2. The Apostle’s Appeal for the Merciful Reception of Onesimus (Phlm 1:8–16)

In this appeal, the Apostle sets forth the most compelling motives for its fulfillment, removing every possible objection that might be raised against it.

Phlm 1:8–9. Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what ought to be done, yet for love’s sake I rather beseech you, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Here every word introduces a fresh motive, and all of them rest upon the person of the Apostle himself. The first is apostolic authority. Although St. Paul declines to act by virtue of that authority in this particular case, the very mention of it reawakened in Philemon’s soul an awareness of his obligation to obey him as an Apostle, even apart from all the other motives adduced. This authority is placed by the Apostle at the very end of his other arguments, yet it is not hidden by them—it remains visible and governs all the rest, lending each of them its own special force. Bl. Theodoret expresses the Apostle’s thought thus: “I could,” says the Apostle, “have dealt boldly with you, as with one who holds the faith ardently, and commanded you by right of a teacher; but I do not do so, and instead address you with a request.”

“Therefore.” For what reason? — For the reason stated just before. Since you are such a man as refreshes the hearts of the saints in every way, I have no need to strain myself to act upon you by apostolic authority. It is enough merely to remind you of a need, and you will certainly not refuse to meet it. For if you do so for others, you will do so all the more willingly for me.

“Having boldness.” “The natural law of justice teaches that it is fitting for a teacher to give commands to a disciple” (Ambrosiaster). And the Apostle evidently had in mind to invoke this principle in Philemon’s awareness; but since this might have appeared harsh, he softens it in every possible way. “Having boldness,” he says. Boldness—that is, access, the freedom to speak to someone. He presents Philemon as a great man to whom not everyone has free access, while placing himself in the rank of ordinary persons, suggesting thereby that whatever special standing he has before Philemon compared to others depends on Philemon himself: it is Philemon who has given him such free access to himself. Then he adds: “in Christ.” These words could also suggest: having authority in Christ as an Apostle of Christ, I could command you—and you above all others, since I gave you birth to new life in Christ. But since he used the word “boldness” rather than “authority,” the words “in Christ” also point toward this thought: by reason of your strong faith in Christ the Lord, I have the boldness to set before you all that is well-pleasing to the Lord—not by apostolic authority, but in confidence of your ardent faith in Christ the Lord, having boldness, or access, to speak to you. And the word “to command” is used by way of softening, for it also means to give an instruction, as it were to propose: “would you be so good as.” And “what is fitting”—that which is proper and suitable—serves the same end. St. John Chrysostom says: “See how he is careful lest even what is said from great love should strike the listener and offend him. Therefore, before saying ‘to command you’—for such an expression was harsh, though being spoken from love it could very easily have achieved its aim—he, out of an excess of caution, adds the qualification: ‘having boldness,’ and by this shows that Philemon was a great man, as if saying: you yourself have given us this boldness; then he adds ‘in Christ,’ and by this shows that he speaks thus to Philemon on account of his faith in Christ; and only then does he say ‘to command you’—and not only that, but also ‘what is fitting,’ that is, a just matter. See how many arguments he uses to persuade Philemon: you show beneficence to others, show it also to me, and moreover for Christ’s sake—and because the matter is just, and because (as follows) love requires it.”

The second motive is love. “Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech.” “For the sake of the love with which I love you and with which I am loved by you” (Oecumenius). I set my authority aside. I turn to you with the face of love—brotherly, friendly, fatherly. Since the matter concerns a work of love, who can intercede for it more victoriously than love itself? It is love, therefore, that I set before you as the advocate for my petition. For love’s sake I ask. All other advocates (motives) achieve success slowly; but love acts swiftly and powerfully. I employ it because I am earnestly desirous of success in my petition. If you love, and if you value my love, do as I ask. St. John Chrysostom writes: “The Apostle speaks as if to say: from past examples I know that, even if I command with great authority, I shall be heard; but because I am especially solicitous about this matter, ‘for love’s sake I beseech.’ Here he simultaneously expresses both things: both that he trusts in him, which is why he commands—and that he is especially solicitous about this matter, which is why he beseeches ‘for love’s sake.’”

