Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] The Letter to Philemon in a Nutshell written by Bart Ehrman, read by Ken Teutsch I come now to the final Pauline letter of the New Testament, Philemon.
[00:00:16] If you recall, Paul's letters are ordered by length. This is by far the shortest, a real one pager.
[00:00:23] Given its brevity, I'll be dealing with its major themes and emphases and the questions of who, when and why in this one post.
[00:00:32] First, a 50 word summary.
[00:00:34] Paul's letter to his former convert Philemon concerns Philemon's slave Onesimus, who has fled from his master, possibly with stolen goods, found Paul in prison, converted and begged him to intervene on his behalf, which Paul does by urging Philemon to receive his slave as a fellow believer without punishment.
[00:00:57] Here is how I discuss the letter in my book the New A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Oxford University Press edited a bit the letter to Philemon is a little gem hidden away in the inner recesses of the New Testament.
[00:01:14] Merely a single page in length, the size of an average Greco Roman letter, it is the only undisputed epistle of Paul addressed to an individual.
[00:01:24] Rather than dealing with major crises that have arisen in the church, the letter concerns a single man, the runaway slave Onesimus and his fate at the hands of his master Philemon. On first reading, there may be some confusion concerning the recipient of the letter since it is addressed to three individuals and a church to Philemon, our dear friend and co worker, to Apphea, our sister, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. Verse 2.
[00:01:55] It is clear, however, that the letter is really addressed to the solitary individual because Paul speaks to a single person in the body of the letter you singular in Greek starting with verse 4 and continuing through verse 24.
[00:02:09] Evidently the principal recipient is Philemon, since he is the first one to be named, just as Paul names himself first as the sender of the letter prior to mentioning his co author Timothy.
[00:02:21] Our only clues about who Philemon was come from the letter itself. To begin with, he must have been a relatively wealthy Christian. He had a private home large enough to accommodate a church that is a private gathering of Christians, and he owned slaves. Moreover, he evidently had valuable property that could be stolen, as Paul thinks that Onesimus may have run off with some of it or or else embezzled some of the funds entrusted to his charge. Verse 18 tradition holds that Philemon was a leader of the church in the town of Colossae, an identification possibly suggested by the fact that in verse 23 Paul conveys greetings from Epaphras, who, according to Colossians 4:12, was a member of that church.
[00:03:09] Although many scholars doubt that Colossians was actually written by Paul, wherever Philemon lived, he appears to have stood in Paul's debt. As Paul not so subtly reminds, I say nothing about your owing me even your own self, by claiming to say nothing about it. Of course, Paul says all that needs to be said.
[00:03:31] For this reason, it appears likely that Philemon was one of Paul's converts. Apart from these things, we cannot say much about the man himself. As for the occasion of Paul's letter to Philemon, we know that Paul writes from prison.
[00:03:46] Again, we don't know where he is or why he is being punished. It does appear, though, that he anticipates being released.
[00:03:54] The letter may date toward the end of Paul's career in the late 50s.
[00:03:59] While in prison, he met and converted Philemon's runaway slave Onesimus. When he speaks of onesimus in verse 10 as one whose father I have become, the Greek literally says whom I begot, the same phrase that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 4:15 to refer to his converts in Corinth.
[00:04:20] The letter does not explicitly indicate whether Onesimus himself is imprisoned, for example, for having been caught in flight with some of his master's goods, or whether he has come to visit Paul in jail as a friend of his master.
[00:04:35] The former option seems unlikely. The Roman Empire was a big place, and to think that Paul and the slave of one of his converts just happened to end up in the same jail cell, whether in a major urban center like Ephesus or a small rural village, simply defies the imagination.
[00:04:52] On the other hand, if Onesimus was trying to get away from his master, why would he have gone straight to see one of his friends?
[00:04:59] Recent studies of ancient Roman slavery law may provide an answer to this question.
[00:05:05] It was a legally recognized practice for a slave who had incurred his or her master's wrath to flee to one of the master's trusted associates to plead for his intervention and protection. The associate then served as a kind of official mediator who would try to smooth out differences that had arisen through misunderstanding or even malfeasance. Malfeasance appears to be the issue here.
[00:05:30] A possible scenario, then, would be something like the Philemon slave Onesimus has done something wrong, possibly stealing from the household or incurring some other kind of financial loss for his master.
[00:05:44] Rather than stand and face the consequences, he flees to Paul the Apostle, who had converted his master to a new religion and who is Therefore a known and respected authority for him. While visiting Paul, Onesimus himself becomes converted to faith in Christ, a conversion that proves convenient for the nasty little business at home. Paul can now urge Philemon to receive Onesimus back, not only as a slave, but as much more as a brother in Christ, one who has been useful to Paul and can now be useful to Philemon.
[00:06:20] Here Paul is playing with words. Slaves were often given descriptive names, such as the Latin fortunatus, which means lucky, or felix, which means happy. The Greek name Onesimus means useful.
[00:06:35] In his mediatorial role. Paul urges Philemon not to punish his slave, who has now had a change of heart, and to charge the apostle himself with whatever debt he has incurred. Paul appears to know full well that Philemon will simply write off his loss, given the spiritual debt he owes him.
[00:06:57] But is this all that Paul wants Philemon to do?
[00:07:01] Scholars have long debated the real meaning of his request, some thinking that Paul wants Philemon to manumit Onesimus, that is, release him from his slavery, and others that he more specifically wants him to free him to engage in missionary work.
[00:07:16] Unfortunately, there is little in the text that suggests either possibility.
[00:07:22] Even verse 16, which urges Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother, is concerned with how he should react to his errant member of his household. It does not tell him to change his slave's status.
[00:07:39] If I were to say to a female acquaintance, I love you, not as a woman, but as a friend, this would not be to deny her gender.
[00:07:46] It may be that the modern abhorrence of slavery has led interpreters to find in Paul a man ahead of his time, one who also oppose the practice. Yet Paul may be asking for something else. He emphasizes that Onesimus has been useful to him and states quite plainly that even though he would like to retain his services, he doesn't want to do so without the leave of his master.
[00:08:12] Moreover, at the end of his short letter, he asks Philemon to provide him with some kind of additional benefit in light of his own debt to Paul.
[00:08:20] The word this in verse 20 is not found in Greek. Literally, the text says, yes, provide me with a benefit.
[00:08:28] What exactly is Paul looking for?
[00:08:31] Although Paul says not a word about Onesimus being set free, it appears that he would like to have him sent back.
[00:08:38] Is Paul asking Philemon to present him with a gift in the person of Onesimus the slave?
