Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

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Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.o
rg
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Sunday April 21, 2013Philemon Philemon
17-19-Pauls Request, Promissory Note and
Reminder to PhilemonLesson 9
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Please turn in your Bibles to Philemon 1.
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Philemon 1 From Paul, a prisoner owned by Christ,
who is Jesus, along with Timothy, our spiritual
brother, to Philemon, who is our dear friend and
co-worker 2 as well as to Apphia, our spiritual
sister and in addition, Archippus, our
fellow-soldier, also, the church, which is in
your private home. 3 Grace to all of you as well
as peace from God our Father as well as the Lord,
who is Jesus, who is the Christ.
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4 I continue making it a habit of giving thanks
to my God always as I myself continue to make it
a habit of remembering you during my prayers 5
because I continue to regularly hear about your
divine-love as well as your faithfulness, which
you continue to regularly demonstrate toward the
Lord who is Jesus, which is for the benefit of
each and every one of the saints.
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6 I make it a habit to pray that the fellowship
produced by your faith would cause itself to be
manifested as effective because of an
experiential knowledge, which produces every type
of divine good of intrinsic quality and
character, which is in all of us on behalf of
Christ.
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7 Indeed, I have experienced much joy as well as
encouragement because of your divine-love in the
sense that the hearts of the saints have been
refreshed through you, spiritual brother. 8
Therefore, even though I possess great confidence
because of my authority from Christ to command
what is appropriate and obligatory for you,
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9 I rather appeal to you on the basis of this
divine-love, even though I am the one who is
identified as Paul, an elder as well as now in
fact, a prisoner, owned by the Christ, who is
Jesus. 10 I appeal to you on behalf of my
spiritual child whom I became the spiritual
father of during my imprisonment Onesimus.
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11 The one who was formerly characterized as
useless, of no benefit to you but now for your
benefit and especially for my benefit, is
characterized as useful, 12 whom I have sent
back to you himself, that is, my very own
affections, 13 whom I myself in contrast to this
desire, could almost wish for my own benefit keep
with myself in order that on your behalf, he
could render service to me during my imprisonment
with reference to the proclamation of the gospel.
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14 However, I prefer to do absolutely nothing
without your consent in order that your good deed
would not be as characterized on the basis of
compulsion but rather on the basis
self-determination. 15 Indeed, perhaps because of
this he was taken away for a brief period of time
in order that you would receive him back in
person forever.
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16 No longer as a slave but rather, more than a
slave, namely a divinely loved spiritual brother,
especially for my benefit but how much more, for
your benefit, both a human relationship and a
relationship with the Lord. (My translation)
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Philemon 17 If then you regard me a partner,
accept him as you would me. (NASB95)
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Then is the inferential conjunction oun (???),
which is introducing a statement that is the
direct result of an inference from Pauls
statements in Philemon 8-16.
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This indicates that Paul is linking Philemons
new spiritual relationship with Onesimus to
Philemon welcoming Onesimus into the fellowship
of the church which met in his home.
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If is the conditional particle ei (e?), which
introduces a protasis of a first class condition
that indicates the assumption of truth for the
sake of argument.
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The idea behind the first class condition is not
since but rather, if-and let us assume that it
is true for the sake of argument that, then...
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This would encourage Philemon to respond and come
to Pauls conclusion in the apodosis since
Philemon would already agree with Paul with
regards to his statement in the protasis.
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Therefore, Paul is employing the first class
condition as a tool of persuasion with Philemon
who would respond to Pauls protasis.
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Here the protasis is if and let assume that it
is true for the sake argument that you, Philemon,
regard my as your partner with regards to the
gospel.
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Philemon would acknowledge this.
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The apodasis is (then) welcome Onesimus into the
fellowship of the church which meets in your
home.
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Partner is the adjective koinonos (????????),
which speaks of the partnership aspect of
Christian fellowship.
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It refers to the relationship that Paul and
Philemon shared with regards to the propagation
of the gospel.
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It also refers to the fact that Paul and Philemon
shared a common relationship with Jesus Christ
through faith in Him.
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Also, it meant that they communicated with one
another, sharing the Word of God with each other.

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Lastly, it meant that they shared their material
possessions with one another as each one had a
need.
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Accept is the verb proslambanomai
(p??s?aµß???µa?), which means to welcome into
ones fellowship and is used with Philemon as
its subject and Onesimus as its object indicating
that Paul wants Philemon to welcome Onesimus into
the fellowship of the church which met in his
home.
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The aorist imperative form of the verb is a pure
ingressive aorist imperative emphasizing with
Philemon the urgency for him to welcome Onesimus
into the fellowship of the church which met in
his home.
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Philemon 17 Therefore, if, and let us assume that
it is true for the sake of argument you regard me
as a partner and of course you do, then please,
you yourself welcome him into the fellowship as
you, yourself would certainly welcome me into the
fellowship. (My translation)
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Paul is persuading Philemon with the first class
conditional statement that based upon their
partnership he is requesting that he welcome
Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which
met in his home as he would welcome himself.
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He wants Philemon to infer from this partnership
that he should welcome Onesimus, a new Christian,
into the fellowship of the church which meets in
his home as he would welcome himself.
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If Philemon refused Pauls request, then this
would be inconsistent with his acknowledgement of
their partnership.
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Philemon 18 But if he has wronged you in any way
or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
(NASB95)
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This verse marks a mild contrast with the
previous first class conditional statement and
the one to follow.
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So the contrast is between Philemon welcoming
Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which
met in his home and Philemon not doing so because
Onesimus defrauded him of money or owes him
money.
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If is the conditional particle ei (e?), which
introduces a protasis of a first class condition
that indicates the assumption of truth for the
sake of argument.
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Here the protasis is if and let assume that it
is true for the sake argument that Onesimus
defrauded you in any way or owed you money.
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Philemon would acknowledge this since Onesimus
did wrong him by running away and thus costing
him money.
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The apodasis is (then) charge it to my account.