The third, fourth, and fifth motives. “Being such a one.” “‘I beseech,’ being,” he says, “such as one ought to be who has the power to incline another to his petition” (Oecumenius). What is it in his person that is so compelling? — “Paul—an aged man—a prisoner.” “See how many compelling motives! ‘Paul’—from the qualities of his person; from age, that he is ‘aged’; and from what is most just of all (what most establishes a right to be heard)—that he is also ‘a prisoner of Jesus Christ’” (St. John Chrysostom).

“Paul.” “This single word is sufficient to persuade and incline” (Oecumenius). “See who the petitioner is; the mere mention of the name is enough to inspire reverence even in the most obstinate. Whoever hears ‘Paul’ hears the name of the preacher of the world, who has cultivated land and sea, the chosen vessel—and so forth, for the enumeration of which a thousand tongues would be required” (Theodoret).

“The aged.” “The Apostle added also that he is ‘aged,’ pointing to the grey hairs won through labors, and thereby lending greater persuasive force to his word” (Theodoret).

“And now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” “Honor Paul; honor his old age; honor the chains by which I am bound as a preacher of the truth” (Theodoret). “Who would not receive with open arms a champion crowned for his contests? Who, seeing one bound for Christ’s sake, would not render him a thousand services?” (St. John Chrysostom).

Phlm 1:10. I beseech you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.

He indicates the object of his petition and at the same time surrounds it with such qualifications as must, despite all resistance, dispose the hearer in favor of the request. Philemon had already been sufficiently prepared for compliance by what had gone before; but if after all that the Apostle had suddenly mentioned Onesimus—whose memory was likely still bitter and painful for Philemon—it would have undone everything that the earlier words had accomplished. This is why the Apostle first tells him what Onesimus now is, thereby veiling the earlier unsavory image of him by evoking the most appealing and tender associations: “my son—a son born in bonds.” After these words, even if the name Onesimus might still stir some unpleasant feeling and an impulse toward severity, yet since he could not be touched without touching St. Paul himself, any harshness on the master’s part toward the slave was disarmed by love and reverence for the Apostle, who had so intimately taken to himself this once-unprofitable slave—now, however, made profitable—as to reckon him his own son. St. John Chrysostom says: “Having thus softened (by what was said above) the soul of Philemon, the Apostle does not at once announce the name of the slave, but even after such a request continues to delay. You know how great is the anger of masters toward runaway slaves, especially if flight was accompanied by theft, how fiercely they are provoked, even when they are good masters. Therefore Paul strives to soften him by every argument; and when he has aroused in him a readiness to do whatever might be asked and has prepared his soul for complete compliance, only then does he fully reveal his petition.”

“I beseech you.” “It is no great thing if some ordinary person bows his head, but it is worthy of praise when a man of eminence humbles himself. The Apostle beseeches one to whom he had authority to give commands, in order to give in all things an example to those who aspire to perfection” (Ambrosiaster). I beseech—“for my son.” “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?” (Ps 105:2). Who can worthily praise God’s love for mankind? He who deserved punishment as a pilferer of his master’s goods suddenly became Paul’s son (Theodoret). Both the humble word “beseech” and this heartfelt phrase “for my son” were bound to act upon Philemon’s heart with irresistible force—for Philemon himself knew that he was St. Paul’s own spiritual son. Loving St. Paul, he could not fail to be disposed kindly toward his son, even though he himself did not stand in the same relation to him. Now Paul’s son was bound to appear to him in a new light—no longer as a slave but as a brother. The Apostle calls him so a little later, but here he confines himself to pointing out Onesimus as his own son. “Thus the Apostle not only quells his anger but also kindles in him a feeling of goodwill; for I would not call him a son, he says, if he were not very trustworthy. As I called Timothy, so also I call him” (St. John Chrysostom).

