2

to Apphia…Archippus…the church: Paul included these people’s names in the list of the people he was greeting, but he wrote the letter mainly to Philemon. Beginning at verse 4, Paul wrote directly to Philemon. Even if your translation addresses Philemon in the second person (“to you, Philemon”), perhaps you should refer to these people in the third person. For example, “We send greetings to Apphia…,” or “Give our greetings to Apphia….”

2a

sister: Paul also greeted Apphia. The phrase “Apphia our sister” means that Apphia was a believer in Christ as Paul was. She did not have the same father or mother as Paul and Philemon. See the note on “brother” in verse 1b.

2b

fellow soldier: Paul also greeted Archippus. The phrase Archippus our fellow soldier implies that Archippus spoke out bravely for Christ when people were against the Good News, like a soldier fights to protect his country. (Colossians 4:17, 1 John 2:14) But there is nothing to indicate that Archippus was a soldier in any earthly army.

2c

church: Paul also greeted the believers that met in Philemon’s house. They met together with Philemon regularly to worship the Lord. Christians didn’t have church buildings in those days. They met in homes. See “church”, sense 1 in Key Biblical Terms.

your house: This refers to Philemon’s home.

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13

I would have liked: “I would like” (Good News Translation). You could freely translate the first part of verse 13 as “If I did what I wanted, I would keep him here.” But Paul didn’t do what he wanted to do for himself. He let Philemon decide (verse 14).

keep him with me: Paul wanted Onesimus to stay near him in the town where Paul was in prison so that Onesimus could visit him and help him.

on your behalf he could minister to me: Paul knew that Philemon wanted to help Paul in any way he could. If he had lived near Paul, he would have come to the prison and helped him. Philemon’s slave Onesimus was there, and he could have helped Paul in Philemon’s place, or on his behalf.

on your behalf: This means “instead of you, in your name, for you.” Some other ways to translate it are: “what you would have done” (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English), “take your place” (New International Version), “as you would wish” (New English Bible).

in my chains: Another way to express the meaning of the phrase in my chains here, is “during the time I am in prison.” See notes on verse 10.

for the gospel: He was in prison because he preached the Good News about Jesus Christ (see verse 1).

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24

as do: This means “these others also send you greetings.”

Mark: This was John Mark, the Jewish Christian who wrote the Gospel of Mark. (Acts 12:25).

Aristarchus: Another Jewish Christian who was there with Paul was Aristarchus. His hometown was Thessalonica. (Acts 19:29).

Demas: Demas was a Gentile Christian, not a Jew. Bible scholars don’t know if this was the same Demas who later left Paul (2 Timothy 4:10).

Luke: This was the same Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. He was a Gentile Christian and a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14).

my fellow workers: These four men were working together with Paul, helping him in various ways to help people know about the Good News (see verse 1). Notice that Paul did not say they were his “fellow prisoners,” as he said about Epaphras (verse 23). These four men were free to continue working with Paul to spread the Gospel, even though he himself was in prison.

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3

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Many Christians greeted one another in this way (verse 3) in the early days of Christianity. It is as if Paul was saying a prayer, asking God to bless those he was writing to.

Grace and peace: This was a greeting and blessing Paul often used in his letters. (For example, 1 Corinthians 1:3, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2).

Grace: The word Grace in this context means “kindness, favor, good will, or blessing.” Paul was asking God to be kind to those to whom he was writing. He wanted God to favor them. Try to think of ways in your language for asking God to bless someone. The term Grace is an important term in the New Testament. See “grace”, sense A2(b) in Key Biblical Terms.

peace: Paul meant “peace of heart” here. This results from a person having peace with God. The term peace also implies “peace with one another.” People who have peace of heart normally live in peace with one another.

to you: The word you is plural here and thus includes all the people whom Paul addressed in the first two verses.

God our Father: For Christians, God is like a father, one who loves us and cares for us.

Lord: The word Lord here in verse 3 means “master” or “leader.” Jesus Christ is our spiritual leader. We who are Christians should obey him as a servant obeys his master. See “Christ”, sense 4 in Key Biblical Terms .

