Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a
little while was that you might have him back forever – no longer as a slave,
but better than a slave, as a dear brother (Philemon 15,16).
Onesimus, whose name ironically means profitable, is a runaway slave belonging to
Philemon [13]. Absconding to Rome, he has been converted under Paul’s ministry.
Now, for whatever reason, Paul must send him back – a risky proposition.
William Barclay reminds us what it was like to be a slave in
the Roman Empire. 60,000,000 slaves made rebellion a fearsome potentiality at
any time. Runaways were dealt with swiftly and harshly. Their foreheads might
be branded with an F signifying
them as fugitivus. If the
owner decided he was incorrigible, the slave would likely be crucified as a
lesson to others.
Paul, in his first letter to Timothy, tells believing slaves
to treat their believing masters with more respect for they are not only their
masters, but also their brothers in Christ (6:1,2). He tells Philemon that even
though Onesimus was anything but profitable to him in the past, now as a believer his value to both of them is
greatly increased.
Fifty years later Ignatius, led in chains from Antioch to be
martyred in Rome, writes a letter to the church in Ephesus and their bishop Onesimus. Did Onesimus the slave become Onesimus
the bishop? We don’t know, but it makes for compelling conjecture.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Who do you need to treat
better this week?
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