Free At Last

The scriptures referred to are the book of Philemon.

I remember when computers were first introduced into the workplace, in my case, the hospital where I worked in the early 1980s. They had a black screen with green letters and you could order a limited number of supplies or tests by using a lightpen to click boxes. My children remember us getting a computer for the home in the 1990s as a present from my mother. My grandkids have never known a world without computers. They take them for granted. They are considered digital natives.

If you were living throughout most of history you would never know a time when slavery did not exist. It was universal since roughly the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution 11,000 years ago. A person could become a slave to pay off a debt, as punishment for a crime, as a prisoner of war, as a child abandoned by poor parents, or by being born to slaves. It is estimated that in the first century AD approximately 1/3 of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves. As the Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says, “Slavery in the Roman Empire was not ethnically based; the Romans were happy to enslave anyone.” And if you lived back then, you would have taken the institution of slavery for granted. (Sadly, it still exists in parts of the world.)

Some forms of slavery were death sentences, like working in the mines or being a gladiator. Some forms of slavery meant a life of hard labor, such as working on a farm. Some forms of slavery were a bit better, such as being a household slave, provided your master did not sexually abuse you. They could do even worse. Your master could have you tortured to extract information from you, have you beaten for disobedience, and even have you killed, especially if you tried to run away or if you stole from him. In fact, he could have you crucified. That form of execution was primarily used as a punishment for those who rebelled against the empire and for slaves.

That's what makes Paul's letter to Philemon such a remarkable document. Philemon was a friend who had been converted to Christianity by Paul. Philemon had a church meet in his house. (There wouldn't be any church buildings until after Christianity was legalized in the early 300s by Constantine.) Paul is writing to Philemon because he had a problem. He had also converted a man named Onesimus, who helped him in his ministry. Then he found out that Onesimus was a runaway slave. In fact he was Philemon's slave and apparently he had stolen money from him. Paul's dilemma is this: According to the Torah, if you found a runaway slave you were not supposed to give him back. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 says, “You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.” But Roman law said a runaway slave must be returned. What was Paul to do?

Paul is a prisoner at the time he writes the letter. He may have been in Rome, waiting to plead his case before Nero. So he can't plead Onesimus' case in person. Instead he sends this message in the form of a letter of recommendation. Usually this was sent to someone of equal or lower status, pleading the case of a person of lower rank. The person being recommended was to be treated as a representative of the writer of the letter. But you wouldn't write such a letter about a slave! And Paul is not Philemon's equal or superior, either socially or economically. So Paul reminds him that he is the man who brought Philemon to Christ. Paul is like a spiritual father to him.

As such Paul rather diplomatically asks Philemon to do him a favor. Paul says that he could be “bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.” Paul is not above playing the sympathy card. Because Paul has no legal basis for asking Philemon to do what he wants him to do.

Paul continues, “I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.” Paul is calling the slave his son because he has become Onesimus' spiritual father as well. The implications of his saying that will come out a bit later.

Paul writes “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me.” Paul is making a play on words here. The name Onesimus means “useful.”

“I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.” Remember, legally Paul has to do this. And notice again the emotional language Paul is using, calling Onesimus “my own heart.”

“I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel...” This is what Paul wants but cannot legally demand. He said earlier he could have commanded Philemon in Christ to do this “but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.” Love asks consent. It may try to persuade but it doesn't force people to do things. That's why Jesus gives us a choice of whether we want to change our minds and lives and follow him.

Paul then wonders if the reason that Onesimus ran away was “so that you may have him back forever, no longer a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” How is Philemon getting Onesimus back forever? As a brother. Here's where Paul being a spiritual father to both Philemon and Onesimus becomes relevant. As Christians, they are now brothers. Paul even includes himself as a brother to both men. Though Paul wants Philemon to send Onesimus back to help in his ministry, they will be brothers forever in Christ.

“So if you consider me your partner...” Paul is using a business term here. Paul is planting churches; Philemon is hosting a church in his house; they are both serving Jesus Christ. Paul continues “...welcome him as you would welcome me.” Philemon is to welcome his own slave as if he were Paul. Paul expects him to treat Onesimus as he would the man who brought him to Christ. This will take humility on Philemon's part.

Paul continues, “If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.” This is why many commentators think that Onesimus stole money from his master. And even if he didn't, slaves cost a lot. They were worth anywhere from hundreds to thousands of what the average person would make in a day. The average cost of a slave was 2000 denarii, or 2000 days' wages. Losing a slave was losing money.

