Authorship. Almost all scholars accept this letter as Pauline; the style and substance are characteristic of Paul.
Slavery and the Setting of Philemon. Like other slave laws, Roman law addressed the dual status of slaves: by nature they were persons, but from an economic standpoint they were treated as property. The head of a household could legally execute his slaves, and they would all be executed if the head of the household were murdered. Slaves composed a large part of the agricultural work force in parts of the empire (e.g., Italy); they competed with free peasants for the same work. The mine slaves had the worst life, dying quickly under the harsh conditions of the mines. Male household slaves generally had life better, though female household slaves (and sometimes boys) were vulnerable to sexual exploitation by slaveholders. Household slaves were the only kind of slaves addressed in Paul’s writings.
But urban slaves were found in all professions and generally had more opportunity for social advancement than free peasants; unlike the vast majority of slaves in the United States and the Caribbean, they were able to work for and achieve freedom, and some estimate that as many as half of household slaves may have had the opportunity to become free at some point in their lives (at least if they lived long enough). Some freed household slaves became independently wealthy; at least in Roman custom, their former holders became their *patrons and were supposed to help them advance in society. Economically, socially, and with regard to freedom to determine their future, many of these male household slaves were better off than average free persons in the Roman Empire; many—scholars commonly say most—free persons were rural peasants working as tenant farmers on the vast estates of wealthy landowners.
Some philosophers said that slaves were equals as people, but in this period they never suggested that masters should free their slaves. (Earlier *Stoics were more radical, but the movement eventually became more mainstream. *Cynics invited prospective followers to abandon everything because they needed nothing, not to free slaves because slavery was wrong.) Nearly everyone took the institution of slavery for granted, except early Stoics who said that it was “against nature.” Paul’s message to Philemon goes beyond other documents of his time in not only pleading for clemency for an escaped slave but suggesting that he be released (to continue working with Paul in ministry) because he is now a Christian. So powerful was this precedent that many of the earliest U.S. slaveholders did not want their slaves to be exposed to Christianity, for fear that they would be compelled to free them; the Christian message had to be domesticated (like early Stoicism) to become neutral or supportive of slavery. Cf. Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).
Slaves, especially skilled or educated males, were often sent on errands and trusted as agents with their masters’ property. Such slaves could sometimes earn enough money on the side to buy their freedom (although their earnings legally belonged to their master, slaves were normally permitted to control the money themselves); still, a few took the opportunity of an errand to escape. Because a safe escape required them to get far away from where their master lived (in the case Paul addresses here, from Phrygia to Rome), they might take some of their master’s money with them. Recapture normally meant severe punishment.
Such theft may be the point of verse 18, but Paul might there account for the possibility that Philemon wants repayment for Onesimus himself. From the standpoint of ancient slaveholders, the lost time of an escaped slave was lost money and was legally viewed as stolen property, to which one harboring him was liable. But more important, slaves themselves were not cheap, and Philemon might have already bought another slave to replace him. Slaves could cost between 750 sesterces (187.5 denarii) and 700,000 sesterces (175,000 denarii), with 2,000 as an average. (Keep in mind that a denarius was close to a day’s wage for many farmers in this period.)
*Old Testament *law required harboring escaped slaves (Deut 23:15-16; contrast Josephus, Jewish War 3.373), but Roman law required Paul to return Onesimus to his master, with serious penalties if he failed to do so. Paul uses his relationship with Philemon to seek Onesimus’s release: in a standard “letter of recommendation,” one would plead with someone of equal (or sometimes lower) status on behalf of someone of lower status. Paul was not Philemon’s equal socially, but as his spiritual father he had grounds to claim the equality that characterized ancient friendship.
Structure and Form. This letter is a “letter of recommendation,” the sort that a *patron wrote to social peers or inferiors on behalf of a dependent *client to ask a favor for him. Some compare it more specifically with a letter that Pliny the Younger later wrote a friend on behalf of an estranged freedman who had pleaded for Pliny’s intercession. Somewhat differently, Pliny allowed that the slaveholder had a right to be angry; the principle of a friend’s intercession, however, is similar. If one classified Paul’s letter *rhetorically, it would be “deliberative rhetoric,” the type of speech or writing educated persons in antiquity used to persuade others to change their behavior or attitudes. Letters were not speeches, but the form of argumentation in speeches can help us appreciate Paul’s approach to persuasion here: his exordium, or opening appeal (vv. 4-7), is followed by the main argument, consisting of proofs (vv. 8-16), which is followed by the peroratio, or summary of his case (vv. 17-22). Paul uses methods of argumentation common in his day to persuade well-to-do and well-educated Philemon, who would find such arguments persuasive. The preservation of the letter suggests that Paul succeeded in persuading Philemon, who would not have kept it and later allowed it to be circulated had he not freed Onesimus. The shortest of Paul’s extant letters, this letter to Philemon would have occupied only a single sheet of papyrus.
Commentaries. See under Colossians; additionally, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Letter to Philemon, AB 34C (New York: Doubleday, 2000). For Paul’s views on slavery, see S. Scott Bartchy, First-Century Slavery and the Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:21, SBLDS 11 (Missoula, MT: Society of Biblical Literature, 1973); compare also Craig S. Keener, Paul, Women and Wives (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1992), pp. 184-224, for some general considerations of Paul’s words to household slaves.
