Philemon
1 From: Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, member of the Family.
To: Philemon, loved one and our fellow worker; 2 Apphia, member of the Family; Archippus, our fellow soldier; and the assembly at youra house.
3 Good fortune to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always give thanks to my God when I remember you during my prayers 5 and hear about your love and faithfulness which you have toward the lord Jesus and for all the sacred, 6 how your participation in faithfulness becomes active in how youb understand all the ways of acting for others’ well-being that are for youc in connection with Christ. 7 I have been very happy and encouraged over the love you have shown because the heavy hearts of the sacred have been given a reprieve through you,d brother.
8 In light of that, while I have enough audacitye because of Christ to assign this obligation to you, 9 based on love, I would rather request this kind of thing as Paul the ambassadorf and now also a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus. 10 I am making a request to you concerning my child, whom I fathered while in bonds: Onesimus, 11 the one who used to be unhelpfulg to you but now is helpful to me and you. 12 I have the deepest of feeling for him,h but I sent him back, 13 though I wished to keep him with me so that, instead of you, he might help me while I am in bonds for the sake of the news of victory. 14 However, I did not want to do anything without your agreement so that the generosity you give would not be out of obligation but rather done voluntarily. 15 Maybe the reason he was taken away for a time was so that you might receive him wholly and indefinitely,i 16 no longer as a slave but rather as more than a slave, a beloved brother—definitely to me and even more to you—both personallyj and in connection with the lord.
17 Therefore, if you are in community with me, welcome him as if he were me, 18 and if he did anything unjust to you or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, wrote this myself;k I will pay it off. Not to mention that you also owe me yourself. 20 Yes, brother, it’s possible for me to benefitl from you in connection with the lord; give a reprieve to my heavy heartm like Christ.n
21 I wrote you, convinced you would listen since I know you will do even more than what I’m saying. 22 Also in the meantime, get a place ready for me to stay; I hope that I will be given generously back to you through your prayers.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, wishes you well. 24 Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers, also wish you well. 25 May good fortune from the lord Jesus Christ be for the life-breatho of you all.p
FOOTNOTES:
a It’s not clear which of the three individuals it’s addressing here, but ‘your’ is singular.
b Singular, referring to Philemon
c Plural, referring to the whole community that Philemon is part of.
d ‘Heavy hearts’ is literally ‘gut’ or ‘intestines’ or ‘uterus.’ It’s the body part that represents strong emotion in the cultural context. Very literally, the sentence says something like, ‘I have had great joy and encouragement based on your love because the guts of the sacred have been given a reprieve through you, brother.’
e Literally, ‘not-being-reserved-in-speaking.’ He’s saying something like, “I have no problem saying what I’m thinking.”
f Literally, presbutes means ‘old man’ (it’s related to presbuteros, ‘elder,’ but is not the same word) but another usage was for ambassadors. Compare to Ephesians 6:20.
g Traditionally, ‘useless’ or ‘unprofitable.’ While they are accurate translations of the Greek, the context of applying those English words to a person seems inappropriate.
h Literally, “he is my bowels.”
i This is the same word, aionion, translated as ‘agelong’ or ‘long lasting’ in other places, including Matthew 19:16, 29; Matthew 25: 41, 46. It essentially means ‘a really long, undefined period of time.’
j Literally, ‘regarding flesh,’ indicating a natural, human reason to value him as a close relationship
k Literally, ‘wrote with my own hand’
l The word onaimen here is ‘to benefit’ or ‘to profit’ or ‘to be useful.’ It’s in the Optative mood, which does not exist in English. It’s rare in the Bible and was phasing out in the Greek language at the time, become much less common than in earlier centuries. It has different more nuanced uses, but the broad meaning of it is to convey the sense of the verb being possible.
m Compare to Philemon verse 7. ‘Heavy heart’ is literally ‘bowels’ or ‘intestines.’ It’s the body part that represents strong emotion in the cultural context. Very literally, the sentence says something like, ‘give my bowels a reprieve.’
n Traditionally, ‘in Christ.’ This seems to be a ‘preposition of standard’ where it is trying to communicate that what was said before is done ‘according to the standard of’ the object of the preposition, in this case: Christ.
o Though ‘your’ is plural, pneumatos (traditionally ‘spirit’ and here ‘life-breath’) is singular.
p Most of the instances of ‘you’ and ‘your’ in Philemon are singular, being addressed to the titular recipient: Philemon. However, this instance of ‘your/of you’ is plural, so it seems to refer back to the other people addressed in verse 2.