Philemon

There are two things that were here before we came and will be here after we are gone. One of them is Bible doctrine. None of us has ever been able to change Bible doctrine but Bible doctrine has changed many of us. Bible doctrine has always existed. First of all it was given in the first two thousand years of history verbally. After that it was reduced to written form in the time of Moses. Up until the time of Moses Bible doctrine was presented but then it was reduced to writing. And over the period of history, perhaps 6000 years of history, we have Bible doctrine as the one thing that will always exist because doctrine essentially is not only the Word of God the Father but it is the mind of Jesus Christ and it is the voice of the Holy Spirit. It is so described in scripture: the Word of God the Father, the thinking of God the Son, and the voice of God the Holy Spirit. So doctrine was here when we were born and doctrine will be here after we are gone. Doctrine is permanent, the Word of God liveth and abideth forever. Doctrine has the same existence that God has which is eternal existence, and while many people have tried to distort doctrine, including the most brilliant creature that God ever made — Satan himself — and many people have tried to fight doctrine and ruin doctrine, doctrine cannot be destroyed, doctrine cannot be changed, doctrine can only change you but you cannot change doctrine. So when it comes to doctrine from the Word of God don’t fight it, don’t try to change it, don’t try to squeeze it into the mould of your own thinking, don’t try to make it line up with your own preconceived notions, for doctrine is here to stay and none of us can change it but doctrine can change us.

The other thing that will always be here — it was here before we started and it will be here after we are gone — is evil. Like doctrine, evil can never be changed. You cannot change evil but evil can change you. You cannot fight evil but evil can destroy you.

You understand what doctrine is but perhaps you do not understand what evil is. Most believe perhaps that evil is sin and that sin is evil, and that is not quite correct. It is true that sin is evil but it is also true that evil is not sin, for evil includes many other things beside sin. Sin is only one small facet of evil. Evil also includes human good. All of the human good and all of the do-gooders from the beginning of time are evil. Human good and what is done in the name of human good has compounded the problems of life.

A part of doctrine are the laws of divine establishment. Doctrine includes the gospel, doctrine includes all of the spiritual categories of information to God and our relationship to God. Doctrine includes laws of divine establishment and these demand that we have a strong military establishment to protect our freedoms. Every attempt by government of destroy and dismantle our military becomes evil. The concept of socialism is evil. The welfare state is a part of evil; charity is a part of doctrine. There are many things in this world which are evil, there are many things which are condoned as good when in reality they are evil, for evil is the Satanic plan to rule the world. Doctrine is the divine plan which counters this. And there are many many types of evil which pass as good.

Throughout history evils have always existed and nothing has ever changed it. We have just as much evil today as people had in the past and every time you turn around there has been no improvement in human history because since the fall of man the devil is the ruler of this world. And while the lives of people are changed by Bible doctrine when they become believers and respond to it no one’s life is ever changed or improved or bettered by the principles of evil.

Interestingly enough slavery is a social problem. Slavery therefore comes under the category of a social problem. Has slavery ever been stopped or changed? The answer is no. There are various kinds of slavery and some forms of slavery will always exist. Example: communism. It has been estimated that there were as many as between 20,000,000 and 60,000,000 slaves in the Roman empire at the time that Philemon was written. The very name of this book — Philemon: this is a person, Philemon himself was a mature believer. He was at the same time a slave owner. How can a person be a Christian and be a slaver owner? The answer will be found right here. How can a person be a Christian and not be a slave owner? The answer will be found in this book.

