Philemon
INTRODUCTION
PHILEMON
LEON MORRIS
Philemon is a purely private letter from Paul to his friend Philemon about a runaway slave named Onesimus. It seems that Philemon lived at Colossae, and that this letter was sent to him at the same time as Paul’s letter to the Colossian church (see the references to Onesimus, Colossians 4:8f., and Archippus, Colossians 4:17). Paul was in prison somewhere (v.1), and he had evidently been the means of the conversion of Onesimus (v.10). Now he is sending the slave back to his owner, but this letter is evidence that he is taking every care to ensure that Onesimus be properly received. It is a delightful letter, giving us a revealing glimpse into first-century life and showing us from a new angle the way Christians lived out their faith.
Most scholars think that the imprisonment in question was in Rome, and that it came toward the end of Paul’s ministry. It is possible that it was during another of Paul’s imprisonments (2 Corinthians 11:23), but there is no way of deciding the point.
Nothing is known about Onesimus other than what we learn here, though there was a tradition in the early church that he became a bishop. Similarly, nothing is known of Philemon other than what we learn from this letter.