THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON

By Rev. Richard Burgett

THE SALUTATION

It has been suggested that we owe the preservation of this beautiful little letter to the fact that it was addressed to a congregational circle as well as to a private individual. Certainly it must be only one of numerous such private letters which Paul penned in the prosecution of his manifold apostolic labors.

THE GREETING, V.3

The greeting is a form familiar from Paul's other writings. "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The "you" is in the plural and includes all those who have been named.

For Paul these words are vastly more than a mere conventional greeting. They are in reality a fervent wish or prayer for the readers. In this private letter Paul uses the same greeting he uses in his public and didactic letters; it lifts at once this whole affair into the very presence of God and sanctifies it with the name of the Lord. The greeting as formulated indicates both the scope of the apostle's loving wish and the source to which he looks for its fulfillment.

The nature of the desired blessing is "grace...and peace." They comprise Heaven's choicest blessings. "Grace" is the free, unmerited favor of God through which salvation is bestowed upon the lost. It reminds us of our sins and speaks of their forgiveness by an infinite compassion. "Peace" is the result of the reception of the grace of God. It expresses the outcome of a right relationship between God and man brought about through grace. The former designates the source of salvation, while the latter speaks of the result of salvation in subjective experience. The order in the salutations is always "grace and peace," never the reverse. We cannot know the peace without first receiving the grace.

The source to which Paul links for the fulfillment of this wish is indicated in the words "from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The blessings derive from a double source. They come from Him who holds the relationship of Father to all believers because of their union with His Son. They also come from the Son who is given the authoritative position of Lord in the lives of believers. The union of the two under the government of the one preposition "from" is indicative of Paul's faith in the equality of the Father and the Son and the identity of the operations proceeding from both. As one who was steeped in the Hebrew revelation of the unity of God, for Paul to have united the name of Jesus with that of God, if he thought Him but a man, would have been blasphemy.

Here was the unfailing source of grace and peace upon which Philemon would need dray in settling aright the problem about to be presented to him. "Looking to this Source every believer may be assured of limitless supplies of 'grace' and the enjoyment of a 'peace' that passes all understanding" (Erdman).

THE THANKSGIVING, VV. 4-7

I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers, hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ. For I had much joy and comfort in thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother.

As usual in the Pauline writings, the apostle begins this letter with a paragraph of thanksgiving and intercession. This practice reveals the habitual devoutness of his spirit. The exceptions are II Corinthians, where Paul writes under great emotional strain because of the petty suspicions and unfounded charges of his Corinthian enemies, and Galations, where a vehement denunciation of their fickleness takes the place of the usual thanksgiving. These exceptions prove that Paul's practice of thanksgiving for his readers was not a mere formality but rather the natural and sincere expression of his feelings at the time of writing.

Wisely Paul does not at once plunge into a presentation of the matter which was the occasion for this letter. In this paragraph he tactfully begins with a heartfelt expression of his own esteem for Philemon. His first move is to pour out his own heart to his friend. Joy and thanksgiving warm his heart as he thinks of the good reports he is hearing about Philemon. What he knows about Philemon gives added incentive to the writing of the letter. Paul would not have Philemon think that he is writing simply because of Onesimus. "He assigns other causes also of his Epistle. In the first place manifesting his love, then also desiring that a lodging may be prepared for him" (Chrysostom).

THE NATURE OF THE THANKSGIVING, V.4

The opening verse of this paragraph describes the nature of Paul's thanksgiving. It is Godward, personal, and continual.

The reports about Philemon do not merely fill him with a sense of gratitude but lead him to a definite expression of thanksgiving to God. Paul followed the commendable practice of immediately lifting everything which came into his life up to God in thanksgiving and prayer. As Christians we too need to exercise this practice of consciously bringing every circumstance in our life before the Lord. Such a practice of the presence of God is of inestimable value for victorious living.

The thanksgiving is personal. "I thank my God." Paul knew God in personal experience. Paul was conscious of a vital personal relationship with God. "In speaking of God as my God, he expresses a tender sense of his reconciliation to Him, and of his consciousness of an interest in His love" (Hackett). God was a vital reality to him, and Paul instinctively turned to Him in joy as well as in sorrow. It is the privilege of every believer to approach God as his own God. But this personal thanksgiving was stimulated by Paul's recognition of the grace of God in the life of Philemon. This manifestation of God's grace in the life of his convert Paul thankfully accepted as a gift bestowed upon himself.

The thanksgiving is continual. This is indicated by the use of the present tense of the verb which expresses the action as continuing. This fact is further emphasized by the addition of the work "always." Grammatically it may be joined either with the following participle (as in the King James) or with the opening verb (as in the American Standard Version). The latter view is preferable as more in accord with Paul's practice elsewhere. "But it is of comparatively small moment how we place the word, provided we observe that Paul's prayer as an exercise of devotion or praise to God, preceded his prayer as an exercise of desire for man" (Drysdale). Paul's sense of thanksgiving is not exhausted by a single expression of thanks; repeatedly he finds himself giving thanks to God for Philemon.

Paul's thanksgiving is exercised upon the occasion of his prayers. "Making mention of thee in my prayers." These constant thanks for Philemon are offered in the course of Paul's regular prayer periods. Here we get a glimpse of the great prayer ministry of the apostle. Paul's practice of praying for the readers of his epistles is well known. "So broad was his spiritual sympathy, that he daily spread out before God the condition and needs of the multitude of churches and of fellow laborers, with whom he was connected as spiritual leader, evidently mentioning them by name, and entering into their circumstances and special necessities with great particularity" (Harvey). How often the names found in his epistles must have been upon his lips in prayer! In this intercessory ministry, Philemon has a definite place.

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