In the last period of the Roman republic slavery was unparalleled and the abuse of slaves was great. The degradation, the torture, the abuse, was a great evil and was also very sinful and very wrong. Monson, the most famous of all Roman historians said that in comparison with its abyss of suffering all Negro slavery is but a drop. In other words, we have the fact that the Roman empire slavery exceeds anything that we have ever known on the North American continent. Several sources of slavery existed. In addition to kidnapping and unwed mothers selling their children the Romans suddenly found themselves saddled with prisoners of war and they sold these people into slavery since there was no one to till the soil and the Romans would have starved to death without farm workers. Many of these slaves who worked on the farms had a fairly well to do life compared to those who worked in the mines. There were some slaves who had a great career because they had a knowledge of medicine and they became doctors in Rome. They made great money for their masters and often they purchased their own freedom by practising medicine. They had great lawyers. Others were brilliant people and became the educators. The whole system of Roman education changed after the second Punic war, for slaves became the teachers. The Romans were not much for professional activities. All professional activities, accountants and business accounts were kept by slaves and the Romans were the greatest businessmen in history. These slaves had a very pleasant and excellent life. In the days of Claudius Caesar many of the slaves were liberated to become the rulers of the Roman empire and the entire administration of Rome was handled by former slaves. So slavery was always a big issue as far as the Romans were concerned and the decline of the Roman people can be attributed to the problems of slavery. As a matter of fact slavery in itself when it destroys human freedom is a principle that cannot be tolerated but in the situation which arose, what should be done about it? Should believers become involved? Do we find in the first church the rise of organisations among Christians to fight slavery? The answer is no, that is not the issue. You cannot stop evil, you cannot destroy evil, you cannot make a dent in evil. The objective of the believer is quite different, it is to take in doctrine, to grow in grace. Strangely enough in his generation evil is stopped, not by fighting evil, but by tactical victory of the Christian life and that the thing that changes society in any generation is the number of mature believers in that society, and that Jesus Christ controls history and that He honours the principle that where there is anyone in a society who is a mature believer there will be a periphery of blessing around them. So you cannot fight slavery as a Christian, you cannot fight the evils of our day as a Christian directly. You fight them not by becoming involved, not by joining organisations, not by joining parties, clubs or groups who are going to change the country, but you do it by the intake of Bible doctrine.

Slavery at the time of the rise of the Church in the first century had changed and many of the churches were filled with born again slaves, so that Roman slavery had changed in so many places that people had free will and people had the right to come and go and slaves were free to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Philemon was a wealthy believer in Colosse who had many slaves. One of them by the name of Onesimus had stolen from Philemon and run away to Rome. There he lived it up with the money he had stolen and then he began to starve. Then he began to remember something that Philemon had said, for many times he had heard of the apostle Paul. He finally found Paul in Rome and went to him. Paul did the only thing that can ever be done, he led this slave to the Lord; he gave him the gospel for it is the gospel that changes things, it is the gospel that turns the world upside down — not the social gospel but the Bible gospel, the gospel that Christ died for our sins, the gospel that Jesus Christ rose again, the gospel that Jesus Christ ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father, the gospel that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life. This is the gospel that changes and Onesimus responded, he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore after he was saved Paul taught him and Onesimus kept taking it in, taking it in, and apparently during this time Onesimus became the servant of Paul. Therefore he heard the Bible taught every day, he heard doctrine and grew until this runaway slave became a mature believer. But he was still a runaway slave, he had not been freed, and the time came when Paul decided it was time to send him home. So when he was writing that fourth chapter of Colossians he mentions in verses 7 and 8, Tychicus, the great believer who is coming to Colosse to teach the Word. And in verse 9 he says, “With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is from among you.” So we are going to have a crisis of grace. How is Philemon going to take this situation. Here is his slave returning voluntarily but he is not returning as a fugitive slave, he is returning as a mature believer-type slave and therefore there is a crisis of grace that Philemon must face. So on the occasion of the return of Onesimus this brings into focus the greatest social problem of that day.

Paul ran into the problem of slavery constantly. He referred to it in 1 Corinthians 7:20-22. Half of the Corinthians were slaves, the church was made up of slaves and free men. Paul advised: “Let each one remain in that circumstance in which he was called [or saved]” .He explains in verse 21: “Were you called while a slave? don’t worry about it: however if you are able to become free, well use it [if you get the chance to be manumitted, by all means accept it but do not try to break out]” .Verse 22 : “For he who is called by the Lord, while a slave, is the Lord’s freed man; like wise he who was called while free is the slave of Christ.”

