Epistle to Philemon
It is a prison letter, authored by Paul the Apostle (the opening verse also mentions Timothy), to Philemon, a leader in the Colossian church.
The main challenge to the letter's authenticity came from a group of German scholars in the nineteenth century known as the Tübingen School.
[7] Their leader, Ferdinand Christian Baur, only accepted four New Testament epistles as genuinely written by Paul: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians.
[10] According to the most common interpretation, Paul wrote this letter on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave who had wronged his owner Philemon.
However, he considered it better to send him back to Philemon with an accompanying letter, which aimed to effect reconciliation between them as Christian brothers.
[12] Onesimus' status as a fugitive slave was challenged by Allen Dwight Callahan in an article published in the Harvard Theological Review and in a later commentary.
"[13] Callahan argues that the earliest commentators on this work – the homily of Origen and the Anti-Marcion Preface – are silent about Onesimus' possible servile status, and traces the origins of this interpretation to John Chrysostom, who proposed it in his Homiliae in epistolam ad Philemonem, during his ministry in Antioch, circa 386–398.
[14] In place of the traditional interpretation, Callahan suggests that Onesimus and Philemon are brothers both by blood and religion, but who have become estranged, and the intent of this letter was to reconcile the two men.
[16] Further, Margaret M. Mitchell has demonstrated that a number of writers before Chrysostom either argue or assume that Onesimus was a runaway slave, including Athanasius, Basil of Caesarea and Ambrosiaster.
Vs15-16 make it clear that Paul was asking Philemon to receive him back "forever" and "no longer as a slave" but as a "beloved brother."
[20] Some have speculated that Archippus (Greek: Ἀρχιππος, romanized: Archippos), described by Paul as a "fellow soldier", is the son of Philemon and Apphia.
[11] The Scottish Pastor John Knox proposed that Onesimus' owner was in fact Archippus, and the letter was addressed to him rather than Philemon.
In this reconstruction, Philemon would receive the letter first and then encourage Archippus to release Onesimus so that he could work alongside Paul.
According to O'Brien, the fact that Philemon's name is mentioned first, together with the use of the phrase "in your house" in verse 2, makes it unlikely that Archippus was the primary addressee.
[11] Knox further argued that the letter was intended to be read aloud in the Colossian church in order to put pressure on Archippus.
B. Lightfoot, for example, wrote: "The tact and delicacy of the Apostle's pleading for Onesimus would be nullified at one stroke by the demand for publication.
He concludes this paragraph by describing the joy and comfort he has received from knowing how Philemon has shown love towards the Christians in Colossae.
He offers to pay for any debt created by Onesimus' departure and expresses his desire that Philemon might refresh his heart in Christ.
[25] In the final section of the letter, Paul describes his confidence that Philemon would do even more than he had requested, perhaps indicating his desire for Onesimus to return to work alongside him.
[32] In order to better appreciate the Book of Philemon, it is necessary to be aware of the situation of the early Christian community in the Roman Empire; and the economic system of Classical Antiquity based on slavery.
[33] Pope Benedict XVI refers to this letter in his encyclical letter, Spe salvi, highlighting the power of Christianity as power of the transformation of society:Those who, as far as their civil status is concerned, stand in relation to one an other as masters and slaves, inasmuch as they are members of the one Church have become brothers and sisters—this is how Christians addressed one another...
