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Philemon (Part 1) - An Introduction to Philemon · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy and good morning, friends and faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bible Explain podcast. On this absolutely lovely morning,
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  Speaker 1: we are in a brand new book the Bible today.
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  Speaker 1: This is the Book of Phi Lehman and it is
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  Speaker 1: a tiny, tiny little letter that Paul wrote to one
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  Speaker 1: of his good friends. And we're going to get into
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  Speaker 1: the culture behind this letter, especially when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: slave culture and slave owner culture, because that's what this
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  Speaker 1: entire letter is talking about. We're going to get into
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  Speaker 1: why Paul wrote this letter, what the situation was for
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  Speaker 1: slaves back in these days of Roman history, and also
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  Speaker 1: why this book was canonized in the scriptures. We'll get
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  Speaker 1: into all of that in just one moment. I am
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  Speaker 1: really super excited to delve into this book with you guys,
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  Speaker 1: because when I first started reading the Bible for my own,
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  Speaker 1: I read through the Book of Philemen and I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: why is this here? Like all of these other books
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  Speaker 1: that Paul wrote, seem to have a point, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they seem to be telling people how to live, how
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  Speaker 1: to function as a Christian, what church leadership should look like,
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  Speaker 1: and they all seem to have a point as to
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  Speaker 1: why Paul wrote them. And for me, you know, not
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  Speaker 1: understanding the culture of Roman slaves at this point in time.
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  Speaker 1: I always thought the Book of Phileman was kind of
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  Speaker 1: odd because I'm like, what does this teach us today? Like,
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  Speaker 1: what is the point of this tiny little book. But
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  Speaker 1: now that I'm a bit older and I've researched this
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  Speaker 1: book quite a bit, I am truly excited to get
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  Speaker 1: into this book because this book is so impactful. So
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  Speaker 1: we'll get into why this book was so impactful and
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  Speaker 1: how it completely upturned the idea of slavery within Christianity.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll get into this book in just a second,
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  Speaker 1: right after this message or two from a sponsor. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: since the book phi Lemen is so short, it's just
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  Speaker 1: one little chapter, I'm going to present it a little
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  Speaker 1: bit differently than I do some of the other books
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  Speaker 1: of the Bible that I talk about. If you guys
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  Speaker 1: have been listening to me for some time, generally I
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  Speaker 1: read a short little chunk of the chapter, maybe like
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, ten fifteen verses, and then I talk
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  Speaker 1: about just those ten or fifteen verses. But for the
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  Speaker 1: Book of phi Lemen, it's only twenty five verses long,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the entire book. It is a short little letter,
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  Speaker 1: and it's important to read the entire thing in order
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  Speaker 1: to gain context into what this is about. So I
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  Speaker 1: want to read the entire passage for you guys, but
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  Speaker 1: I predict that I'm not going to be able to
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  Speaker 1: talk about everything today. I imagine there's going to be
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  Speaker 1: a part two and possibly a part three for the
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  Speaker 1: Book of phi Lemen. So that's how I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: handle this particular book. So if you would please grab
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  Speaker 1: your Bibles out of the version that you prefer and
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  Speaker 1: open them to the Book of phi Lemen, where we'll
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  Speaker 1: read the entire thing, Verses one through twenty five. And
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  Speaker 1: as we read, sip on your delicious of coffee or
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  Speaker 1: your cups of tea as we discuss this passage. For today,
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  Speaker 1: as always, I'll be reading from the World English Bible
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  Speaker 1: or the w EB Paul a prisoner of Christ, Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy, our brother, to phi Lehman, our beloved fellow worker,
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  Speaker 1: and to the beloved Aphea, to Archipas and our fellow soldier,
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  Speaker 1: and to the assembly in your house. Grace to you
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  Speaker 1: and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: I thank my God, always making mention of you in
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  Speaker 1: my prayers, hearing of your love and of the faith
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  Speaker 1: which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
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  Speaker 1: the Saints, that the fellowship of your faith may become
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  Speaker 1: effective in the knowledge of every good thing which is
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  Speaker 1: in us in Christ Jesus. For we have much joy
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  Speaker 1: and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the
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  Speaker 1: saints have been refreshed through you. Brother. Therefore, though I
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  Speaker 1: have all boldness in Christ to command you that which
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  Speaker 1: is appropriate, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you,
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  Speaker 1: being such a one as Paul the aged, but also
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I appeal to you from
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  Speaker 1: my child Onisimus, whom I have become the father of
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  Speaker 1: in my chains, who once was useless to you, but