Slavery was used many times to illustrate Bible doctrine, as in Galatians 4:1-7, but slavery was neither condemned nor commended by the early church, in other words, by the Word of God. Social problems and social action is never the issue for the believer. To become involved in social action is to become entangled with the things of this world. The solution to all social problems and social evil lies in the realm of Bible doctrine. Therefore the believer is to avoid any distraction in learning Bible doctrine, and this includes in getting involved in organisations that are going to straighten up the country and clean up the world. Evil was here before we arrived and evil will be here after we leave. This is one of the greatest lessons of history.

The Bible approaches slavery from the viewpoint of salvation and growth in grace, from the standpoint of spirituality and doctrine resident in the soul. The Bible was not opposed to manumission and the Bible was not fighting against slavery. The Bible did not take a stand against the great social evil of slavery; the Bible took the stand: evangelise and grow in grace.

Timothy was the pastor at Ephesus. Ephesus at this time was the capital of Christianity and there were a lot of problems in the city. For example there were those who said: “We must fight for the rights of the slaves” .So Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:1 — “Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their own masters as worthy of all honour, in order that the name of God and doctrine not be maligned” .If you are a saved slave then honour your master, recognise his authority, work harder than any other slave. Verse 2 — “Let those slaves who have believers as their masters, not be disrespectful to them, because they are brethren [members of the family of God]; but let them serve them all the more, because those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved” .Slaves are just as much members of the royal family of God as those who are free. However, the believer in the circumstances of slavery should not seek freedom but he should do his job as unto the Lord. This is taught in Ephesians 6:5-8; Colossians 3:22. To the believer the issue is never social evils or social action but Bible doctrine resident in the soul. Interestingly enough when the believer in every circumstance of life reaches spiritual maturity this becomes the solution to the very same problems as will be seen in this epistle.

We begin with a salutation in verses 1-3, and Paul writes a personal letter to a slave owner, Philemon, a wealthy believer in the city of Colosse. Onesimus has run away and has since become a mature believer and is going to return of his own volition, but still in slavery to Philemon. Therefore this epistle will answer the question: What about social action? What about getting involved? What is the responsibility of the believer in trying to face the evils around him? This epistle is designed to show us that.

Verse 1 — “Paul” — Pauloj, which means “little", grace orientation therefore. Saul of Tarsus became Paul when he accepted Christ as saviour. Usually it is Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ but this time it is Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he is not going to throw his rank. If there is anything a mature believer understands it is when not to use his authority. So Paul as a mature believer is not going to superimpose his will on his convert and his dear friend Philemon. What Philemon will do he will do from his freedom. One of the great lessons we learn from this epistle is that the believer must establish his own command post of doctrine in his soul, and that command post must give the orders. The believer must take orders from his own soul; he must take orders from doctrine in his soul. The pastor’s job is to transfer the doctrine there; the believer’s job is to use the doctrine that is transferred. He must first of all build up a command post so that he can take orders from his own soul. When he does so he will be spiritually self-sustaining. So the salutation omits any mention to the high ranking of apostleship.

“of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our beloved, and fellow worker “ — Paul calls him a fellow worker and in so doing recognises the fact that what Philemon is doing in his way is different from what Paul is doing, and that both are members of the royal family of God and they are both in this thing together . They represent the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth.

Verse 2 — “And to our beloved Apphia [the wife of Philemon], and Archippus [the son of Philemon] our fellowsoldier, and the church in thy house” — why talk to the whole church? The church in his house is the Colossian church and we already have the book of Colossians. It is because the Colossians church is facing two problems: gnosticism (which is handled in Colossians) and the problem of slavery (handled in Philemon). So the two problems are separated by the two epistles. He calls Philemon a “fellow worker” because Philemon is not a pastor. He is serving the Lord in his own way but he is not a pastor. But Paul calls Philemon’s son Archippus a “fellowsoldier” because he is a pastor, recognising the fact that the son has entered into the gospel ministry.

