"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to
Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Apphia our sister,
and to Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the Church in thy house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ."--PHILEM. 1-3 (Rev. Ver.).
This Epistle stands alone among Paul's letters in being addressed to a
private Christian, and in being entirely occupied with a small though
very singular private matter; its aim being merely to bespeak a kindly
welcome for a runaway slave who had been induced to perform the
unheard-of act of voluntarily returning to servitude. If the New
Testament were simply a book of doctrinal teaching, this Epistle would
certainly be out of place in it; and if the great purpose of revelation
were to supply material for creeds, it would be hard to see what value
could be attached to a simple, short letter, from which no contribution
to theological doctrine or ecclesiastical order can be extracted. But if
we do not turn to it for discoveries of truth, we can find in it very
beautiful illustrations of Christianity at work. It shows us the
operation of the new forces which Christ has lodged in humanity--and
that on two planes of action. It exhibits a perfect model of Christian
friendship, refined and ennobled by a half-conscious reflection of the
love which has called us "no longer slaves but friends," and adorned by
delicate courtesies and quick consideration, which divines with subtlest
instinct what it will be sweetest to the friend to hear, while it never
approaches by a hair-breadth to flattery, nor forgets to counsel high
duties. But still more important is the light which the letter casts on
the relation of Christianity to slavery, which may be taken as a
specimen of its relation to social and political evils generally, and
yields fruitful results for the guidance of all who would deal with
such.
It may be observed, too, that most of the considerations which Paul
urges on Philemon as reasons for his kindly reception of Onesimus do not
even need the alteration of a word, but simply a change in their
application, to become worthy statements of the highest Christian
truths. As Luther puts it, "We are all God's Onesimuses"; and the
welcome which Paul seeks to secure for the returning fugitive, as well
as the motives to which he appeals in order to secure it, do shadow
forth in no uncertain outline our welcome from God, and the treasures of
His heart towards us, because they are at bottom the same. The Epistle
then is valuable, as showing in a concrete instance how the Christian
life, in its attitude to others, and especially to those who have
injured us, is all modelled upon God's forgiving love to us. Our Lord's
parable of the forgiven servant who took his brother by the throat finds
here a commentary, and the Apostle's own precept, "Be imitators of God,
and walk in love," a practical exemplification.
Nor is the light which the letter throws on the character of the Apostle
to be regarded as unimportant. The warmth, the delicacy, and what, if it
were not so spontaneous, we might call tact, the graceful ingenuity with
which he pleads for the fugitive, the perfect courtesy of every word,
the gleam of playfulness--all fused together and harmonized to one end,
and that in so brief a compass and with such unstudied ease and complete
self-oblivion, make this Epistle a pure gem. Without thought of effect,
and with complete unconsciousness, this man beats all the famous
letter-writers on their own ground. That must have been a great
intellect, and closely conversant with the Fountain of all light and
beauty, which could shape the profound and far-reaching teachings of the
Epistle to the Colossians, and pass from them to the graceful simplicity
and sweet kindliness of this exquisite letter; as if Michael Angelo had
gone straight from smiting his magnificent Moses from the marble mass to
incise some delicate and tiny figure of Love or Friendship on a cameo.
The structure of the letter is of the utmost simplicity. It is not so
much a structure as a flow. There is the usual superscription and
salutation, followed, according to Paul's custom, by the expression of
his thankful recognition of the love and faith of Philemon and his
prayer for the perfecting of these. Then he goes straight to the
business in hand, and with incomparable persuasiveness pleads for a
welcome to Onesimus, bringing all possible reasons to converge on that
one request, with an ingenious eloquence born of earnestness. Having
poured out his heart in this pleasure adds no more but affectionate
greetings from his companions and himself.
In the present section we shall confine our attention to the
superscription and opening salutation.
I. We may observe the Apostle's designation of himself, as marked by
consummate and instinctive appreciation of the claims of friendship, and
of his own position in this letter as a suppliant. He does not come to
his friend clothed with apostolic authority. In his letters to the
Churches he always puts that in the forefront, and when he expected to
be met by opponents, as in Galatia, there is a certain ring of defiance
in his claim to receive his commission through no human intervention,
but straight from heaven. Sometimes, as in the Epistle to the
Colossians, he unites another strangely contrasted title, and calls
himself also "the slave" of Christ; the one name asserting authority,
the other bowing in humility before his Owner and Master. But here he is
writing as a friend to a friend, and his object is to win his friend to
a piece of Christian conduct which may be somewhat against the grain.