“Whom I have begotten in my bonds.” “Even bonds did not prevent spiritual begetting” (Theodoret). “I have begotten”—by regenerating him through water and the Spirit. “I announced the Gospel to him, and when he believed, I commanded him to be baptized in the laver of regeneration” (Bl. Theophylact). “He who took refuge in the divine help, St. Paul, being held in custody in the city of Rome, baptized him, foreseeing in him a vessel well fitted for use” (Ambrosiaster). “I have begotten him in my bonds.” He mentions this as a mother mentions the pains of childbirth. Every child begotten is precious; how much more precious is one born under difficult circumstances. “Again, for the purpose of persuasion, the Apostle refers to the bonds, saying as it were: Onesimus is worthy of great honor also because he was born in the midst of the very contests; he must be loved especially because he was born amid trials endured for Christ. For it is well known that we cherish a particular love for children born during dangers which we ourselves have escaped. Thus Rachel called the beloved Benjamin ‘the son of her pain’ (Gen 35:18)” (St. John Chrysostom).

“Onesimus.” Behold—only now at last does he name him! (St. John Chrysostom). By its etymology, Onesimus means “profitable” or “useful.” Was it not this meaning that gave St. Paul occasion to add further that if he had been unprofitable, this was a thing of the past; now he is no longer so, and no longer bears such a name in vain.

Phlm 1:11. Who in time past was to you unprofitable, but now profitable to you and to me, whom I have sent again.

Had the Apostle said all that precedes without mentioning Onesimus, there is no doubt that he would have received immediate and unchallenged compliance with his petition. But when he mentioned Onesimus, although Philemon, out of love and reverence for the Apostle, may well have resolved at once in his mind to do what the Apostle desired, yet, humanly speaking, he could not have been free from certain thoughts powerful enough to trouble his heart and prevent him from executing such a resolution with tranquility of spirit. He might have been troubled by such thoughts as: such a worthless person—how can one receive him? Moreover, he ran away and stole (if he did steal) such-and-such. What hope can one have in him? The Apostle knew that such troubled thoughts would arise, and, not wishing whatever good Philemon might do to be accomplished with a sense of burden, as under a yoke, but rather to be done willingly and with a peaceful disposition, he hastens to dispel such thoughts. Since the most vexing among them is that Onesimus had shown himself unprofitable, St. Paul dwells on this point first, and at greatest length.

He speaks as if to say: the thought may occur to you—receive such a worthless person?! I do not deny that he was worthless; but he was, not is. Now, having received the grace of regeneration, he has determined, having renounced all that is evil, to live temperately and righteously and godly; and he thinks no longer about anything unprofitable, but only about “whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue and if there is any praise” (Phil 4:8). Such a one can no longer be reckoned unprofitable, nor should one fear anything ill from him again; on the contrary, one ought not to let him go, in order to make use of his good services, for which he is ready and fitted now more than he ever was before. Such thoughts St. Paul wished to kindle in Philemon’s mind by calling Onesimus profitable both to him and to himself. St. John Chrysostom says: “See with what wisdom he confesses the slave’s fault and by so doing quells the master’s anger. I know, he says, that he was unprofitable; ‘but now profitable to you and to me.’ He did not say: he will from now on be profitable, but—he already is such, and not to you only, but to me as well.” (“He has become devout and holy, and therefore profitable to us both”—Bl. Theophylact.) The Apostle added his own person so that the hopes regarding the servant might be more credible. For if he is profitable to Paul, who requires great integrity in all things, he will be all the more so to his master.