Verse 3 — the usual salutation. “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” — the one-word description of the plan of God is xarij or grace, and as a result of being oriented to grace to the maximum there is eventually e)irhnh, peace which is the great blessing which comes from spiritual maturity. E)irhnh not only means peace but it means prosperity, prosperity from God. The only prosperity that counts in this life is prosperity from God. The only way to get prosperity from God is to take in doctrine today, tomorrow, the next, the next, until you reach maturity. Why are only two members of the Trinity mentioned here? Because during the Church Age the entire objective of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ.

Verse 4 — Philemon is such a great believer that Paul is thankful for him. There are many believers for whom Paul is not thankful for at all, and whom he mentions in terms of reversionism, but he is thankful for Philemon. So Philemon, the slave owner, is respected by the greatest Christian of the age, the apostle Paul. “I thank” — present active indicative of e)uxaristew — “my God” — very personal. The dative singular of the definite article is used for a personal pronoun, plus the dative singular of the noun Qeoj, and the two together with the definite article means “our God.” It is to God’s glory that people reach maturity and in that status develop a mutual respect — “at all times, making mention of you at the time of my prayers", literally. “Making” is the present middle participle of the verb poiew, and the present tense is a descriptive present for what is now going on, he is praying for him still. When you are thankful for someone you pray for them. The word for mention is the accusative singular, direct object from mneia, which means remembrance. Mneia plus poiew would literally be “doing the remembrance” — poiew means to do; mneia means to remember; doing the memory bit. Doing the memory bit means to make mention in prayer. But it is more than that. We have here also the word “always in my prayers,” and pantote means at the time of [not always, but at the time of], at any time that I pray — e)pi plus the genitive of proseuxh, at the time of my prayers.

So the point is that here is a man who is a slave owner, a man who is a mature believer, a man who is great, a man whose slave is now in the custody of Paul and is returning to the master.

Balance of residency

When a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ he immediately enters into union with Christ. His union with the Lord Jesus Christ makes him a member of the royal family of God forever. This is the baptism of the Spirit. At the same time God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell inside of his body; the sign of his royalty. In addition to that he receives other things. One of the things that occurs is the filling of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit has to do with the believer’s body. The believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of that body. But the filling of the Spirit has to do with the Holy Spirit controlling the soul. The believer starts out in the Christian life being filled with the Spirit. When he sins the Holy Spirit no longer controls the soul. When he rebounds he recovers the filling of the Spirit. That takes care of one portion of the soul but there is a whole principle of being completely out of balance because on the other side we are minus doctrine. All believers start out minus doctrine and before there can be any balance in the life this minus must become a plus so that the filling of the Holy Spirit can manifest itself on the outside as well as on the inside. Until this minus becomes a plus the purpose of the filling of the Spirit is the intake of doctrine, but once this minus does become a plus then the filling of the Spirit manifests itself through doctrine as a part of the divine plan. Therefore balance of residency must be achieved. Balance of residency is a synonym for spiritual maturity, just as supergrace is a synonym, just as the erection of the altar of the soul, or the construction of the edification complex, or the establishment of the command post of the soul. There are many synonyms for maturity but they all add up to tactical victory and the normal function of the royal priesthood. Philemon has balance of residency because he has maximum doctrine in the soul.

Verse 5 — “Hearing” — the present active participle of a)kouw. This particular participle actually deals with the report that Epaphras has made of Philemon. The present tense is an iterative present for the recurring report that Epaphras gave to Paul regarding Philemon. He has heard from Epaphras what a great believer Philemon continues to be. Epaphras, the pastor at Colosse, has departed from his pastorate in order to consult with Paul in Rome. The basis for the consultation is the infiltration of incipient gnosticism into the area which was Satan’s greatest counter attack against Christianity in the first three centuries.

