Favors.
Have you ever asked someone for a favor? Maybe you felt someone owed you a favor? You’ll be more likely to get what you want if you ask the right way.
Paul wanted a special favor from a Christian friend named Philemon. A slave of Philemon’s named Onesimus had stolen Philemon’s property and run away. Later Onesimus met Paul in prison and became a Christian. In this letter Paul asks Philemon to welcome back his returning slave as a Christian brother.
A Gentle Reminder Will Do
• See Philemon 8–11
Stunning Transformations Happen
• Slave becomes brother, reports Philemon 15–16
Preview
• Paul writes four letters while in prison in Rome. Philemon is one of them.
• Onesimus is a runaway slave who has become a Christian.
• Many slaves at this time have better food and housing than those who are free.
As Paul writes, half the population of most cities in the Roman Empire are slaves. So many owners free their slaves that the government levies a tax of five percent of each freed slave’s value.