Philemon 9
‘Paul, a prisoner of Jesus…, to Philemon…our…fellow-labourer…. I…beseech you, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds…whom I would have retained with me so that in your stead he might have ministered to me in the bonds of the Gospel…. Epaphras my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus salutes you; (and) Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, (and) Lucas my fellow-labourers!’ Philemon 1-24.
Calvin comments: “The sublime quality of Paul’s spirit…is also apparent in this epistle…. He is sending back a runaway slave and thief (Onesimus) to his master (Philemon), and asking that he should be forgiven….
“He (Paul) now calls himself His ‘prisoner’. Because the chains with which he was bound for the sake of the Gospel, were the ornaments or badges of the commission he exercised on Christ’s behalf….
“It is probable that this Philemon held the rank of Pastor. For Paul call him his ‘fellow-worker’ — and that is not a title he usually bestows on a private individual….
“He (Paul) claims the right to command on two grounds. Both because he is ‘the aged’ — and ‘a prisoner of Jesus Christ’….
“‘I beseech you for my child (Onesimus)!’… Note the depths of his condescension, in calling one who is a slave, runaway and thief — his own ‘son’! When he says that Onesimus was ‘begotten’ by him, he means…it is with this act of spiritual regeneration…. Since a soul is made regenerate by faith…, he who ministers doctrine plays the part of a father…. It is, strictly speaking, God Who regenerates by the power of His Spirit…. It shows only how God acts through men…. He (Paul) has ‘begotten’ Onesimus ‘in his bonds’….
“‘(Onesimus) whom I would fain have kept with me!’… Paul would be sending back to him (Philemon), the slave (Onesimus) of those services he himself (Paul) stood in the greatest need…. To have Onesimus sent back to him, would be a welcome gift…. Onesimus was taking his master’s place, in providing this service (to Paul)….
“Paul reminds Philemon that he should not be greatly offended by the flight of his slave (Onesimus), for it had brought about something good…. Paul says that he (Onesimus) was a wanderer for a little, so that by changing his place — he might himself be changed and come back a new man! ‘Epaphras my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus salutes you; and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, (and) Luke — my fellow-workers!’
Paul was an aged prisoner of Jesus Christ! But in his old age, and bonded in jail, he gave life eternal to the runaway slave and thief Onesimus — who became a faithful brother (Colossians 4:9)!