“Whom I have sent again.” Had the Apostle retained Onesimus with himself, the foregoing commendation would not have set Philemon’s mind at rest. He might have thought: that is how he appears to you there; but perhaps he has no wish to know me. The Apostle forestalls such a thought by sending Onesimus back, saying to him in effect: here, see for yourself what he is now. St. John Chrysostom says: “And by this too he quells the master’s anger—by returning the slave to him; for masters are especially angered when others intercede on behalf of absent slaves: by this very act he has further set Philemon at rest.” He speaks as it were: I have caught your runaway, but I send him to you not in chains hand and foot; he will come to you of his own accord, on his own feet. For his part, Onesimus himself, by coming voluntarily to the master before whom he stood guilty, showed his complete trust in that master’s goodness and disposed him favorably toward himself. In the manner of this return he very much resembled the prodigal son coming back to his father. If this thought occurred to Philemon—and it could hardly fail to occur to him—it might well have disposed him to present himself, in receiving the runaway slave, as an imitator of the father who received the prodigal son.

Phlm 1:12. Whom I have sent again: you therefore receive him, that is, mine own heart.

“Again he does not simply use his name, but adds the most convincing of expressions, one that is more tender than the word ‘son.’ ‘Mine own heart.’ By this he expresses his great love for him. He did not say: take him; he did not say: do not be angry; but—‘receive him,’ that is, he is worthy not merely of pardon, but of honor—why? — Because he has become Paul’s son” (St. John Chrysostom). For the Apostle by the words “mine own heart” wished to express: “he is my son, begotten of my very heart” (Theodoret). “And by saying ‘receive him,’ he implied: receive him with love” (Oecumenius). “Receive him”—as though saying: open your arms to him and press him to your heart. “In receiving him, you will receive not him but my very heart: so dearly do I love him that I always carry him in my heart” (Bl. Theophylact).

Phlm 1:13. Whom I would have retained with me, that in your stead he might have ministered to me in the bonds of the gospel.

He confirms how profitable Onesimus has become—so profitable, in fact, that I wished to keep him with me, he says, so that he might minister to me in bonds; meaning that he considered him both faithful, so that he can be relied upon in all things, and so prudent that he can do everything as it ought to be done—and one can therefore be entirely at peace in his care. To similar assurance the following words could also contribute: that he might minister to me in your stead. For they also suggest this thought: you yourself could not have served me better. So imperceptibly does St. Paul raise Onesimus to the level of his master Philemon. “See what is the power of the Gospel: it has made the servant equal to the master,” cries Theodoret. “See what wisdom is in the Apostle! How little by little he placed the servant in the master’s position!” add Oecumenius and Bl. Theophylact.

But the Apostle had not only one purpose in mind when addressing these words to Philemon—namely, to assure him of Onesimus’s trustworthiness. Beyond this, he intended to dispose Philemon to receive Onesimus with a degree of honor, as one who had rendered a service to Philemon himself. Philemon was bound to serve the Apostle, as a disciple to a teacher, and there is no doubt he was conscious of this obligation. If we suppose that, in his great love for St. Paul, he had yearned to serve him and, lacking the opportunity to fulfill such a desire, was grieved about it—then we cannot but agree that it was very gratifying for him to hear that his servant, though once unprofitable, though acting without his will or direction, had served in his stead before the Apostle. The circumstance is not of great importance in itself, but it is precious to him because St. Paul himself looks upon that service in precisely this light—brief as it was, from the time of conversion until Onesimus’s departure. After this it was natural for him to meet Onesimus as one who had rendered him a personal service. St. John Chrysostom says: “Do you see how many arguments he employs beforehand in order afterward to inspire in the master respect for him? See with what wisdom he does this too; see how he puts one under obligation and bestows honor upon the other. You see, he says, that through him you yourself render me a service.” Bl. Theophylact presses the same exhortation further: “If you are bound to serve me, and he does this in your stead, then evidently there is profit to you from this.”

Phlm 1:14. But without your mind would I do nothing; that your benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.