“of thy love” — this is an the accusative singular direct object for the noun a)gaph. A)gaph actually means a relaxed mental attitude, and attitude which is free from mental attitude sins, a totally relaxed person who is controlled by the Holy Spirit. For the filling of the Spirit manifests itself in agape according to Romans 5:5 and Galatians 5:22. The relaxed mental attitude is constructed in us by the filling of the Spirit. So the word for love here actually refers to the fact that here is a man who has the balance — “and faith” — faith is the Greek word pistij and it refers to the balance of doctrine, that which is believed or doctrine. All balance in the spiritual life comes from maximum doctrine in the soul, for as the doctrinal content of the soul comes up there is a stabilising in the life between the filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine. Until then, of course, we are completely out of kilter and can only be balanced by taking in doctrine.

“which” — is a possessive genitive from the relative pronoun o)j and indicates that he possesses both of these things; “you have” — present active indicative of the verb e)xw, which means to have and to hold. In the present tense it means to keep having. There is a continual possession of both doctrine and the filling of the Spirit.

“toward the Lord Jesus Christ” — he has balance of residency and that is directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. This would mean category #1 love. We have proj plus the accusative which means here face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ — connoting category #1 love.

Category #1 Love

1. Love comes in three categories: category #1, toward God; category #2, right man, right woman; category #3, friendship. In addition to that there is an obligatory relaxed mental attitude toward all members of the royal family, which is called loving the brethren or a)gaph. Category #1 love is the believer’s capacity to love God and to respond to God’s love, and it is always based upon balance of residency, Bible doctrine in the soul. The command to category #1 love is found in Deuteronomy 6:5 — “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all of thy soul, and with all of your power” — the power is doctrine resident in the soul. That is impossible until you have doctrine in your right lobe.

2. The means of category #1 love. We immediately have a problem here because God is invisible and since at the same time God is the object of category #1 love we must love someone we cannot see, we must love the invisible God. This compounds the problem apart from Bible doctrine. But with Bible doctrine resident in the soul we see the invisible one. The reversionistic believer is incapable of loving God because he lacks doctrine in the soul. The reversionistic believer does not love God although he may say that he loves God. The immature believer does not love God because he lacks doctrine in the soul with which to see the invisible God. You cannot love God unless you know God; you cannot know God unless you have doctrine resident in the soul, and you cannot have doctrine resident in the soul apart from the daily function of GAP. Cf. 1 Peter 1:8.

3. Category #1 love sets up the standard for grace — Psalm 119:132, “Turn to me, and be gracious to me, according the standard by which you are gracious to those who love [category #1 love] thy name.” In other words, this is a very strong passage which tells us exactly what the love standards in category #1 are.

4. Category #1 love is the basis for supergrace blessings — 1 Corinthians 2:9, “But just as it stands written” — quotation from Isaiah 64:4 — “Things which the eye hath not seen, and the ear hath not heard, and it has not entered into the right lobe of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him” .Those who love Him are the mature believers, the believers who are occupied with the person of Jesus Christ.

5. Category #1 love is the basis for both personal and national blessing. Here is the solution to the problems of the nation.

6. Category #1 love motivates combat courage and military victory — Joshua 23:10,11.

7. Category #1 love provides strength in adversity and time of pressure — Hebrews 11:27.

8. There is a special curse on believers who fail to achieve category #1 love — 1 Corinthians 16:22.

9. Witnessing must be motivated by category #1 love — 2 Corinthians 5:14.

10. We have a description of category #1 love found in 1 John 4:15-19.

Verse 6 — “That” — an adverb used as a conjunction, o(poj, used to indicate the purpose of the supergrace life as it relates to the function of GAP. We will translate it, “In order that.”

“the communication” — h( koinwnia, usually translated fellowship but here it means association. The translation so far should be: “in order that our association.”

“of thy faith” — incorrect translation. It is the genitive singular of reference with pistij and it should be “with reference to doctrine.” In other words, the great challenge will be met by doctrine resident in the soul. People are blessed by your life when they come into contact with you and the doctrine resident in your soul.