1-3. On house *churches see comment on Acts 12:12 and Romans 16:5. Well-to-do owners of homes in which ancient religious groups met were normally granted positions of honor in those groups, as their *patrons. Ancient writers defined households not by blood relations but by hierarchical relationships: the free man and his wife, children and slaves (though only those with sizable incomes could afford slaves). The addressees are located in Phrygia (cf. Col 4:17). (This location is based on more helpful evidence than the character of the names. Although a much more common Phrygian name than “Philemon,” “Apphia” is also attested elsewhere, including Palestine.) “Fellow soldier” (v. 2) reflects the military imagery common in Paul’s letters (see comment on Rom 13:12; Phil 2:25).
4. Many pious Jews observed times of regular prayer; see comment on Romans 1:10. Thanksgivings were common in letters, and Paul here (vv. 4-7) follows his usual custom of using his thanksgiving the way speakers might use a complimentary exordium. Such exordia were commonly used in speeches to praise the hearers, thus securing their favor.
5-6. The term translated “fellowship” (NASB, GNT) or “sharing” (NRSV) or “partnership” (NIV) was often used for business partnerships or for sharing possessions (see v. 7). Philemon acts as a patron for the church (v. 2).
7. Hospitality was considered a paramount virtue in Greco-Roman antiquity, especially in Judaism. Well-to-do hosts often gathered those one rung below them on the economic ladder, sometimes members of their own religious group, to their home and provided a meal; Philemon and other well-to-do Christians sponsored the meals in their house churches. Mention of a shared friendship between the writer and recipient was a common feature of ancient letters; it was especially important in letters of friendship or when the writer was about to request a favor from the letter’s recipient.
8. Although Philemon has high social status—something particularly valued in his culture—he recognizes Paul’s higher spiritual rank in the faith. Philosophers were often sponsored by such well-to-do persons as lecturers at banquets or teachers, but Paul claims a higher role than a mere philosopher would fill. Philosophers could be *clients of wealthy patrons, but Paul implies that he is Philemon’s spiritual patron here. Philosophers used the expression “what is proper” (NASB; “what you ought to do”—NIV) as a criterion for ethical judgments.
9. *Rhetoricians (those who specialized in public speaking) liked to argue this way: “I could remind you of this, but I won’t”—thus reminding while pretending not to do so. Respect for age was important in his culture, so Paul appeals to his age. (According to one ancient definition, the term Paul uses here [“aged”—KJV, NASB; “old man”—NIV, NRSV] applied to ages forty-nine to fifty-six; but *New Testament writers often use it loosely for anyone no longer “young.” On the basis of other New Testament evidence, Paul may be around fifty-seven, give or take five years.) Shared friendship was also used as the basis for a request; friends were socially obligated to grant and return favors.
10. Teachers often called *disciples “sons.” The point of Paul’s plea is that one could not enslave the son of one’s own spiritual patron. Appeals to emotion were a necessary part of most ancient argumentation.
11. Here Paul makes a wordplay on Onesimus’s name, which means “useful.” It was a common slave name, for obvious reasons. The well-to-do had a stereotype that slaves—explicitly including Phrygian slaves—were lazy and ill-disciplined.
12-14. Slaves were sometimes freed by their masters to become slaves of the temple of some god; here Paul asks that Philemon free Onesimus for the service of the *gospel. He appeals not to his own authority but to Philemon’s honor as a friend. Runaway slaves were known to be fearful of being captured and taken back to their masters, and Paul’s concern for Onesimus is here evident.
15-16. Roman law saw slaves as both people and property; but a full brother would naturally not be viewed as property. The phrase “receive him back” or “have him back” resembles that found in business receipts, but here it is not a property transaction in which Philemon receives Onesimus back as a slave, but like welcoming back a family member. “Parted from you” (NASB) implies the sovereignty of God, a doctrine accepted by Judaism and no doubt assumed by Philemon.
17. “Partner” was often a formal business term (see comment on v. 6). In status-conscious Roman society, Paul is telling a social superior who respects his ministry: we are equals, and if you accept Onesimus as my agent (authorized representative), you must accept him as an equal (see, e.g., comment on Mt 10:40). Ancient letters of recommendation commonly appealed to friends to consider the bearer of the letter “as if he were me” (cf., e.g., Oxyrhynchus papyri 32).
18-19. Here Paul employs language normally used for formally assuming debts; letters acknowledging debt normally included the promise “I will repay” and were signed by the debtor in his own handwriting. Because it is in writing, this offer would be legally binding in the unlikely event that Philemon would take Paul up on it. But Philemon also owes a debt to Paul; again Paul uses the *rhetorical technique of “not to mention” something he then mentions (vv. 8-9). By ancient social custom, friends were bound by the reciprocal obligation of repaying favors; Philemon owes Paul the greatest favor—his “self,” his new life in conversion. Letters of recommendation could urge the recipient to count any favor toward the recommended as a favor toward the recommender (cf. Cicero, Letters to Friends 13.5.3).
20. Compare the “refreshing” of verse 7; Paul asks for the same hospitable character that Philemon shows the church.
21. “Do even more than what I say” (NASB) means that Philemon will free Onesimus (cf. vv. 12-14). Professional speakers often sought favors in such terms: “Knowing your goodness, you will gladly hear me” or “grant me such-and-such a request.”
22-25. Well-to-do patrons offered hospitality, which Paul can expect as Philemon’s spiritual peer. Indeed, providing lodging for prominent guests was regarded as an honor.