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  Speaker 1: now is useful to you and to me. I am
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  Speaker 1: sending him back. Therefore, receive him, that is my own heart,
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  Speaker 1: whom I desired to keep with me, that on your
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  Speaker 1: behalf he might serve me in my chains for the
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  Speaker 1: good news. But I was willing to do nothing without
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  Speaker 1: your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity,
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  Speaker 1: but of free will. For perhaps he was therefore separated
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  Speaker 1: from you for a while, that you would have him forever,
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  Speaker 1: no longer as a slave, but more than a slave,
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  Speaker 1: a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather
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  Speaker 1: to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: If then you count me a partner, receive him as
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  Speaker 1: you would receive me. But if he has wronged you
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  Speaker 1: at all, or owes you anything, put that to my account. I, Paul,
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  Speaker 1: write this with my own hand. I will repay it,
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  Speaker 1: not to mention to you that you owe to me,
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  Speaker 1: even your own self. Bes sides, Yes, brother, let me
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  Speaker 1: have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart
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  Speaker 1: in the Lord. Having confidence in your obedience, I write
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  Speaker 1: to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what
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  Speaker 1: I say. Also, prepare a guest room for me, for
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  Speaker 1: I hope that through your prayers I will be restored
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  Speaker 1: to you. Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Jesus Christ, greets you,
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  Speaker 1: as do Mark, Aristarchus Demus, and Luke, my fellow workers.
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  Speaker 1: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: Before we get into the nitty gritty of what this
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  Speaker 1: book says, we have to understand the reason for this
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  Speaker 1: book and also the location of this book where it
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  Speaker 1: was written. Paul most likely wrote this while he was
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner in Rome during his first imprisonment. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: we know he was a prisoner because it says in
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  Speaker 1: verse one that Paul is a prisoner of Jesus. That's
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  Speaker 1: what he says in the very first line, so we
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  Speaker 1: know that he is a prisoner during this point. Some
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  Speaker 1: people question whether he was a prisoner during his first
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  Speaker 1: or second time, but most people believe that it was
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  Speaker 1: his first time, just due to circumstantial evidence. The reason
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  Speaker 1: being that Paul believes at the end of this letter
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  Speaker 1: that he is going to get out of prison, and
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  Speaker 1: that's what he says in the Book of Philippians as well,
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  Speaker 1: which we know was written during his first imprisonment. And indeed,
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  Speaker 1: Paul got out of prison after about two years of
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  Speaker 1: being under house arrest. The Roman government did in fact
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  Speaker 1: let him go, but Paul, as we know, was not
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  Speaker 1: nearly as hopeful during his second imprisonment. In fact, in
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  Speaker 1: his book two Timothy, he pretty much told Timothy that
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  Speaker 1: he was about to die and that he did not
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  Speaker 1: expect to see Timothy again, because he asked Timothy to
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  Speaker 1: come very very quickly, like as quickly as he could
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  Speaker 1: make it, because Paul was pretty sure he was going
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  Speaker 1: to die during his second imprisonment in Rome, and Church
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  Speaker 1: history says that Paul did in fact die during his
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  Speaker 1: second imprisonment. Now we're not really sure what happened to Paul,
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  Speaker 1: but he probably was killed by Nero, just considering the
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  Speaker 1: fact that Nero really had it out for Christians during
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  Speaker 1: that point. And we don't hear from Paul at all
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  Speaker 1: after his second imprisonment, So that is why the Church
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  Speaker 1: history says that Paul was killed by the hands of Nero.
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  Speaker 1: So that is the setting for this book. But the
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  Speaker 1: reason the book was written was because this slave named
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  Speaker 1: Onissimus had run away from his master named thy Leman.
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  Speaker 1: Onisimus somehow met Paul in Rome, and Paul befriended Onissimus
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  Speaker 1: and Onissimus became a Christian while he was in Rome
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  Speaker 1: running away from his master. Now, the reason Onissimus went
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  Speaker 1: to Rome was because that was probably as far away
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  Speaker 1: as he could get from Philemen. Because, as we're going
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  Speaker 1: to find out, Onissimus actually committed a crime that was
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  Speaker 1: worthy of the death sentence. We'll talk about that in
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  Speaker 1: just a little bit. But because he committed such a
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  Speaker 1: grave crime. He wanted to get as far away from
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  Speaker 1: Philemon as he could, which was Rome. Onismus could blend
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  Speaker 1: in very easily there, but instead of blending in, he
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  Speaker 1: somehow ended up meeting Paul and becoming a Christian. But
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  Speaker 1: what's most interesting about this is that Paul knew Onismus's master.
