Summary:

When Paul calls Epaphras his “fellowprisoner” (v.23), that tells us he was in prison — and yet he was thankful!  If you’re in the prison of a bad marriage, a bad job, poor health or a bad life in general, do what Paul did.  Stop focusing on your difficult circumstances and find something you can be thankful for!  Paul was thankful for Philemon, and I’m sure there is someone in your life for whom you can be thankful.  Gratitude makes it possible to deal with the worst of circumstances, as Paul demonstrated in this epistle.

But why would Paul say “I thank my God”?  I think it was because he dictated his letters (Rom. 16:22) due to his eye trouble (Gal. 4:14,15).  I think he dictated Philemon’s epistle to Onesimus, his runaway slave (Phile. 1:10), whom he was sending back to Philemon with this epistle.  As he dictated the letter aloud, he was surrounded by other prisoners who cursed their gods for letting them be imprisoned.  That’s why Paul said, “I thank my God.”  That made him stand out from the crowd, and was a testimony to those other prisoners

And it will make you stand out from the crowd as well.  You too are surrounded by people who worship another god, the god they made up in their own mind.  You know, the one who exists just to serve us and make us happy!  If you wor-ship a god like that, you’ll curse him when you land in jail.

Many Christians worship the God of the Bible, but the God of the Old Testament.  You know, the One that told Israel He’d bless them if they were good.  If you worship a God like that and still land in jail if you are good, or experience some other difficult circumstances, you might curse Him and leave the faith, as many have done.

Notice Paul made “mention” of Philemon in his prayers (1:4).  That word means to refer to something briefly without going into detail (cf. I Sam. 4:17,18).  That’s always how Paul prayed for people (Rom. 1:9; Eph. 1:15,16; I Thes. 1:2).  You don’t have to drone on and on when you pray for someone (Mt. 6:7; Lu. 20:46,47).  You’re not unspiritual if you don’t spend hours in prayer, as some pastors would have you think.

How did Paul hear about Philemon’s faith and love (1:5)?  Colosse, where Philemon lived, was 1,200 miles from Rome where Paul was imprisoned.  He must have heard it from Onesimus.  Would your runaway slave say good things about you?

But now did Onesimus see Philemon’s love and faith?  You cant see love or faith, but you can see what they produce — labor for the saints (Heb. 6:10), which amounts to labor for the Lord (Mt. 25:40).  History says that Colosse suffered a devastating earthquake just prior to the writing of Philemon’s epistle, and Philemon probably helped the saints with his wealth.  He owned more than one guesthouse (1:22) and owned at least one servant, so must have been well to do.

“Communicate” (1:6) means to get a message across to someone (Gal. 2:2).  Philemon was trying to communicate his faith to others.  But if Paul was praying that the communication of his faith would be effectual, that must mean it hadn’t been effectual.  Why not?

Well, it was supposed to be effectual by the acknowledging of all the good things that were in Philemon in Christ (1:6).  If Christ is in us (Ro. 8:10), we should acknowledge that by walking worthy of Him (Col. 1:10).  If we are sanctified (I Cor. 1:2) we should walk that way (I Thes. 4:4).  If we are sinless in God’s sight (I Cor. 5:7) we should purge out sin (v.8).  If we are accepted in Christ (Eph. 1:6) we should live in a way that is “acceptable” to Him (Rom. 12:1).

So what was the problem with Philemon?  I think he was forgiven (Col. 2:13) but wasn’t walking in forgiveness (Col. 3:13).  He was a giving man, but not a forgiving man, and that was keeping him from communicating his faith effectively.  People saw he claimed to be forgiven but wasn’t forgiving others, so the gospel he shared had no effect on people. That’s why Paul was praying that the communication of his faith would be effectual.  If he forgave the slave Paul was returning, it would begin to be effectual.

And so will yours, if you acknowledge “every” good thing that is in you in Christ, as Paul told Philemon.

Summary:

Paul (1:1) is the only Jew in the Bible who began using a Gentile name, to reflect how he was sent to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21; 26:17).

But if you are Jewish and want to get saved, you must be willing to admit that Israel has lost her “favored nation status” with God, and that “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom.11:13) is your apostle too.  You see, he is the only one who teaches salvation by grace through faith without works (Eph. 2:8,9), the only way to get saved in this dispensation. And if you’re Jewish and you’re already saved, and you like to hear Paul talk about how we’ll be raptured before the Tribulation, you must also be willing to admit that the apostle of the nations is your apostle too, for he’s the only one in the Bible to talk about the pre-trib Rapture.

Why did Paul call himself a prisoner “of Jesus Christ” (1:1)?  The Jews were the ones who falsely accused him to the Romans and got him arrested (Acts 21:27-32).  But Paul explains elsewhere that he was in prison for preaching the gospel to the Gentiles (II Tim. 2:8,9), so he calls himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ (1:1) for the Gentiles (Eph. 3:1).  God allowed him to be taken prisoner in Rome in the royal palace (Phil. 1:13) so some of the royals would get saved (Phil. 4:22) and their influence could go out over the Roman roads to the world.

“Philemon” (1:2) was probably wealthy, for Paul asked him to get “a lodging” ready for him (1:22), which sounds like he had more than one guest house.  And we know he had a slave, for this epistles is about how he ran away.  Rich men aren’t always willing to be “fellowlabourers” (1:2) in the Lord’s work, but Philemon was!

“Aphia” (1:2) is a feminine name, probably Philemon’s wife.  Wives in those days were to “guide the house” (I Tim. 5:14), which included the slaves, so Paul includes her in the conversation about Philemon’s runaway slave.

“Archippus” (1:2) is a masculine name, probably their son.

I think he might have been pastor of the church that met in Philemon’s home (1:2) because Paul mentions a home church right before telling Archippus to fulfill his ministry (Col. 4:15-17).  And since Paul mentions his epistles in between those two verses, it would seem that the way Archippus was neglecting his ministry was by neglecting Paul’s epistles. 

Churches were in homes in those days, and can be today, but they don’t have to be.  The Corinthians met in a “place” that was separate from their “houses” (I Cor. 11:20-22).

With this mention of a church in Philemon’s home, we get a glimpse of what Onesimus ran away from.  Slaves were no doubt required to attend church, so he heard the gospel but never trusted Christ.  If your kids didn’t get saved, sometimes they need to hear it from someone else, like he did.  Or get knocked around by life first, as he did.  You see, if Paul led him to the Lord in prison (1:10), that must mean Onesimus must have gotten a job feeding prisoners to have gotten close to Paul.  Most of them probably cursed him, making him miss ministering to a godly family, and opening his heart to the kind words of the gospel Paul spoke.

Paul opened all his epistles with “grace” and “peace” (1:3).  Some say they were Paul’s way of saying hello to the Greeks who greeted one another with “grace,” and the Jews who greeted one another with “shalom” as they do today.  But that can’t be, for Paul also opens his epistles to individuals like Timothy, Titus and Philemon this way!  It was actually an official proclamation of his message.

And it was a message that was new with Paul.  The words “grace” and “peace” never appear in one verse before Paul.  That’s because it is talking about peace with God, and the only way to get that before Paul was by righteousness (Ps. 72:3; Isa. 32:17).  Righteousness always has to come before peace with God (Heb. 7:1,2).  And I’m talking 100% righteousness. 

And the only way to get 100% righteousness in the dispensation of grace is by grace (Romans 5:17).