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stranger, would have been allowed access to him (Acts 23: 12-15; 24: 23).
In Rome, Onesimus would certainly have freedom of access (Acts 28: 30).
(3)
Eph. 6: 19, 20 suggests that Paul had a certain amount of freedom in making
known the gospel; a fact more consistent with Rome, when he received all,
than Caesarea, when only his acquaintances (who were surely already
believers) came to him (Acts 24: 23 with 28: 30).
It seems from the above that (a) Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon were
`companion' epistles and (b) that they were written from Rome during Paul's "two years"
of captivity there (Acts 28: 30).
Philemon compared with the letter of Pliny.
The younger Pliny, died 113A.D., wrote letter to his friend Sabinianus to intercede for
an offending freedman, and this letter has often been compared with that of Paul to
Philemon. It may be of interest to the reader to note certain points of difference which
only go to emphasize the change that the grace of God can make in men's lives. The
following is a translation from the Latin as given by Dean Farrar:
"100: Plinius to his Sabinianus, greeting:
Your freedman, with whom, as you had told me, you were vexed, came to me,
and, flinging himself at my feet, clung to them as though they had been yours.
He wept much, entreated much, yet at the same time left much unsaid, and, in
short, convinced me that he was sincerely sorry. I believe that he is really
reformed, because he is conscious of his delinquency. You are angry, I know;
justly angry, that too I know; but gentleness is most praiseworthy exactly where
anger is most justifiable. You loved the poor fellow, and I hope will love him
again; meanwhile, it is enough to yield to intercession. Should he ever deserve it
you may be angry again, and all the more excusably by yielding now. Make
some allowance for his youth, for his tears, for your own kindly disposition. Do
not torture him, lest you torture yourself as well, for it is a torture to you when
one of your kindly nature is angry. I fear you will think that I am not asking but
forcing you if I join my prayers to his: I will, however, do so, and all the more
fully and unreservedly in proportion to the sharpness and severity with which I
took him to task, sternly threatening that I would never say a word for him again.
That I said to him because he needed to be well frightened; but I do not say it to
you, for perhaps I shall say a word for him again, and again gain my point;
provided only my request be such as it becomes me to ask and you to grant.
Farewell!"
This letter of Pliny has its grace and touching moments, but "it stands for beauty and
value far below the letter to Philemon" (Farrar). "If purity of diction be expected, there
will hardly be any difference of opinion in awarding the palm to the Christian Apostle"
(Bishop Lightfoot).
The first obvious difference between the two epistles is that Paul's is on behalf of a
runaway slave, but that of Pliny for a freedman. And yet in spite of the more subservient
position of Onesimus, Paul's confidence in Philemon's reception of him, is far greater