As though the Apostle hears an objection: you say he is so trustworthy that you wished to keep him with yourself, and yet you hasten to send him away from you; evidently his trustworthiness is not altogether reliable. — Not so, says St. Paul. This sending him back to you has an entirely different meaning and a different motive. I do not doubt that had I, retaining him with me, merely informed you of this and asked your consent to it, you would have agreed gladly. And you would have done a good deed. But that good deed of yours would have had a certain tinge of compulsion; and I do not wish any good to proceed from you—not toward me only, but in general—that does not proceed from your own free will; for in such a case it would lose all its value in the eyes of God: “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). This is why I have sent Onesimus back to you—so that if you arrange for him to minister to me, you may do so according to your own good will. The Apostle does not insist that Onesimus be sent back to him, because there was no urgent necessity for this—there were always many persons about him ready to do whatever was needed—but he leaves this to Philemon’s discretion. St. John Chrysostom says: “By these words the Apostle conveys that he had in view Philemon’s good more than the slave’s, because he shows him great respect: ‘without your mind,’ he says, ‘I would do nothing.’” (“And by this he softens Philemon”—Bl. Theophylact.) A person is most readily inclined to do what is requested when both the matter itself is beneficial and it is arranged in accordance with his own will—for then there are two goods: the giver also gains, and the one who receives is in greater security. He did not say: “that it should not be of necessity,” but: “that it should not be as it were of necessity.” I knew, he says, that even had you not been informed of this affair but heard of it unexpectedly, you would not have been angered; but I acted in this way out of particular caution, “that your benefit should not be as it were of necessity.” “I wish,”—let us conclude with the words of Theodoret—“that you too should gain from this, and draw profit from your own willing consent.”

Phlm 1:15. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that you should receive him forever.

Yet for all that, Philemon may not have been able to put out of his mind the thought: but he did run away—he reached the extreme limit of a slave’s offenses: how can one trust him? — St. Paul drives away such a thought by tracing this event to the designs of God’s Providence, resting his argument on the good consequences of the flight. Grant that he ran away; but do not look at this flight—look at what came of it. He ran away, and fell into the net of the Gospel, by which he was drawn to the Lord. How long did he live with you—a Christian with your whole household? — and yet, despite constantly moving among Christians, he remained all the while in his paganism—an enemy of God—and it never occurred to him to abandon his impiety and join the worshipers of the one true God. Perhaps the duties laid upon him left him no time to think of this. Flight shook him, but at the same time freed him to reflect upon his condition and to seek a refuge for the peace of his soul. He found it where all the weary and burdened find it—in the Lord the Savior, in Whom you yourself have found everything that satisfies and gives rest to your soul. To be the Lord’s you certainly account the greatest good, and you desire that all may attain it. Your slave, while living with you, did not attain this good—for whatever reason, he did not. But the moment he fled from you, he attained it at once. Do not therefore look upon this flight as a crime; say not “Onesimus ran away,” but only—he was separated from you for a time, in order to lay hold of that good which you desire all to lay hold of, and which for some reason he could not lay hold of while with you. And that this is how it is, judge from the fact that, as soon as he laid hold of that good, he hastened back to you; and neither I nor he find anything hindering this—neither in him, nor in you, nor in the surrounding circumstances. Is it not evident that he was separated from you for no other purpose than to become a Christian? He became a Christian and hastens to return to you. He seems to be executing an assignment he has received. Whose assignment? — You did not give him one. But do not rack your mind; acknowledge in this the providential ordering of God, and all will become clear to you. Thus God willed to save your slave. Believe this, and receive your slave as a person overshadowed by God’s providential favor. Add also this reflection: he was a slave, and he returns to you as a brother in the Lord. Slavery is a temporal and accidental relationship between you; but brotherhood in the Lord is an eternal bond—a bond living and indissoluble. While both of you remain in the Lord, nothing, in time or in eternity, can separate you from one another. And it turns out that he was separated from you for a little while so that you might have him with you as an inseparable companion forever. That he is such in his own disposition you can judge from the fact that he returns to you on his own, unbound. It remains for you to receive him in that same spirit. Receive him, therefore, as one who is to remain with you forever as an inseparable companion.