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  Speaker 1: He became friends with him when Paul went to Colosse
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  Speaker 1: and to Ephesus, and that is how Paul ended up
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  Speaker 1: meeting Phileman. So it's really interesting how that worked out.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know that Paul ever met Onissimus before Onismus
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  Speaker 1: ran away to Rome, but it is certainly of God
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  Speaker 1: that Paul knew Philemon. Now, the reason we can figure
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  Speaker 1: out that Phileman lived in the area of either Colosse
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  Speaker 1: or Fhie is because Onisimus, the runaway slave, is actually
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in some of Paul's other letters as being Paul's mailman,
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  Speaker 1: specifically for Paul's letters to the Colossians and also to
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  Speaker 1: the Ephesians, and Colasse and Ephesus were not very far
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  Speaker 1: from one another, and Paul sent those letters with Onisimus,
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  Speaker 1: which means that the letter to Phileman was probably written
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  Speaker 1: right around the same time as the Book of Colossians
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  Speaker 1: and also the Book of Ephesians. And since we find
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  Speaker 1: out that Paul is sending Onisimus home in the book Philemen,
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  Speaker 1: that means that Onisimus most likely lived in the region
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  Speaker 1: of Colosse or Ephesus, since Paul sent Onissimus with those
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  Speaker 1: other two letters to those churches along with the letter
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  Speaker 1: to Philemen. So that's how we can figure out where
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  Speaker 1: Phileman lived. So, now that we know a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about the setting and reason for the writing of Philemen,
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  Speaker 1: let's get into the nitty gritty of what Paul says here.
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  Speaker 1: He says in verse one, Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: and Timothy our brother to Phileman, our beloved fellow worker.
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  Speaker 1: So that is Paul's introduction to this little letter. He
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  Speaker 1: also gives credit to co authoring the letter with Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: and this happens a handful of times actually, where Paul's like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Timothy is here too, and he's writing the letter. But
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  Speaker 1: then the entire letter is very clearly written by Paul,
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  Speaker 1: like in Paul's language and words and everything. But I
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  Speaker 1: think Paul might have just been giving Timothy credit because
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe Timothy penned parts of it. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Paul does say something kind of funny here at the
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  Speaker 1: very beginning. He says, I am a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Now we know that Paul was physically a prisoner of Rome,
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  Speaker 1: but Paul never considered himself a prisoner of Rome. He
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  Speaker 1: considered himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I really like
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  Speaker 1: that because Paul was giving all the glory to Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Even though the Romans were the ones to put Paul
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  Speaker 1: in prison, God was allowing it for whatever reason. So basically,
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  Speaker 1: Paul is submitting to the will of Jesus when he
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  Speaker 1: says I am a prisoner of Jesus, not a prisoner
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  Speaker 1: of Rome. He knew that he could get out of
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  Speaker 1: prison at any point in time if Jesus just said
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  Speaker 1: the word. So Paul is submitting to the will of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus right here, knowing that being in prison is not
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  Speaker 1: taking anything away from the Gospel message, which is what
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of Christians have thought throughout the generations,
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  Speaker 1: the ones that have been thrown into prison, They're probably like, man,
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  Speaker 1: I'm wasting my time in here. How is the gospel
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  Speaker 1: going to get out? How am I going to be
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  Speaker 1: useful here in prison? But of course there's always a
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  Speaker 1: purpose for everything. You know, Paul during his time of
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  Speaker 1: imprisonment was able to write all of these beautiful letters
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  Speaker 1: that we still consume in our daily life and our
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  Speaker 1: church life every single week. Because Paul had that time
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  Speaker 1: in prison, he was able to write all of these letters.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe Paul didn't see it at the time, but
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  Speaker 1: he was trusting God through the process. So he says, Paul,
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  Speaker 1: a prisoner of Christ, Jesus and Timothy our brother, to Philemen,
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  Speaker 1: our beloved fellow worker. Now I mentioned earlier that Paul
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  Speaker 1: had already met Philemen, and that is very clear based
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  Speaker 1: upon his language to Philemen. Here, Philemen, it sounds like
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  Speaker 1: had heard the gospel message from Paul. When Paul probably
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  Speaker 1: visited Ephesus. We know that Paul was in Ephesus for
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  Speaker 1: the longest period of time. He was in Ephesis building
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  Speaker 1: that church for close to three years. He would have
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  Speaker 1: met a lot of people, and Philemon, who was a
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  Speaker 1: wealthy individual, was probably one of these people that he met.
