Philemon 1-3

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, ²To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home: ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote and had this letter delivered at the same time as Colossians. In Colossians, he calls himself “an apostle by the will of God.” Here he introduces himself to Philemon as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.” This different salutation is crucial. Both introductions serve to advance the point of the letters. Colossians is addressed to folks who lack an authority, plagued by false teachers claiming authority for themselves with no source. But Paul comes along and, though he hasn’t met the Colossians, claims apostolic authority by the will of God Himself. That’s a critical claim for Paul’s audience to hear. And here with Philemon, in reality the same audience (the congregations of Colosse), the issue that Paul is addressing is one of slavery and freedom, and so it’s more than appropriate that Paul would introduce himself – the great apostle, free in Christ – as a prisoner.

Now it’s true that he was a prisoner of Caesar in Rome, but his real imprisonment is to Christ Jesus. He is a bondservant for the gospel, for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. And let’s just acknowledge that prior to receiving and contemplating the truth of this letter by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit, Philemon would have never been willing to consider himself a slave or a prisoner. But afterward? We don’t know the details of what went down. But tradition says that Onesimus was indeed received with open arms; and that would make Philemon a prisoner like Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ for the advancement of the gospel. Do you think the gospel advanced? You bet it did, and it all began with this simple introduction from the apostle Paul. But it didn’t end there.

Paul works on Philemon with genuine, heart-felt rhetoric throughout this letter, and it begins here. Paul calls him a dear friend and fellow worker. It’s an encouragement for this slave owner and house church host to be who he is. He is a believer in Christ, so he needs to act like it. Apphia and Archippus are thought by some to be members of Philemon’s household, perhaps a wife and son, but since Archippus is named a fellow soldier, others believe they were leaders in this Colossian congregation (Colossians 4:17). And the letter goes out to them, as well as the entire church that meets in Philemon’s house. This is no private affair. The situation Paul is dealing with is open to the brothers and sisters in this congregation – and rightly so. What we deal with as siblings in Christ affects each other. Knowing that, Paul desires grace (undeserved favor in spite of demerit) and peace (relational, subjective and objective, not circumstance-based) from God the Father and Jesus Christ to be with this entire home fellowship.