All this month on the blog we’ll be studying the greetings in Paul’s letters to get an idea of what he thought and who he understood Jesus to be. In today’s post, we will look at Paul’s greetings to Philemon.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are all considered the Prison Epistles because they were written during Paul’s imprisonment and subsequent house arrest in Rome. In them, we see Paul label himself an apostle and a servant of Christ Jesus, until, finally, in Philemon, he associates as a prisoner for Christ Jesus.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God …. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1a,3)
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus …. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:1a,2)
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother … Grace to you and peace from God our Father.” (Colossians 1:1,2b)
“Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother … Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philemon 1:1a,3)
In her introductory post, Jamie walks us through Paul’s backstory and conversion. “Once he understood that Jesus is the Messiah, the pieces of God’s redemptive plan, his character of mercy and the gift of grace clicked into place. From that point on Paul’s identity was not in anything he achieved but in knowing Jesus Christ.”
Paul to Philemon
Philemon is a short book in the Bible that gives us insight into both Paul and the slave-master relationship. Philemon himself is praised for his “love and faith … toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints,” “the sharing of [his] faith,” and refreshing “the hearts of the saints,” which brought Paul “much joy and comfort” (v. 5-6). Paul writes to Philemon on behalf of the man’s runaway slave, Onesimus. Not only does Paul want Philemon to send Onesimus back to him to serve him during his “imprisonment for the gospel,” but he also asks for him to take the man’s new standing in Christ into account (v. 13). Once, he was just a slave, but now, under Paul’s tutelage, he has become slave and “beloved brother” (v.16).
In studying just his address to Philemon, we read not only the customary “grace to you and peace” greeting. We also see Philemon called out as Paul’s “beloved fellow worker” (v. 1). Apphia (perhaps Philemon’s wife) and Archippus (perhaps his son) are both mentioned as Believers serving for the sake of the gospel. Attention is also brought to the church meeting in Philemon’s house (praise God!).
Bound because of Jesus
Let’s camp on the phrase “prisoner for Christ Jesus” for a little while, shall we?
This word, desmios, simply means “bound, in bonds, a captive, a prisoner” (Strong’s). It is the same word Paul uses in verse nine when he says to Philemon, “Yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you–I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus.” In Ephesians chapter three, he refers to himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus” (v. 1) and in chapter four “a prisoner for the Lord” (v. 1). We may rightly ask here, “So, what’s the difference?”
Beginning with the latter, what we learn in the Book of Acts is that Paul’s imprisonment is directly caused by his allegiance to Christ. His proclamation of the Good News led to his confinement. This truth that Paul was living out while in chains was meant to compel the church in Ephesus to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1). His status as a prisoner of Rome wasn’t something he lorded over the Ephesian church in a “Look at me! I am so righteous!” sort of way. No, we know Paul thought himself “the very least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:7); rather, it was intended to compel these saints to press deeper into their calling in Christ Jesus.
Bound to Jesus
As mentioned before, Paul’s previous salutations lead with an authorative claim to his apostleship or the profession of his servanthood to the Messiah. Paul’s purpose in this Epistle is to appeal to Philemon to give his consent for Onesimus (whose name means “useful”) to be sent back to Paul to serve him on Philemon’s behalf. It seems Onesimus had become indespensible to and beloved by Paul, indeed, his “very heart” (v. 12). So, “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus,” makes his plea to Philemon (v. 1).
“To be a prisoner simply is no comfort nor honour; but such as Paul was, for the faith and preaching of the gospel, this was true glory, and proper to move Philemon upon the request made to him by such a one. A petition from one suffering for Christ and his gospel would surely be tenderly regarded by a believer and minister of Christ, especially when strengthened too with the concurrence of Timothy ….” –Matthew Henry
Simply put, Paul’s argument was: “Obey me not because I can command you but because I have been without freedom, just as my beloved Onesimus has.” And isn’t that so very similar to Jesus’ plea to us? God has painted His majesty in the stars, He has asserted His authority through the Ten Commandments, and He has shown His mercy through Passover. He demonstrated His grace and individual care through His unmerited favor on Abraham and his descendants. But He exhibited the utmost humility when He was born of a virgin one holy night. When He walked among the poor and the powerful, the sick and the self-righteous, the devoted and the deserters.
Jesus, too, is calling us to obey Him. Not only because He can calm the wind and the waves, turn water into wine, heal the lame, and raise the dead to life. He is calling us to obey because He performed the ultimate act of obedience when He submitted to the Father’s will and gave up His life for us on the cross. We are forever indebted to Him for the new life His blood has purchased for us, and, though He does not ask us to repay Him because it is freely given, we would do well to ask ourselves the question, “How does King Jesus’ submission change how I approach my obedience?” Share your thoughts here in the comments or in our Facebook community.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” (Philemon 1:25)
NOTE: The Book of Philemon addresses the master-slave relationship between a Believer and a recent convert. As much as we long for Paul to cry out against the institution of slavery and label it as evil, he does not. For further reading on this topic, this article might be helpful: “Why doesn’t the Bible condemn slavery? (Ephesians 6:5-9).”
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