And Paul is not just saying he owes Philemon this debt metaphorically. He goes on and says, “I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it.” By putting it in writing, Paul is making the debt legally his. Philemon could take Paul to court and demand the money.

As an aside, let's note that Paul didn't actually write his letters himself. He dictated them. In some cases we know who actually wrote his words down. (Romans 16:22) In others he includes a sentence written by his own hand to authenticate that it is a letter from him or to send a personal greeting. (1 Corinthians 16:21; Galatians 6:11; Colossians 4:18; 2 Thessalonians 3:17) I think he had ongoing vision problems. (Galatians 4:13-15) But Paul cares enough about Onesimus that he personally writes that he is taking on the slave's debt to his master.

But Paul adds, “I say nothing about you owing me even your own self.” If it hadn't been for Paul, Philemon would not have heard the gospel. Paul may owe Philemon money but Philemon owes Paul his new life in Christ.

Paul then says, “Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord!” Paul is again hinting that he wants Philemon to return Onesimus to him.

“Refresh my heart in Christ.” Paul is again engaging in word play. He called Onesimus “my own heart.” How can Philemon refresh Onesimus?

Paul says, “Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.” What is more than Paul is saying? The most obvious thing is for Philemon to not just refrain from punishing his slave and send him back to Paul but to free Onesimus. Legally Paul cannot demand this but he is basically arguing that Philemon should emancipate his new brother in Christ, so that he is a freeman, who can serve Jesus through continuing his work with Paul.

Paul has been criticized for not calling for the abolition of all slavery. But no one at that time was. The early Stoics did but then toned down their rhetoric on the topic as they became mainstream. The Essenes were for freeing slaves but not because of opposition to the institution. They wanted their monk-like disciples to give up all personal possessions when they came to live in their commune in the desert. They also encouraged their followers to give up their wives. But no one called for slave revolts, which were more common than you'd think and which the Romans viciously put down.

So Paul approached slavery in a different way. For instance, it is interesting how Paul subverted the household codes that were common back then. These were written to elite men on how to run their household. Paul uses these codes of conduct, however, to address not just men but their wives, children and slaves. Yes, he tells wives to submit to their husbands as part of the mutual submission all Christians should do to each other. He also tells husbands that they should love their wives, something no pagan would tell a man was his duty. Moreover they should love their wives like Christ loved the church—enough to die for her! He told children to obey their parents but also told fathers not to exasperate their children, again something unheard of in a culture where a father could legally kill disobedient children. He told slaves to obey their masters but told those masters to treat their slaves well. Specifically he says, “Masters, treat your slaves the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.” (Ephesians 5:21- 6:9) Perhaps Paul was thinking of the passage where Job says, “If I denied justice to my male and female slaves when they had a grievance against me, what will I do when God confronts me? What will I answer when called to account? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?” (Job 31:13-15) Paul famously wrote “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) And though he told Christians to retain the place in life in which God put them, he did say to slaves that if they could gain their freedom, they should do so. (1 Corinthians 7:21)

In fact, so much of the Bible does not justify slavery that an edited version of the scriptures was created in 1807 for use with slaves. This so-called Slave Bible removed 90% of the Old Testament and more than 50% of the New Testament. It was used by missionaries to convert and educate enslaved peoples and so it omitted all references to freedom and escape from slavery while emphasizing loyalty and submission to masters. You wouldn't be able to find most of the verses in this sermon in it, including the entire letter to Philemon.

What did Philemon do? I don't think you need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that he must have freed Onesimus and sent him to Paul. If not, he would have destroyed the letter, and not shared it with his church and let them make copies to share with other churches around the empire, which is the reason we have it today. As evidence, in Paul's letter to the Colossians he says, about a fellow Christian named Tychicus, “I sent him with Onesimus, the faithful and dear brother, who is one of you.” (Colossians 4:9) Philemon was a member of the church at Colosse.

Perhaps because of the letter to Philemon, Christians became known for freeing their slaves and even making some of them bishops. And Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch who was martyred in Rome, mentioned that in the late first century there was a bishop of Ephesus, the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire, whose name was Onesimus. He said he was the same Onesimus for whom Paul pleaded and to whom Philemon gave freedom and whom he welcomed as a new brother in Christ.