Apostolic authority will not go half so far as personal influence in
this case. So he drops all reference to it, and, instead, lets Philemon
hear the fetters jangling on his limbs--a more powerful plea. "Paul, a
prisoner," surely that would go straight to Philemon's heart, and give
all but irresistible force to the request which follows. Surely if he
could do anything to show his love and gratify even momentarily his
friend in prison, he would not refuse it. If this designation had been
calculated to produce effect, it would have lost all its grace; but no
one with any ear for the accents of inartificial spontaneousness, can
fail to hear them in the unconscious pathos of these opening words,
which say the right thing, all unaware of how right it is.
There is great dignity also, as well as profound faith, in the next
words, in which the Apostle calls himself a prisoner "of Christ Jesus."
With what calm ignoring of all subordinate agencies he looks to the true
author of his captivity! Neither Jewish hatred nor Roman policy had shut
him up in Rome. Christ Himself had riveted his manacles on his wrists,
therefore he bore them as lightly and proudly as a bride might wear the
bracelet that her husband had clasped on her arm. The expression reveals
both the author of and the reason for his imprisonment, and discloses
the conviction which held him up in it. He thinks of his Lord as the
Lord of providence, whose hand moves the pieces on the board--Pharisees,
and Roman governors, and guards, and Caesar; and he knows that he is an
ambassador in bonds, for no crime, but for the testimony of Jesus. We
need only notice that his younger companion Timothy is associated with
the Apostle in the superscription, but disappears at once. The reason
for the introduction of his name may either have been the slight
additional weight thereby given to the request of the letter, or more
probably, the additional authority thereby given to the junior, who
would, in all likelihood, have much of Paul's work devolved on him when
Paul was gone.
The names of the receivers of the letter bring before us a picture seen,
as by one glimmering light across the centuries, of a Christian
household in that Phrygian valley. The head of it, Philemon, appears to
have been a native of, or at all events a resident in, Colossae; for
Onesimus, his slave, is spoken of in the Epistle to the Church there as
"one of _you_." He was a person of some standing and wealth, for he had
a house large enough to admit of a "Church" assembling in it, and to
accommodate the Apostle and his travelling companions if he should visit
Colossae. He had apparently the means for large pecuniary help to poor
brethren, and willingness to use them, for we read of the refreshment
which his kindly deeds had imparted. He had been one of Paul's converts,
and owed his own self to him; so that he must have met the Apostle,--who
had probably not been in Colossae,--on some of his journeys, perhaps
during his three years' residence in Ephesus. He was of mature years,
if, as is probable, Archippus, who was old enough to have service to do
in the Church (Col. iv. 17), was his son.
He is called "our fellow-labourer." The designation may imply some
actual co-operation at a former time. But more probably, the phrase,
like the similar one in the next verse, "our fellow-soldier," is but
Paul's gracefully affectionate way of lifting these good people's
humbler work out of its narrowness, by associating it with his own. They
in their little sphere, and he in his wider, were workers at the same
task. All who toil for furtherance of Christ's kingdom, however widely
they may be parted by time or distance, are fellow-workers. Division of
labour does not impair unity of service. The field is wide, and the
months between seedtime and harvest are long; but all the husbandmen
have been engaged in the same great work, and though they have toiled
alone shall "rejoice together." The first man who dug a shovelful of
earth for the foundations of Cologne Cathedral, and he who fixed the
last stone on the topmost spire a thousand years after, are
fellow-workers. So Paul and Philemon, though their tasks were widely
different in kind, in range, and in importance, and were carried on
apart and independent of each other, were fellow-workers. The one lived
a Christian life and helped some humble saints in an insignificant,
remote corner; the other flamed through the whole then civilized western
world, and sheds light to-day: but the obscure, twinkling taper and the
blazing torch were kindled at the same source, shone with the same
light, and were parts of one great whole. Our narrowness is rebuked, our
despondency cheered, our vulgar tendency to think little of modest,
obscure service rendered by commonplace people, and to exaggerate the
worth of the more conspicuous, is corrected by such a thought. However
small may be our capacity or sphere, and however solitary we may feel,
we may summon up before the eyes of our faith a mighty multitude of
apostles, martyrs, toilers in every land and age as _our_--even
our--work-fellows. The field stretches far beyond our vision, and many
are toiling in it for Him, whose work never comes near ours. There are
differences of service, but the same Lord, and all who have the same
master are companions in labour. Therefore Paul, the greatest of the
servants of Christ, reaches down his hand to the obscure Philemon, and
says, "He works the work of the Lord, as I also do."
In the house at Colossae there was a Christian wife by the side of a
Christian husband; at least, the mention of Apphia here in so prominent
a position is most naturally accounted for by supposing her to be the
wife of Philemon. Her friendly reception of the runaway would be quite
as important as his, and it is therefore most natural that the letter
bespeaking it should be addressed to both. The probable reading "our
sister" (R.V.), instead of "our beloved" (A.V.), gives the distinct
assurance that she too was a Christian, and like-minded with her
husband.
