Onesimus returns to Philemon with Paul's letter

Philemon

Paulc. 60
BibleEasyEpistleAncient GreekQuick · 2 pages

Read this if you…

  • like seeing Paul personal and warm rather than theological (a one-page letter, not a treatise)
  • care about the NT's most pointed text on slavery: a runaway returned as a beloved brother
  • want the short Pauline epistle that pivots an entire moral question on tact and friendship

Skip this if you…

  • don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts

Why It Matters

Philemon became a fought-over text in the slavery debates. Abolitionists read it as an implicit attack on the institution; defenders of slavery pointed out that Paul never demanded Onesimus be freed. Its method, changing relationships from the inside, is classic Pauline social ethics.

Gallery

Depicted in Art

Paul blesses the converted Onesimus, whose arms are crossed in submission; the master Epaphras stands by in astonishment.

Benjamin West, 1780

Historiated initial: Onesimus stands before Philemon holding Paul's sealed letter — the moment the epistle is delivered to its recipient.

Byzantine miniature of Onesimus haloed and standing frontally as a saint of the Seventy Apostles, against a gold ground.

985

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick

King James Version

Cambridge University Press · 1611

The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.

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Deep Dive

What It's About

Spoiler warning

This summary gives away plot details.

Notable Quotes

“Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?”

— Paul on the runaway slave Onesimus, Philemon 1:16 (KJV)

“I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.”

— Paul, Philemon 1:19 (KJV)

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