July 11, 2014 (Friday)
The letter to Philemon is a personal letter and extremely brief, just a few paragraphs. Philemon owned a slave, Onesimus, who ran away to Rome. While in Rome somehow he reached Paul, who led him to Christ. Onesimus was persuaded to return to Philemon, but he would be a different man because he had become a Christian. Paul appeals to Philemon, on the basis of Christian love, to accept Onesimus as a brother and to forgive him.
Philemon – a devotional thought
One might say that Paul should have insisted that Onesimus go free, and perhaps Paul anticipated a world in which slavery would no longer be allowed; in the meantime a different cultural standard prevailed. Seeds were being sown that would eventually remove evil institutions, but growth toward those ideals would be gradual. Receiving his slave as a Christian brother was a giant step forward in those days of rigid social classes. What about us today? Are we willing to include everyone in our circle of love?