The prominent mention of this Phrygian matron is an illustration of the
way in which Christianity, without meddling with social usages,
introduced a new tone of feeling about the position of woman, which
gradually changed the face of the world, is still working, and has
further revolutions to affect. The degraded classes of the Greek world
were slaves and women. This Epistle touches both, and shows us
Christianity in the very act of elevating both. The same process strikes
the fetters from the slave and sets the wife by the side of the husband,
"yoked in all exercise of noble end,"--namely, the proclamation of
Christ as the Saviour of all mankind, and of all human creatures as
equally capable of receiving an equal salvation. That annihilates all
distinctions. The old world was parted by deep gulfs. There were three
of special depth and width, across which it was hard for sympathy to
fly. These were the distinctions of race, sex, and condition. But the
good news that Christ has died for all men, and is ready to live in all
men, has thrown a bridge across, or rather has filled up, the ravine; so
the Apostle bursts into his triumphant proclamation, "There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
A third name is united with those of husband and wife, that of
Archippus. The close relation in which the names stand, and the purely
domestic character of the letter, make it probable that he was a son of
the wedded pair. At all events, he was in some way part of their
household, possibly some kind of teacher and guide. We meet his name
also in the Epistle to the Colossians, and, from the nature of the
reference to him there, we draw the inference that he filled some
"ministry" in the Church of Laodicea. The nearness of the two cities
made it quite possible that he should live in Philemon's house in
Colossae and yet go over to Laodicea for his work.
The Apostle calls him "his fellow-soldier," a phrase which is best
explained in the same fashion as is the previous "fellow-worker,"
namely, that by it Paul graciously associates Archippus with himself,
different as their tasks were. The variation of _soldier_ for _worker_
probably is due to the fact of Archippus' being the bishop of the
Laodicean Church. In any case, it is very beautiful that the grizzled
veteran officer should thus, as it were, clasp the hand of this young
recruit, and call him his comrade. How it would go to the heart of
Archippus!
A somewhat stern message is sent to Archippus in the Colossian letter.
Why did not Paul send it quietly in this Epistle instead of letting a
whole Church know of it? It seems at first sight as if he had chosen the
harshest way; but perhaps further consideration may suggest that the
reason was an instinctive unwillingness to introduce a jarring note into
the joyous friendship and confidence which sounds through this Epistle,
and to bring public matters into this private communication. The
warning would come with more effect from the Church, and this cordial
message of goodwill and confidence would prepare Archippus to receive
the other, as rain showers make the ground soft for the good seed. The
private affection would mitigate the public exhortation with whatever
rebuke may have been in it.
A greeting is sent, too, to "the Church in thy house." As in the case of
the similar community in the house of Nymphas (Col. iv. 15), we cannot
decide whether by this expression is meant simply a Christian family, or
some little company of believers who were wont to meet beneath
Philemon's roof for Christian converse and worship. The latter seems the
more probable supposition. It is natural that they should be addressed;
for Onesimus, if received by Philemon, would naturally become a member
of the group, and therefore it was important to secure their good will.
So we have here shown to us, by one stray beam of twinkling light, for a
moment, a very sweet picture of the domestic life of that Christian
household in their remote valley. It shines still to us across the
centuries, which have swallowed up so much that seemed more permanent,
and silenced so much that made far more noise in its day. The picture
may well set us asking ourselves the question whether we, with all our
boasted advancement, have been able to realize the true ideal of
Christian family life as these three did. The husband and wife dwelling
as heirs together of the grace of life, their child beside them sharing
their faith and service, their household ordered in the ways of the
Lord, their friends Christ's friends, and their social joys hallowed
and serene--what nobler form of family life can be conceived than that?
What a rebuke to, and satire on, many a so-called Christian household!
II. We may deal briefly with the apostolic salutation, "Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ," as we have already
had to speak of it in considering the greeting to the Colossians. The
two main points to be observed in these words are the comprehensiveness
of the Apostle's loving wish, and the source to which he looks for its
fulfilment. Just as the regal title of the King, whose Throne was the
Cross, was written in the languages of culture, of law, and of religion,
as an unconscious prophecy of His universal reign; so, with like
unintentional felicity, we have blended here the ideals of good which
the East and the West have framed for those to whom they wish good, in
token that Christ is able to slake all the thirsts of the soul, and that
whatsoever things any races of men have dreamed as the chiefest
blessings, these are all to be reached through Him and Him only.
But the deeper lesson here is to be found by observing that "grace"
refers to the action of the Divine heart, and "peace" to the result
thereof in man's experience. As we have noted in commenting on Col. i.
