Daily Devo - Wednesday, April 9, 2008

"Philemon, our beloved fellow worker..."¹
Philemon 2 (ESV)

We are not exactly sure about the nature of Paul’s relationship to Philemon. Apparently, Paul had led him to Christ (see verse 19b) and the two had worked together in ministry. The term “fellow-worker” most likely signifies that Philemon was an elder (e.g. pastor) of the church that met in his house. But as to when Paul met Philemon, how long they ministered together, or how much contact they had we have no idea. Regardless, Paul genuinely loves this man and calls him beloved (from the word agape).²

Yet there is a potential problem. Philemon owns slaves, one of which (Onesimus) has fled and encountered Paul, through whose witness he presumably became a believer. Now Paul is writing to Philemon to convince him to accept Onesimus (who has returned with the letter) as a brother in Christ, and even possible to set him free or allow him to return to work with Paul. As slaves were extremely expensive, this would have been a major financial loss to Philemon—one that could have even ruined him financially.

Philemon is only mentioned here in the New Testament; however the name was fairly common in the Greek culture. It was the name of a famous character in Greek mythology. In the legend recorded by Ovid, Zeus & Hermes came to Earth to test the piety of humanity. The story recounts how the two gods, disguised as mortals, were barred from a thousand homes until welcomed by an aged farm couple—Philemon and his wife Baucis. The gods then revealed themselves, and directed the couple to a near-by mountain where they witnessed Zeus’ judgment upon the other citizens. The pair were rewarded, and became priest and priestess to the gods and, eventually as an alternative to death, were turned into beautiful trees.³

Paul writes this letter to a Greek man, living in a Greek city, who is pastor of a Greek church. This tale would have been well known to them, and perhaps in it there is a subtle shade of meaning to be found. Would this Philemon “receive” Paul’s words just as the mythological Philemon received Zeus? Or would he “bar” Paul’s words just as the other citizens barred Zeus from their homes? In verse 21 Paul answers this question—he fully expects that Philemon will do all that he says and more.

When we commit ourselves to Christ, we commit ourselves to the cause of Christ. This is true for fellow believers (the congregation as a whole) as well as for fellow workers (those engaged in full time ministry). Regardless the cost, we are called follow Jesus and to live as he lived. We are to feed the poor, care for the disabled, live peaceably with all, and share the good news that Jesus is Lord. This is Jesus’ cause—this is the ministry he left us to accomplish. As Christians, we not only live for the man, we live for the man’s cause.

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¹ The NIV rendering of beloved as “dear friend” is unfortunate and misses the power and emotion of the term. While the ESV renders beloved as an adjective of fellow-worker, this is not the best translation. The KJV is slightly better (“Philemon our [dearly] beloved and fellowlabourer”). A better translation would be “Philemon, our beloved and fellow worker”.
² The word Philemon is a Greek name that probably means something like “kindly, affectionate, worthy of love”.
³ This same legend forms the background for Paul & Barnabas’ encounter with the Lycaonians (Lystra, the Lycaonian city where the event occurred, is near Phrygia). See Acts 14 for this fascinating incident.