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"The originality with which the Apostle is thus stamped, and the strong external
testimonies of antiquity, which, short as this epistle is, are by no means wanting, may
justly be said to place its genuineness and authenticity beyond all doubt."
(Introduction to Philemon).
There are probably a number of reasons why the epistle holds the place it does. "It is
one sample of numberless letters which must have been written to his many friends and
disciples by one of St. Paul's eager temperament and warm affections, in the course of a
long and chequered life" (Bishop Lightfoot). As a sample it reveals, perhaps better than
any other of his epistles, the character of the man who was set forth as a "pattern to them
which should hereafter believe in Him to life everlasting" (I Tim. 1: 16). The Apostle is
as it were caught in an unguarded moment. He could surely never have imagined
regarding this letter (even if he did with respect to his others) that it would have been
handed down to posterity. He is revealed in this most private of all his letters as one who
practices what he preaches--he lives up to his convictions, and his private life is as much
to be commended as that open to public gaze. If Paul was going to fail anywhere it
would have been here, but he does not do so; he shows himself to be the man presented
to us in the longer, more public, records of his thoughts and ways. He is a consistent
pattern, and Philemon reveals this.
"The example tact with which his (Onesimus') fraudulent conduct towards Philemon
is alluded to (18),--the absence of everything tending to excuse or palliate the misdeed,
yet the use of every expression and sentiment calculated to win the fullest measures of
Philemon's forgiveness,--has not failed to call forth the reverential admiration of every
expositor from the earliest times down to our own day."
(Introduction to Philemon--Bishop Ellicott).
But there is a more particular reason for the retention of this epistle as part of the word
of God, for as has been already noted, it reveals Paul's attitude to one of the evils of his
day, and as such is a guide for present practice in this respect.
How did Paul react to slavery? Before this question can be answered it must be
remembered that the Apostle was a Hebrew, familiar with the history and teaching of the
O.T. He was aware that a system of slavery was enacted under the Mosaic law, (a system
which has been greatly misunderstood by opponents of slavery since), and he would
naturally have been influenced by this. It has been suggested that by his action in
sending back Onesimus to his master he "countenanced the principles of modern
fugitive-slave law". These points must be considered before any clear conception can be
gained of the Apostle's attitude to N.T. slavery.
Old Testament slavery.
This title, although correct in the broadest meaning of "slavery", will be modified in
the course of this consideration, to "Old Testament servitude", for the system which
prevailed under the Hebrews must in no way be confused with the more modern Negro
slave trade. There is no need, with some expositors, to "put out the hand to save the ark
of God". O.T. servitude, correctly understood, will leave the believer no cause for alarm,
nor need to compromise his belief in the veracity of "all Scripture". As with all systems,