2, "grace" is free, undeserved, unmotived, self-springing love. Hence it
comes to mean, not only the deep fountain in the Divine nature, that His
love, which, like some strong spring, leaps up and gushes forth by an
inward impulse, in neglect of all motives drawn from the lovableness of
its objects, such as determine our poor human loves, but also the
results of that bestowing love in men's characters, or, as we say, the
"graces" of the Christian soul. They are "grace," not only because in
the aesthetic sense of the word they are beautiful, but because, in the
theological meaning of it, they are the products of the giving love and
power of God. "Whatsoever things are lovely and of good report," all
nobilities, tendernesses, exquisite beauties, and steadfast strengths of
mind and heart, of will and disposition--all are the gifts of God's
undeserved and open-handed love.
The fruit of such grace received is peace. In other places the Apostle
twice gives a fuller form of this salutation, inserting "mercy" between
the two here named; as also does St. John in his second Epistle. That
fuller form gives us the source in the Divine heart, the manifestation
of grace in the Divine act, and the outcome in human experience; or as
we may say, carrying on the metaphor, the broad, calm lake which the
grace, flowing to us in the stream of mercy, makes, when it opens out in
our hearts. Here, however, we have but the ultimate source, and the
effect in us.
All the discords of our nature and circumstances can be harmonized by
that grace which is ready to flow into our hearts. Peace with God, with
ourselves, with our fellows, repose in the midst of change, calm in
conflict, may be ours. All these various applications of the one idea
should be included in our interpretation, for they are all included in
fact in the peace which God's grace brings where it lights. The first
and deepest need of the soul is conscious amity and harmony with God,
and nothing but the consciousness of His love as forgiving and healing
brings that. We are torn asunder by conflicting passions, and our hearts
are the battleground for conscience and inclination, sin and goodness,
hopes and fears, and a hundred other contending emotions. Nothing but a
heavenly power can make the lion within lie down with the lamb. Our
natures are "like the troubled sea, which cannot rest," whose churning
waters cast up the foul things that lie in their slimy beds; but where
God's grace comes, a great calm hushes the tempests, "and birds of peace
sit brooding on the charmed wave."
We are compassed about by foes with whom we have to wage undying
warfare, and by hostile circumstances and difficult tasks which need
continual conflict; but a man with God's grace in his heart may have the
rest of submission, the repose of trust, the tranquillity of him who
"has ceased from his own works": and so, while the daily struggle goes
on and the battle rages round, there may be quiet, deep and sacred, in
his heart.
The life of nature, which is a selfish life, flings us into unfriendly
rivalries with others, and sets us battling for our own hands, and it is
hard to pass out of ourselves sufficiently to live peaceably with all
men. But the grace of God in our hearts drives out self, and changes the
man who truly has it into its own likeness. He who knows that he owes
everything to a Divine love which stooped to his lowliness, and pardoned
his sins, and enriched him with all which he has that is worthy and
noble, cannot but move among men, doing with them, in his poor fashion,
what God has done with him.
Thus, in all the manifold forms in which restless hearts need peace,
the grace of God brings it to them. The great river of mercy which has
its source deep in the heart of God, and in His free, undeserved love,
pours into poor, unquiet spirits, and there spreads itself into a placid
lake, on whose still surface all heaven is mirrored.
The elliptical form of this salutation leaves it doubtful whether we are
to see in it a prayer or a prophecy, a wish or an assurance. According
to the probable reading of the parallel greeting in the second Epistle
of John, the latter would be the construction; but probably it is best
to combine both ideas, and to see here, as Bengel does in the passage
referred to in John's Epistle, "votum cum affirmatione"--a desire which
is so certain of its own fulfilment, that it is a prophecy, just because
it is a prayer.
The ground of the certainty lies in the source from which the grace and
peace come. They flow "from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
The placing of both names under the government of one preposition
implies the mysterious unity of the Father with the Son; while
conversely St. John, in the parallel passage just mentioned, by
employing two prepositions, brings out the distinction between the
Father, who is the fontal source, and the Son, who is the flowing
stream. But both forms of the expression demand for their honest
explanation the recognition of the divinity of Jesus Christ. How dare a
man, who thought of Him as other than Divine, put His name thus by the
side of God's, as associated with the Father in the bestowal of grace?
Surely such words, spoken without any thought of a doctrine of the
Trinity, and which are the spontaneous utterance of Christian devotion,
are demonstration, not to be gainsaid, that to Paul, at all events,
Jesus Christ was, in the fullest sense, Divine. The double source is one
source, for in the Son is the whole fulness of the Godhead; and the
grace of God, bringing with it the peace of God, is poured into that
spirit which bows humbly before Jesus Christ, and trusts Him when He
says, with love in His eyes and comfort in His tones, "My grace is
sufficient for thee"; "My peace give I unto you."