BibleProject New Testament Series - Lesson 24

BP150-24 - Philemon

Paul's letter to Fei Lehman. It was written during one of Paul's many imprisonments, and it's actually his shortest letter in the New Testament. But don't let its size trick you. It's actually one of the most explosive things that Paul ever wrote. Here's the back story that we can piece together from details within the letter. Phi Lehman was a well-to-do Roman citizen from Colombia who likely met Paul during his mission in Ephesus, and he became a follower of Jesus. Then later, when Paul's coworker, Epirus, started a Jesus community in colossi, Philemon became a leader of a church that met in his house. Now, Philemon, like all household patriarchs in the Roman world, owned slaves, one of whom was named O'Neal Smith. And at some point, these two had a serious conflict. Odysseus wronged by Lehman in some way. Maybe it was theft or maybe he cheated him. We don't exactly know. But afterwards, Onassis ran away. Eventually, Onassis came to Paul in prison, likely to appeal for help. And in the process, he became a follower of Jesus and then a beloved assistant of Paul. And so Paul finds himself in a very difficult and delicate situation as he writes this letter. He's going to ask Philemon not just to forgive Odysseus and receive him back, but to embrace him as a brother in the Messiah and no longer as a slave. Here's how he does it. Paul opens with a prayer, first praising Philemon and thanking God for the love and faithfulness he's shown to Jesus, to his people, and he then paves the way for his request with this line. I pray that the partnership that springs from your faith may effectively lead you to recognize all the good things that work in us, leading us into the Messiah. Now, a key word here is partnership, or in Greek koinonia. It means sharing or mutual participation. It's when two or more people receive something together and share in it becoming partners. Paul's saying that faithfulness to Jesus means recognizing that all of his followers are equal partners who share together in the gift of God's love and grace. And for Paul, this experience of koinonia among Jesus followers, it's not just an idea that you think about. It's something that you do in your relationships, which moves Paul on to his request. He finally brings up on Decimus. He says that he's become Paul's child in prison, meaning that Paul led Onassis to dedicate his life and allegiance to Jesus. And so Paul, in an isthmus, are now family members in the Messiah. He's been serving Paul faithfully in prison. And even though Paul wants to keep him around, he knows that this unresolved conflict with Fi Lehman has to be reconciled. If they say that they're followers of Jesus, which moves Paul on to his bold request that fi Lehman receive Onassis back no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave as a beloved brother in the Lord. Now, this is a really tall order. Under Roman law, Phi Lehman had every legal right to have Onassis punished or put in prison. And Paul's not only asking him to forgive Onassis, but to welcome back his former slave into Nicholas as a social equal, as a family member. This is way more than kindness. This is unheard of. It's freeing a slave and then treating them like a family member. It upsets the status quo of the Roman social order. Why should Philemon do such a thing? And here Paul pulls a brilliant move. He recalls that key word from the opening prayer. He says, If you're truly a partner with me, it's that Greek word Koinonia again. Then welcome Owen Smith as if he were me. And if he's wronged you or owes you anything, charge it to me and I will repay it. So in this request, we see the heart of Paul's gospel message being acted out. It's first of all, about reconciliation. It's just like he told the Corinthians in the Messiah. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them. So in this situation, Paul is putting himself in the place of Jesus. He will absorb the consequences of an Islamist wrongdoing. He will pay the cost so that he can be reconciled to fight Lehman. But Paul's message was about more than just a legal transaction. It's also about Koinonia. Odysseus and Philemon and Paul are all equals before God. They all share the same need for forgiveness. And so the ground is level before the cross, which means the fire. Liman and non-Islamists can no longer relate to each other as master and slave, their family members, their brothers in the Messiah. Or, as Paul told Phil Lehman and the whole Church of Colossi in God's new family. People are not Greek or Jewish or circumcised or uncircumcised, or foreigners, or uncivilized or slave or free. But the. Messiah is all and is in all people. Paul closes the letter stating his confidence that Heilemann will do even more than Paul's requested, and he asks him to prepare a guestroom because he wants to visit as soon as he gets out of prison. And then with some final greetings, Paul ends the letter. Paul's letter to Fi Liman is powerful for many reasons. It's the only letter where Paul doesn't explicitly mention Jesus's death or resurrection. And this is not an oversight. He doesn't need to explain the cross with words because he's demonstrating it through his actions. Paul's embodying here the meaning of the cross. He has made himself the place through which only Smith and Fi Liman are reconciled to God and then to each other. This letter also shows us that the implications of the good news about Jesus, they are extremely personal and never private. The fact that Fi Lehman's non-Islamists are now brothers in the Messiah, it makes their master slave relationship totally irrelevant. The family of Jesus people is the place where all are equal recipients of God's grace. It's a new kind of society or a new humanity, as he called it in the letter to the collections, where people's value and social status, it's not defined by race or gender or social or economic class. In the Messiah, there are simply new humans who are equal partners, who share together in God's healing mercy through Jesus. And that's what Paul's letter to Fi Liman is all about.