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  Speaker 1: And he calls Philemon a beloved fellow worker. As well
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  Speaker 1: as this woman named a Fea, who most likely was
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  Speaker 1: Philemon's wife, and also to Archipas our fellow soldier who
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  Speaker 1: was likely Phileman's son, and to the assembly that meets
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  Speaker 1: in your house. So that shows that Philemen actually hosted
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  Speaker 1: a home church. Now during this day, that did not
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  Speaker 1: mean that Philemon himself was a pastor or a bishop
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  Speaker 1: or preacher or apostle or anything like that. He just
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  Speaker 1: hosted a home church. And this was something that wealthier
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  Speaker 1: individuals that became Christians tended to do. In fact, history
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  Speaker 1: shows us that a lot of women actually hosted churches
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  Speaker 1: in their houses because women were some of the first
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  Speaker 1: converts to Christianity. Actually, so the wealthier women would host
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  Speaker 1: these home churches, but that didn't mean that they were
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  Speaker 1: preaching or anything like that. It just means that they
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  Speaker 1: were opening up their houses to fellowship every single Sabbath day.
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  Speaker 1: And after he became a Christian, Philemen did this very
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  Speaker 1: same thing, as well as his entire family. They were
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  Speaker 1: all part of this. And Paul mentions this home church
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  Speaker 1: that Philemen hosted. Now, one of the reasons why church
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  Speaker 1: was host did inside somebody's home was because the Christian
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  Speaker 1: movement in the early days didn't have big church buildings
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  Speaker 1: that they were allowed to build. You know, under Roman rule,
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people were allowed to have their synagogues, but
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  Speaker 1: because Christianity was so new, there is no way that
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  Speaker 1: Rome was going to allow these big church buildings to
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  Speaker 1: be built for Christianity, which the Romans considered to be
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  Speaker 1: this brand new, possibly dangerous religion, which is why these
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  Speaker 1: home churches were very common back in Paul's day. So
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  Speaker 1: Paul says, grace to you and peace from God, our
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  Speaker 1: Father and the Lord Jesus Christ verse four. I thank
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  Speaker 1: my God always making mention of you in my prayers,
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  Speaker 1: hearing of your love and the faith which you have
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  Speaker 1: toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. So
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  Speaker 1: this right here actually shows how good a friends Paul
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  Speaker 1: and Philemen actually were, because Paul says to Philemen that
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  Speaker 1: he mentions him often in his prayers. Now that sound
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  Speaker 1: really daunting to you, because Paul mentions a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people in his prayers, Like whenever we see his letters,
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  Speaker 1: He's always like, I make mention of all of you
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  Speaker 1: Christians in my prayers all the time. And man for
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  Speaker 1: someone that doesn't have a very good prayer life, like myself.
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  Speaker 1: I'm just like, oh my gosh, like he must have
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  Speaker 1: been praying twenty four or seven in order to be
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  Speaker 1: able to remember all of these people. But Paul makes
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  Speaker 1: a great point right here where he says, I make
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  Speaker 1: mention of you in my prayers. That doesn't mean that
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  Speaker 1: he's sitting there praying these really long prayers specifically for
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  Speaker 1: phi Lehmen and all of these other you know, members
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  Speaker 1: of the churches, but that he mentions these people to
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  Speaker 1: God in a general type of sense, and that kind
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  Speaker 1: of makes it a little less daunting, I suppose for
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  Speaker 1: somebody that wants to have a better prayer life, we
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  Speaker 1: don't have to make long prayers for every single person,
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  Speaker 1: but just mention them to God and be like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you know, God, so and so is on my mind
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  Speaker 1: right now, Please help them with whatever they're going through.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, those small prayer don't mean any less
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  Speaker 1: to God. Of course, they mean something to God. And
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  Speaker 1: that's what Paul's talking about here, making mention of Philemen
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  Speaker 1: in his prayers. When he remembers Philemen, and he says,
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  Speaker 1: I thank my God when I remember you, because I
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  Speaker 1: hear of your love and the faith which you have
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  Speaker 1: toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that
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  Speaker 1: the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the
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  Speaker 1: knowledge of every good thing which is in us in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Now in verse six here the Web kind
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  Speaker 1: of words this a little bit odd. They say the
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  Speaker 1: fellowship of your faith may become effective. But the word
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  Speaker 1: for fellowship there in the Greek is cooinonia, which I've
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  Speaker 1: talked about before, which means giving. And because Philemen was
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  Speaker 1: a wealthy individual, that could actually be what Paul was
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  Speaker 1: talking about in this passage. He could be saying, you know, Phileman,
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  Speaker 1: your faith shows with the amount of giving that you
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  Speaker 1: do for all of these saints. I can see your
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  Speaker 1: heart for these people, can see that your wealth is
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  Speaker 1: being put forward for very good things. He says, your
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  Speaker 1: faith is becoming effective in the knowledge of every good
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  Speaker 1: thing which is in us in Christ Jesus. He says,
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  Speaker 1: for we have much joy and comfort in your love,
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  Speaker 1: because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Brother.
