We Christians don’t like to admit it, but we prefer certain books of the Bible to others. The Psalms are nice and the Gospel of John is heart-warming. Ezekiel and Revelation, on the other hand, are baffling and a little uncomfortable; you’d be hard-pressed to find an Instagram quote from a book like that. (There are exceptions, but…well, just go read Ezekiel 16:44 in context to see if this is the sort of thing you’d like hanging in your kitchen.)
But I digress. Of all the overlooked books of Scripture, one of the most beautiful is the tiny book of Philemon. If Christians recognize Philemon, they may know little beside the fact that it’s a short book—half the length of this blog post, in fact. But Philemon also offers us a real-life picture of the gospel as it takes root in the lives of two otherwise average people.
The way the gospel was displayed in the lives of Philemon and Onesimus gives us a vision for what God wants to do in our community today:
1. We want to see “Philemons” in the church become radically generous participants in the mission of God.
The man named “Philemon” was a Roman nobleman that Paul had led to Christ while on a mission trip to Colossae. He was wealthy, which meant he had a bunch of servants. Unfortunately for Philemon, one of those servants (Onesimus) had just bolted, taking a bunch of stuff from Philemon’s house in his escape.
In one of the strangest twists of providence imaginable, this servant Onesimus happens to run into Paul in Rome, some 1,200 miles away. Paul, doing what Paul does, ends up leading Onesimus to Christ, only to find out that he is a runaway slave—and that they have a mutual acquaintance in Philemon.
The book of Philemon is actually the letter that Paul sent to Philemon by the hand of Onesimus, since Paul, incredibly, was able to convince Onesimus to turn himself in. But even as Paul sends Onesimus back, the content of the letter shows that Paul wants to see a change in Philemon.
In verse 6 of this letter, Paul says to Philemon, “I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.” Philemon had been a ruthless businessman, but was transformed by the gospel into a beautiful picture of generosity. Another way to think about verse 6 would be to ask: What kind of generosity does your faith demand? The answer that Paul is looking for—in this scenario—is, “I should give my servant his freedom.”
But the application doesn’t stop there: the mission of God today will only be propelled by people who have grasped the implications of the gospel: grace and generosity. Often this means giving and serving where it is costly. It certainly was for Philemon. But costly giving arises most naturally when we begin by pondering the generosity God has poured out on us. Once we understand the generosity of God toward us, we’ll stop asking, “What do I have to give?” And we’ll start asking, “How can I best leverage my life for God’s kingdom?”
We can only give what we have. But we need to remember that everything we do have has come from God. The same grace that transformed Philemon is the grace that transforms the church. Philemon was not a self-made man; his life is evidence of God’s grace. None of us are self-made: we’re blood bought, and that makes us grace-filled.
2. We want to see the “Onesimuses” of our community become world-changing leaders.
Modern readers are often so side-tracked by the question, “Is Paul okay with slavery?” (short answer: no) that they miss the bigger picture: Onesimus’ slavery depicts for us the slavery of sin, and how we are all servants to it. Many of you are enslaved to sinful passions, idolatries, selfishness, lusts, and many other things that are keeping you from being a world-changing leader. It may have started as a diversion or an amusing hobby, but if you start to give your heart to something other than God, it will take the whole heart and make you useless. But God created you to be useful! That’s what Onesimus means, which is precisely Paul’s point: the gospel liberates you to be what God created you to be—not “useless,” not even “useful” in the sense of being a utility in someone else’s life, but useful in God’s purposes, part of a bigger plan.
Many people in our world have swallowed the lie that they are useless, that because of their culture, their past, or their sin, they won’t amount to anything. You need to hear: God has a plan for you. Onesimus was a pilfering thief, but he was transformed by the gospel into a leader of one of the most important churches in the ancient world.[1]
The gospel can transform the ruthless into the generous and the enslaved into the empowered. The gospel levels the oppressor and the oppressed alike, exalting one of out slavery and humbling the other with grace. It redeems us with mercy and makes us sit down together as brothers and sisters in Christ, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, neither male nor female—no hierarchy, for we are all one in Christ Jesus!
Only the gospel can take Philemons and make them radically generous participants in the mission of God; and only the gospel can take the Onesimuses of our community and make them become world-changing leaders. But praise God, he is doing this every day.
[1] Ignatius referred to an elderly bishop of Ephesus named Onesimus (which scholars say would have been a very uncommon name among people in leadership positions). Many scholars, based on the timing and the context of Ignatius reference, believe this to be the Onesimus of Philemon.
