Articles
Philemon 19-22, 25
In this article, we will be nearly finishing the letter of Paul to Philemon. There will be one more article about the people mentioned in V22-23, who were with Paul as he wrote this letter. I hope throughout these articles you have enjoyed the study of Philemon as I have. Just to recap this letter to Philemon, we have found a godly man being appealed to by the apostle Paul to take back his runa-way slave with love and the runaway slave’s name was Onesimus. Onesimus has become a Christian in his time away from Philemon and now they are brothers in Christ, and they are to treat each other as such. Paul has great care for both of these men and wants God to be glorified in this situation.
In verse 19, we see Paul acknowledge the fact that he wrote this letter with his own hand. This is something that Paul acknowl-edges that he does in other letters as well, as seen in 1st Corinthians 16:21, Galatians 6:11, Colossians 4:18, and 2nd Thessaloni-ans 3:17. Why does Paul say this in Phile-mon? We see in 2nd Thessalonians 3:17 that Paul wrote in a unique way. This verse says, “I Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write.” So certainly, there is a piece to the fact that Paul wrote uniquely. I think the safest conclusion on why he says this in this letter is as always, the context. The beginning of verse 19 has Paul mentioning that he has written this letter with his own hand. The rest of this verse speaks on how Paul will repay any wrong or loss that Onesimus has caused Philemon. By Paul saying this in the midst of talking about how he would repay, I believe Paul is showing his security and certainty in that he would repay Phile-mon if needed. Paul took time to write this letter to him and would take time to repay him. This doesn’t mean a book such as Romans, which is noted to have been penned by someone else named Terti-us (Romans 16:22), is of less importance. It simply means that Paul felt it necessary to write this letter with his own hand and let Phile-mon know that, as it was important to for Philemon to know in Paul’s mind.
Paul doubles down on what he said back in verse 18, in the fact he will repay any wrong or charge caused on Philemon by the actions of Onesimus. Paul tells Philemon that he even owes himself to Paul. Paul clearly had a great impact on Philemon and these verses give me the idea of the fact Paul has done so much for Philemon and this is little in comparison. In verse 20, we see Paul desiring to bene-fit from Philemon in the Lord. Paul wants to grow and benefit from Philemon’s righteousness and service to God. A benefit that Paul is seeking from Philemon is the refreshing of Paul’s heart by Phile-mon’s actions. We read back in verse 7, how Philemon had given Paul great joy and comfort due to Philemon’s efforts in refreshing the hearts of the saints. Paul is requesting that same thing for him-self now, and for it to come through the choice that Philemon is going to have to make as Onesimus returns.
Paul doesn’t have any doubts in Philemon doing what’s proper. He says in verse 21 that he has confidence in Philemon’s obedience, and that he knows Philemon will do even more than what Paul says to do. Yet again, we see the great character of Philemon. Philemon’s service to God wasn’t of doing the bare minimum, but doing all he could to help serve God’s people and God. This verse isn’t say-ing that Philemon acts beyond what Paul is writing or what the Scrip-tures say, but that Paul is confident Philemon will do what Paul re-quests and do even more in a godly way. Paul also has another re-quest to make of Philemon. He asks Philemon to prepare a guest room for him, as Paul hopes that Philemon’s prayers will be an-swered, and he will be given to Philemon. Paul wants to see Phile-mon and have fellowship with him. In application, do we have the desire to be with our brethren? Hopefully we do because our breth-ren have the same and most important goals that we do, being to serve God and make it to heaven where He is and be there for eterni-ty as He has promised.
Jumping down to verse 25, as there will be an separate article written about verses 23-24 at a later date, we see Paul end this letter to Philemon by wishing him grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with his spirit. This is the way Paul ends all of his writings like this. The He-brew Writer ends Hebrews like this, and John also ends Revelation like this as well. What a great thing to wish the grace of Jesus to be with someone! If you remember the start of this letter and the start of many of the New Testament books, there is a mention of grace being wished on the recipients. Grace is the gift of God and without it there is no opportunity for salvation. We could live close to perfect lives but that wouldn’t matter without grace. We all are in need of God’s grace and what a blessing it is to have it. Ephesians 1:8 tells us that God didn’t just give us His grace but He “lavished” it on us. What a great God we serve! May we also have the same heart in wanting grace to be with each other. Perhaps that’s something we should start saying to one another, as I can’t remember a time anyone has said grace be with you to me, and I don’t think I’ve ever said that to anyone. So as we bring this article to a close, may