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  Speaker 1: In that phraseology, right, there is another piece of evidence
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  Speaker 1: to show that Philemon could have been a very giving
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  Speaker 1: person with his wealth. As we know, Paul often says
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  Speaker 1: that gifts refresh people. I believe he said that to
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  Speaker 1: the Church of Philippi when the Philippians were sending him
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  Speaker 1: care and aid and money while he was in prison.
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  Speaker 1: You are refreshing me so greatly with your generosity with
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  Speaker 1: your gifts. And if Philemon is refreshing the hearts of
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  Speaker 1: the saints, that is some evidence that Philemon gave what
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  Speaker 1: he had. He did not just consider it his own,
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  Speaker 1: but he shared what God gave him to the other
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  Speaker 1: brothers and sisters in the Christian faith. Now, one thing
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  Speaker 1: that Paul is really really good at in his letters
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  Speaker 1: and even in the Book of Acts, when he speaks
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  Speaker 1: to people, he is so good at complimenting people, like
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  Speaker 1: genuinely complimenting them, saying, you guys are doing great in
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  Speaker 1: this area. He does that quite often, and he usually
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  Speaker 1: starts his letters with something like this, like a really
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  Speaker 1: kind compliment towards these people, something genuine for philemen. It
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  Speaker 1: was that Philemen refreshed the hearts of the individuals. But
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times right after Paul gives this compliment,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: he then goes into this statement of what they're doing wrong,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: so he kind of like softens it before the blow,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: if that makes sense. And that's sort of what he
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: does to Phileman here as well. Even though Phileman had
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: not done anything wrong, at least not yet, Paul was
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: trying to avoid Phileman doing something wrong. He says in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: verse eight, Therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: to command you that which is appropriate, yet for love's sake,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I rather appeal to you, being such a one as
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Paul the aged, but also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: So Paul is kind of laying it on sort of
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: thick here. He says, look, Phi Lehman, let me just
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: get to the point I can command you to do
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: something which is appropriate because I am an apostle and
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: also your father in the faith. You know, I led
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: you to Christ. But Paul says, I'm not going to
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: command you as an apostle, as a pastor, as your
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: father in the faith. I'm not going to command you. Instead,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to appeal to you as a brother and
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: as a friend. And then he says, right here, just
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: remember that I am old and also a prisoner of Christ.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: So he's like Phi lehman, I am your friend, but
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I'm also very old, and I am also a prisoner
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: of Christ. So just remember these things as I talk
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: to you about what you should do. Then he says,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: in verse ten, I appeal to you for my child Onissimus,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: whom I have become the father of in my chains. Now,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: this is something common that Paul often says about the
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: people that he leads into faith. He often calls them
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: his sons. He did this on several occasions, specifically with Timothy.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: We see it a lot where Paul's like my son
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: in the faith Timothy. He also did it to Titus,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and now he's doing it to Onissimus, because in a sense,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Paul kind of was the spiritual father of Onissimus and
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: all of these other people he led to Christ. Now
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: you might be like, well, Jen doesn't say in scripture
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that we should only call the Father our father, And yes,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: it actually does. So if we turn to Matthew twenty three,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: verses eight through twelve, let's read the context of that
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: verse where Jesus himself says, only call God your father,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: not anybody else here on earth. Matthew twenty three, verse eight,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: But you are not to be called rabbi, for you
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And do
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: not call anyone on earth father, for you have one
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: father and he is in heaven. Nor are you to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the greatest among you, will be your servant. For those
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: themselves will be exalted. So we can see the context
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: of what Jesus is saying there. He is not saying
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: that the word father here on earth is evil, like
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: we can't call our earthly dad's fathers. He is not
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: saying that at all. He is talking to the Pharisees here.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: He's saying, Hey, you Pharisees that want to have all
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: these accolades and be called all of these, you know,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: nice titles like rabbi and father and instructor, You're gonna
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: be humbled someday. You should not be trying to take
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: on those titles. Instead, you should be pointing people to
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: the one true Father. You should be pointing people to
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the one true Rabbi. You should be pointing people to
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: the one true Instructor. Instead of taking all of this
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: glory for yourself, Jesus says at the end. Here in
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: verse twelve, he says, for those who exalt themselves will