St. John Chrysostom and all our commentators see God’s providential ordering in this circumstance. St. John Chrysostom says: “He rightly said: ‘perhaps’—so that the master should yield (that is, let go of the thought that Onesimus fled with evil intent, suggesting: wait, was it really so? Perhaps it happened differently. He arouses in him doubt about the correctness of his view of the slave’s flight—Oecumenius, Bl. Theophylact). He did not say: ‘for this reason he ran away,’ but: ‘for this reason he was separated,’ so that by a more pleasing expression he might the more readily incline the master to mercy. Likewise he did not say: he separated himself, but: ‘he was separated’—that is, this separation was not of his own devising. So also Joseph, justifying his brothers, said: ‘God sent me… here’ (Gen 45:5)—that is, their evil purpose was turned to good. ‘For this reason,’ he says, ‘he was separated for a season’: and he shortens the time, and confesses the fault, and turns everything into a providential ordering (that is, God’s arrangement). ‘That you should receive him forever’—not only for the present time, but also for the future, so that you may always have him; he will no longer run away.”

Phlm 1:16. Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh, and in the Lord.

He said: “that you should receive him forever.” Now he explains: but “forever”—you cannot have him as a slave; only brotherhood in the Lord is eternal. Receive him therefore as a brother. For this very purpose he was separated—that you might receive him “forever”; and in receiving him “forever,” you receive him as a brother: for otherwise it is impossible to receive him “forever.” The thought might arise: but I need a servant, and you are sending me a brother! — The Apostle counsels: receive him as a brother, and he hastens to you as a slave, even while being conscious of being your brother in the Lord. And as a brother he would zealously care for your good; but since at the same time he counts himself your slave, he will be devoted to you doubly. “Remaining a slave, he will be more devoted to you than a brother” (St. John Chrysostom). That he was separated for a time—that is a loss. But the greater gain is in the quality of him who returns (from St. John Chrysostom).

For Onesimus, to conduct and bear himself as a slave—while conscious of brotherhood—toward his master in the Lord was not a great burden: he had not yet shed the habits of the slave’s condition, and in his own soul he regarded himself as nothing other than a slave. Brotherhood in the Lord only softened this servitude, binding him more closely to his master through spiritual love. But for Philemon to receive as a brother a slave—and a delinquent one at that—was not easy. This is why the Apostle takes special pains to make this easier, saying: “not now as a servant, but above a servant.” He does not say at once: as a brother—as though afraid of dazzling him by illuminating servitude with the Christian vision. He first lifts things a little: “above a servant”—and only then does he clothe the slave in the bright garment of brotherhood. And, in order that this exhortation may be more graciously received, he presents himself as an example. I, he says, see in Onesimus, above all else, a brother—and a beloved brother. The fact that he is now a brother eclipses in my eyes everything that went before. I see nothing in him save a beloved brother. But if I am able to see him thus, you can the more readily do the same: he is no stranger to you; he belongs to your household; and now another relationship has been added—in the Lord. Thus he is doubly yours: both in the bonds of outward relationship and in the Lord. St. John Chrysostom says: “Here also is great virtue. If he is my brother, do not be ashamed of him yourself. By calling him ‘son’ (above) the Apostle expressed his love for him, and by calling him ‘brother’—his good opinion of him and the equalizing of him with himself.”

“How much more to you”—Bl. Theodoret understands this thus: “From an unprofitable slave he has become a brother; and if a brother to me, then far more so to you, since he belongs to you also by bodily service.” But Bl. Theophylact with Oecumenius interpret it thus: “Instead of a slave (receive) a brother; instead of one who was unprofitable—one who is ‘beloved’—to me, and ‘how much more to you.’ ‘Both in the flesh’—that is, he is worthy of love also because of his service to you in worldly matters, being skilled in managing them and bringing you comfort; ‘and in the Lord’—and because of his spiritual relationship to you.” Ambrosiaster, however, sees here the following exhortation: “Lest Philemon should yield to the proud contempt that masters habitually show toward slaves, the Apostle humbles him by calling Onesimus his brother ‘both in the flesh and in the Lord’—by which he also teaches us, turning our thought away from the differences of estate among men, to recognize one another as brothers—as those who descended from one Adam, and especially when faith intervenes, which cuts off all pride.”