someone to pay our debt to God; we have someone to plead: someone to say to God on our behalf, ‘Father, forgive him.’ Jesus says to the Father about everyone who believes in him: receive them as myself.
Receive Him as Myself.‘Welcome this man as if I were coming to you,’ Paul says to Philemon. And Jesus says to God about every believer: ‘Father, welcome them as if I were coming to you.’
Justification and Sanctification
Justification — A Change of Status. The slave became a son. When you come to Christ, you the slave of sin become a son of God — no longer a servant but a member of the family. Onesimus came back not as a slave but as a beloved brother. That is a change of status.
Sanctification — A Change of State. From useless to useful. When we become Christians we are justified — the slave becomes a son. But the ongoing process of sanctification changes us from useless creatures to useful people of God. Salvation: get your status right, and then have your state changed to match it.
Away for a Little While, Yours Forever
Pawson ends with the loveliest phrase in the letter: ‘Perhaps you could think of it this way — that he ran away from you for a little while, so that now he can be yours forever.’ And to anyone returning to God: you can come back to him forever, as a beloved son — serving him not because you have to, but because you want to.
Closing Prayer
Father, what a lovely little letter this is. How you speak to us through your word. We look forward to meeting Paul and Philemon and Onesimus one day in heaven — for we thank you that they are not dead but alive in the Lord. Father, help us to take the love of Jesus into our social life, into the community. Help us to treat people as people for the sake of Jesus who died for them. Help us to be living epistles, known and read of all men — help them to read the same thing in us that we have been able to read in this letter. May your word become reality in our lives and character. We ask it for the sake of the one who made us his slaves, and yet set us free and called us sons — even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
© David Pawson Ministry CIO
Listen to the original teaching at davidpawson.co.uk
© David Pawson Ministry — Transcript prepared for Koinonia.nu | koinonia.nu