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: And also in verse eleven, the greatest among you will
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: be your servant. So it's important to know context when
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: it comes to Bible verses, because when Paul calls himself,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: you know, the spiritual father of Onissimus or Timothy or Titus,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: he is not trying to take the glory away from
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: God the way that the Pharisees were doing. In fact,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Paul is giving God the glory in every single aspect.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: He's saying, thank God that Onissimus now believes in Jesus,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: thank God that Timothy and Titus have this strong belief
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: in Jesus that they're able to teach other people. And
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: thank God that I had a part in that, that
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: God showed his mercy to me so that I could
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: preach the Gospel to these people. So Paul in no
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: way is trying to take away from God the Father
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: when he calls himself the father of Onissimus right here,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: just to throw that out there, But going back to Philemen,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: verse ten, It says, I appeal to you from my
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: child Onisimus, whom I have become the father of in
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: my chains, who was once useless to you, but now
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: is useful to you and to me. Now, how Paul
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: ended up meeting Onisimus, we have no clue. The only
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: thing that we can really know is that Onissimus ran
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: away from Philemen. Paul already knew Philemen because Phileman was
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: a Christian who had become a Christian with Paul. We
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: do know that Paul and Phileman were on such good
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: terms that Paul was able to ask for a place
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: to stay in Phileman's house. So we don't know how
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Paul ended up meeting Onissimus after Onisimus ran away from Philemen.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: We just know that somehow they connected, and it was
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: certainly a god thing the way they connected, because Onisimus,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: trying to run away from Philemen, goes as far away
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: as Rome, trying to get away making sure he did
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: not get caught for what he had done, and somehow
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: he ended up meeting Paul while Paul was in house arrest.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: It actually says in the Book of Acts that while
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Paul was under house arrest, they allowed Paul to have
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of visitors. Actually, people were coming in
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: and out of Paul's house, taking him food and clothing,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: and just meeting with him on a general basis. So
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: it could be that once Onisimus got to Rome, he
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: found out that Paul was under house arrest, maybe heard
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Paul preach at one point in time, maybe knew somebody
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: that knew Paul, and ended up getting connected in that way.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Now we know that Onisimus was not a Christ follower
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: when he ran away from phi Lehman. In fact, Paul
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: calls him utterly useless in verse eleven. He says, the
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: man who was once useless to you is now useful
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: to you and to me. Now it's really funny about
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: that frame is that the name Onissimus actually means useful.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: So Paul was doing a little play on words and
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: being a little bit snarky when he wrote that to
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: phi Lemen, because he says, Onissimus, the useful one, was
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: once very useless, but now he has actually become Onissimus.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: He is now useful to you and to me. But
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: I am sending him back. Therefore, receive him. That is
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: my own heart whom I desired to keep with me,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that on your behalf, he might serve me in my
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: chains for the good news. That is Paul implying that
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: he actually wants Onisimus to stay with him. But as
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: much as Paul wants that, he is sending Onissimus back
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: to phi Lemen because that was the right thing to do.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to get into that probably on Thursday,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: because you guys might be thinking, why would it be
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: right for Paul to send a slave back to a
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: slave owner? Why would that be right? So we'll get
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: into that on Thursday, for sure, and I'll talk more
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: about the implications for slaves and what Onisimus did wrong
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: in the first place when it came to his running away. So,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed the first portion of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Fileman today. We'll talk more about this book on Thursday,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: possibly also next Tuesday if I don't get through everything
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: on Thursday, because there is a lot to talk about
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: in this little book. Faithful listeners. Before I end today's episode,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: here's another word from a sponsor. All Right, faithful listeners, Well,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here to the end
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: of the podcast. I appreciate all of you guys so much.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: If you ever need to reach out, if you have
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: a prayer request, please don't hesitate to do so. You'll
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: find my contact information listed in the description of this episode.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I hope you all have a fantastic and
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: wonderful rest of your Day'll see all of you guys
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: tomorrow for an episode from Second to Chronicles. Until then,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just want to take
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.