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He has wronged is the verb adikeo (?d????),
which refers to Onesimus wronging Philemon or
acting unjustly by running away or stealing money
from him to support himself while on the run.
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Owes is the verb ellogeo (???????), which means
to owe, to be in debt and is used of Onesimus
being in debt financially to Philemon implying
that he robbed him or owed him money which he did
not pay back to him.
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This financial indebtedness could be the result
of Onesimus running away and costing Philemon
money because of the loss of his services or
Onesimus could have robbed Philemon to finance
his flight or both could be in view.
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Charge to my account is composed of the
following (1) dative first person singular form
of the possessive personal pronoun ego (???),
my (2) second person singular present active
imperative form of the verb ellogeo (???????),
charge to account.
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The verb ellogeo means, to charge to a persons
account indicating that Paul is requesting that
Philemon charge Onesimus financial obligation to
him in case Onesimus owes him money.
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The imperative form of this verb in Philemon 18
is an imperative of request indicating that Paul
is requesting that Philemon charge to his account
or give him the bill for any money which Onesimus
owes him for the loss of his services or stole
from him.
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Philemon 18 However, if, and let us assume that
it is true for the sake of argument that he has
wronged you at all or owes you anything, and we
know this is the case, then please, at this time,
charge that to my account. (My translation)
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So the apostle Paul is contrasting Philemon
welcoming Onesimus into the fellowship of the
church which met in his home and Philemon not
doing so because Onesimus wronged him in any way
or owed him money.
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Here in verse 18, Paul is acknowledging to
Philemon that Onesimus had in fact wronged him by
running away and thus costing him money from the
loss of his services or costing him money because
he robbed him.
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The responsive first class condition in verse 18
acknowledges that Onesimus wronged Philemon.
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Paul does not mention explicitly how Onesimus
wronged Philemon or owed him money because the
fact that Onesimus ran away did in fact wrong
Philemon and ultimately would have cost him
money.
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So there is no need to mention explicitly that by
running away he cost Philemon money and wronged
him since it is all clear to both parties what
the wrong is and how the wrong cost Philemon
money.
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So Pauls offer or request here in verse 18 is
another imitation of Jesus Christ.
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Just as the Lord Jesus Christ reconciled us to
God by willingly assuming our sin debt at the
cross and paying it in full to the Father with
His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths
on the cross, so also Paul willingly assumed any
financial debt Onesimus might have had with
Philemon so as to reconcile the two.
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Just as the Sons motivation to pay our sin debt
was His love for the Father and us, so Pauls
motivation was his love for both Philemon and
Onesimus.
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Just as the Son did not ignore our sins and
forget about our debt of sin to the Father and to
Him and the Spirit, so Paul did not ignore
Onesimus financial debt to Philemon.
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Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was sinless but yet
incurred our sin debt and paid it in full at the
cross to reconcile us to God so Paul who was not
involved in any possible guilt on the part of
Onesimus, assumed his debt to reconcile him with
Philemon.
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Just as the Lord Jesus Christ paid our sin debt
to God and thus provided us the forgiveness of
sins so Paul assumed any possible sin debt that
Onesimus might have incurred with Philemon so as
to provide Onesimus forgiveness for any crimes he
might have committed against Philemon.
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Philemon 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own
hand, I will repay it (not to mention to you that
you owe to me even your own self as well).
(NASB95)
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I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand, I
will repay it emphasizes with Philemon that he
is placing himself under legal obligation to him
and by stating his name, Paul wants Philemon to
be assured that he and not an amanuensis is
making this promise.
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Not to mention to you that you owe to me even
your own self as well is a rhetorical device
called paralipsis which is used when a comment
is made about something by the suggestion that it
will not be mentioned or does not need to be
spoken of. The orator pretends to pass over
something which he in fact mentions.
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This device is telling Philemon in a delicate
manner that if Onesimus has a financial
obligation with Philemon, then Philemon is
spiritually obligated to Paul since Philemon got
saved through Pauls ministry.
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Paul is giving this promissory note in order that
he may avoid mentioning that Philemon owes him
his very own self in the sense that Philemon was
saved through his ministry and is Pauls
spiritual child just like Onesimus.
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Philemon 19 I, Paul am writing with my very own
hand I will make restitution in order to avoid
mentioning to you that you owe even your very
self to me. (My translation)
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Pauls message to Philemon is clear in this
verse.
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If Onesimus was indebted to Philemon financially
then Philemon was even more indebted to Paul
since not only was Philemon saved through Pauls
ministry but also he will receive Onesimus back
as a useful Christian as well.
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He was thus obligated to forgive Onesimus and
welcome him.
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Paul had not charged Philemon who is Pauls
spiritual child, thus Philemon should forgive
Onesimus debt who is also Pauls spiritual child
and thus, they are in fact spiritual brothers
since they have the same spiritual father, Paul.
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So here in verses 18-19, Philemon went from being
a creditor to a debtor!
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The fact that Paul mentions Philemons
indebtedness to him indicates clearly that
Philemon was saved through Pauls ministry and
was personally involved in the conversion of
Philemon just as he was with Onesimus
conversion.
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Now we know that at the time Paul wrote
Colossians and Philemon, he had never been to
Colossae and so Philemon must have come into
contact with Paul and heard him teach somewhere
outside the Lycus Valley.
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They might have come into contact with each other
at Ephesus.
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(No Transcript)