For Onesimus, see Philemon 10-20. Here he is simply referred to as that dear and faithful brother, who belongs to your group. This quite clearly means that he is from Colossae and would also appear to mean (as in the case of Epaphras, verse 12) that he is a member of the church there. But Beare, in the light of Philemon, says he was not yet a member of the church.

With him goes Onesimus may be expressed as “Onesimus will accompany him” or “… will travel with him.”

That dear and faithful brother may be translated as “he is a fellow believer who is very dear to us and who can be trusted” or “… whom we trust.”

The reference to Onesimus as belonging to the group of believers in Colossae may be expressed as “who really belongs to your group” or “… to you as a group of believers.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .