Philemon
by S. M. Baugh
COLOSSE
The unexcavated tel.
Important Facts:
■ AUTHOR: The apostle Paul.
■ DATE: About A.D. 60/61 (during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment).
■ VENUES: Paul is probably in prison in Rome writing to Philemon at Colosse.
■ OCCASION:
• To reconcile Philemon with his slave, Onesimus.
• To tell of Paul’s news to his fellow workers and to the church in Philemon’s house.
The Setting of Philemon
Philemon is the briefest of Paul’s letters, consisting of only twenty-five verses. It is unlike Paul’s other correspondence in that it is a private letter to an individual and to a house church. The closest equivalent is the letter to Titus, though even that has more general instructions for the benefit of others. There is no real objection to the genuineness of Pauline authorship, and the letter itself has been accepted as canonical from the earliest period, although it was not often cited in early Christian literature. The private nature of the subject matter makes the lack of citation of Philemon understandable.
A few scholars believe that Archippus (v. 2) was the addressee and owner of Onesimus, but this has not seemed likely to most. Philemon, by being addressed first in verse 1, is evidently the addressee and owner of Onesimus, and it was in his house that the church met (v. 2). An early tradition held that Apphia was the wife of Philemon and that Archippus was their son. This is a natural reading of verse 2, but it cannot be substantiated beyond this. Because of connections between Philemon and the situation and people mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, it is possible that Philemon was a resident of Colosse and that both Philemon and Colossians were written at roughly the same time. Because of this, commentaries on Philemon are often included with ones on the book of Colossians.1
The Occasion of Philemon
Paul was in prison when he wrote to Philemon (vv. 1 and 9); however, he hoped to be released and to stay with Philemon in the near future (see comments on v. 22). The occasion for this letter was the return of the slave Onesimus to his master; this is obvious enough in the letter. However, how the slave Onesimus of Colosse fell in with Paul in custody in Rome—halfway across the Mediterranean—is a problem. Some have proposed that Onesimus was sent to Paul by Philemon, then he somehow got into trouble with his master and needed restoring. But the letter seems more likely to suggest that Onesimus is a runaway slave. But if Onesimus were a runaway, why would he link up with Paul? It appears from verse 10 that Onesimus was not a Christian when he first met Paul. But how could Onesimus come across Paul when he was in custody? Was Onesimus captured by the Roman authorities as a runaway? If that were the case, how could he, a prisoner, link up with Paul who was also in custody? All these issues have led most scholars to say that “somehow” Onesimus came into contact with Paul in Rome.
COLOSSE AND EPHESUS
Colosse was about 100 miles due east of Ephesus.
A recent suggestion, however, provides a compelling solution to the problem of Onesimus’s contact with Paul.2 Onesimus did not just run away from Philemon, but he ran away to Paul in order to secure Paul’s aid in restoring him to his master’s good graces for some reason. When a slave fell into his master’s extreme disfavor, it could go very badly for him. In such cases, the slave had nothing but dismal prospects. In some cases they ran to one of their master’s friends to beg his intercession (see comments below for examples). This scenario well explains how Onesimus could have met up with Paul: He sought him out. It also explains why Paul writes to secure Philemon’s reconciliation with Onesimus and why Paul, not the Roman authorities, was sending Onesimus back to Philemon if he were a runaway. This will be the background assumed in my comments below.
SLAVE DOCUMENT
A first-century papyrus document recording the purchase of two slaves.