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14a

What Paul meant in this verse was that he did not ask Onesimus to stay with him, since Philemon was not there to approve of it. If he had asked Onesimus to stay, this would have been like forcing Philemon to let Onesimus help Paul. Paul may have meant that he wanted Philemon to send Onesimus back later so he could help Paul while Paul was in prison. But Paul wanted Philemon to do this only if Philemon himself wanted to do it, not because Paul said he must do it.

anything: The word anything here means “anything (in this matter about Onesimus).” Paul would not keep Onesimus with him and would not ask Onesimus to come back (to Paul) unless Philemon approved.

without your consent: Other ways to express this are “unless you say OK” or “without you saying it is all right.” See Display for verse 14a.

14b

so that: This phrase introduces the reason why Paul said in 14a “I did not want to do anything without your consent.” The reason is in 14b: “if you agree to do what I ask, it will be because you yourself want to do it, not because I have said you must do it.”

your goodness: Another way to state this is “If you help me like this….”

goodness: Paul was referring here to something kind or helpful Philemon might do for him. See “ appeal” in verse 10.

not be out of compulsion, but by your own free will: If Philemon did a favor for Paul, Paul wanted it to be something Philemon himself decided to do, not something that Paul ordered him to do whether Philemon wanted to do it or not.

out of compulsion: When someone makes or compels you to do something, or forces you to some action.

by your own free will: This means “without someone telling you to do it.” To do it willingly because you want to do it.

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Paragraph 25 Good-bye

Read verse 25 again.

25

grace: See notes on verse 3. Paul said again that he wanted the Lord to help and bless Paul’s fellow Christians at Colosse, and he prayed for this. Verse 25 shows the way Paul ended many of his letters. (See 1 Corinthians 16:23, Colossians 4:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:28.)

be with your spirit: This does not refer to some spirit that was separate from the Christians Paul was writing to. He was talking about the people themselves. It is another way of saying “be with you.” The word your is plural and shows that Paul wanted this grace or blessing to be with all the Christians at Colosse. Also the word spirit is singular (meaning “one spirit”). Paul was writing to them as one group of God’s united people.

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Section 4–7

Paul thanks God for Philemon and prays for him

After Paul greeted Philemon and his friends, Paul thanked God for him and prayed for him. This is the way he started most of his letters. For other examples, see Philippians 1:3–11 and Colossians 1:3–14. Before he asked Philemon to do something, Paul wanted to tell Philemon how much he loved and respected him. Paul thanked God because Philemon had faith in the Lord Jesus, and because he loved God’s people. This love gave Paul great joy. And Paul prayed that Philemon’s fellowship with other believers would increase and deepen because he (Philemon) knows the good things that God has given believers.

In this Section Paul wrote directly to Philemon. He used only “you (sing)” in verses 4–21, not “you (plur)” as he did in the beginning and end of the letter.

Read verses 4–7 carefully in the Berean Standard Bible and the Good News Translation, and then read the following notes before translating.

4

Verse 4 could have one of two meanings:

(1) Every time I pray for you I thank God (for you) (New International Version, New Century Version, Contemporary English Version, Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation (2004)). This means that Paul did not thank God for Philemon every time he prayed.

(2) Every time I pray I thank God for you. (Good News Translation, King James Version, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Jerusalem Bible). This means that Paul did thank God for Philemon every time he prayed.

The first meaning is probably what Paul intended.

my God: This means “The God I know and belong to and worship.” Paul related to God in a very personal way. But a literal translation of the phrase “my God” may imply a wrong meaning in some languages. Check carefully on this point.

remembering: Paul meant that when he prayed he “mentioned” Philemon to God, he “prayed for” him. Be careful not to use a word that would imply he had forgotten Philemon and then remembered him.

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Paragraph 15–16 Onesimus is now a brother in Christ

In these verses Paul said that it could be a good thing that Onesimus ran away from Philemon. As a result, Onesimus became a Christian. As he went back to Philemon, he went back not only as a slave, but also as a Christian brother. If he had not run away, he might not have become a Christian.

Read verses 15–16 again.

15a-b

for a while…for good: (Good News Translation🙂 “short time…all time” The short time that Onesimus was away from Philemon—perhaps a few months—helped him to return and be with him for all time (on this earth and in heaven) as a fellow Christian. Another way to say this would be that Philemon lost a slave for a short time so he could get back a Christian brother for all time.

15a

perhaps: Paul was not certain that what he said in 15a–16a was God’s plan, but he thought that it was likely.

was separated from you: What this really means is that Onesimus ran away. But Paul said it in a way that made it seem like God allowed him to run away or even that God caused this to happen. This then helped Onesimus to meet Paul and become a Christian.

15b

have him back: This means that Philemon could have Onesimus with him again.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.

BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.