Section 187
82“For this reason (δɩὰ τoῦτo), perhaps, he was separated from you”: in the NT (where the pronoun ὅδε is rarely used) δɩἀ τoῦτo may refer either backward or forward; here (pace J. Knox, Philemon among the Letters, p. 22, η. 11) it is most naturally understood as referring forward, anticipating the ἵνα clause. Paul’s “perhaps” (τάϰα) envisages at least the possibility that Philemon might keep Onesimus with himself and not send him back, as Paul hopes he will.
83The adjective αἰώνɩoς (in ἵνα αἰώνɩoν αὐτòν 
) might mean “lifelong”; but since brotherhood “in the Lord” is not terminated by death, there is no need so to restrict its meaning.
84Gk. μάλɩστα ἐμoί, πóσῳ δέ μᾶλλoν σoί. C. F. D. Moule (ad loc.) takes μάλɩστα as elative, but he mentions that Lightfoot treats Paul’s wording as an enthusiastic illogicality: “most of all to me—more than most of all to thee.” Less satisfactorily, J. Knox, taking μάλɩστα as a real superlative, understands μᾶλλoν to mean that Onesimus is to be dearer than before to his owner (Philemon among the Letters, pp. 23-24).