“may become” — aorist active subjunctive of the verb ginomai, which means to become. The aorist tense is a culminative aorist used when the function of GAP leading to supergrace is viewed in its entirety but regarded from the viewpoint if its results — “effectual” — a predicate nominative from e)nerghj, which actually means “operational”

“by the acknowledging” — the preposition en plus the instrumental of e)pignwsij, the word that makes doctrine real. It should be translated, “by means of e)pignwsij.” In other words, by means of GAP he achieved all these things. What makes love operational? What makes a believer great in association with others?

“of every good thing” — the genitive singular from paj and a)gaqoj, and it should be translated, “e)pignwsij of all the intrinsic good.” The intrinsic good is Bible doctrine. But where is this intrinsic good? It is located in the scripture, but now he adds “which is in you” — e)n plus the locative singular su. The Bible doctrine that was resident in the Bible is now “in you.” The next phrase says, “in Christ” — wrong, It does not say “in Christ” here. We have the preposition e)ij plus the accusative of Xristoj and it should be translated “toward Christ.” When you have all that doctrine in you then it is directed toward Christ, you have maximum love for Jesus Christ.

Corrected translation: “In order that our association with reference to your doctrine [resident in the soul] may become operational toward Christ by means of e)pignwsij [full knowledge] of all the intrinsic good.”

Bible doctrine must be transferred from the Bible and “in you.” Paul is preparing supergrace believer, Philemon, for the grace crisis precipitated by the return of his runaway slave, Onesimus. The balance of residency in the previous verse has a purpose in keeping Philemon’s eyes on Christ in this grace crisis. His doctrine must become operational toward Christ, not toward the slave. If doctrine is operational toward Christ then he will do right by his slave. Therefore the importance of facing the problem in the sphere of occupation with the person of Christ.

Verse 7 — this verse portrays the application of doctrine resident in the soul. Philemon has maximum doctrine in his soul and it is the application of it that is going to be a source of refreshment. The principle: The answer to the problems of life comes from doctrine resident in the soul, not from getting involved in social action.

“For” — a post positive conjunction gar. It introduces a reason for doctrine in the soul: it provides great happiness for those who come in contact with you. Whenever you come in contact with a happy person it is a pleasant thing — “we have” — first person singular, aorist active indicative of e)xw, and it should be translated, “For I have come to have” — ingressive aorist, which contemplates the action of the verb at its beginning. Everything that Epaphras has reported about Philemon has brought Paul great happiness. However this is the beginning of Paul’s happiness directed toward Philemon. The completion of it will be the way in which Philemon handles the grace crisis of his returning slave, Onesimus.

“great joy” — the accusative singular, direct object of poluj and xara — “much happiness.” Paul possesses the happiness of a supergrace believer plus the happiness which overflows by his contact and his relationship with other supergrace believers, and specifically in this context, Philemon.

The doctrine of happiness

1. Happiness is defined as a state of well-being. Therefore, in the English language happiness is generally synonymous with welfare and prosperity.

2. Happiness is the enjoyment of and the pleasure in one’s status in life, circumstances of life, relationships of life.

3. Felicity denotes intense happiness; beatitude connotes supreme felicity. There are degrees of happiness, says the English language.

4. Blessedness, however, refers to happiness related to God and His plan of grace.

5. So happiness becomes a state or quality of being happy.

6. Happiness in its full extent is the utmost pleasure we are capable of enjoying.

7. Generally, therefore, happiness connotes our welfare, our enjoyment, our comfort, our security.

8. Happiness is also an awareness that one’s status is highly satisfactory, therefore being in favourable conditions or advantageous circumstances.

Now all of this is the way happiness is used in the English language but this does not begin to explain all that happiness is or can be or should be. In reality the English language is rather inadequate when it comes to expressing what we have with maximum doctrine resident in the soul. So it becomes necessary to categorise and develop the subject.

The relationships of happiness

1. Psalm 128:1-4 — Happiness is related to prosperity.

Verse 1 — “How blessed (happy) is every one who is occupied with the Lord; who walks in his ways”

Verse 2 — “When you shall eat the labour of your hands: and you will be happy, it will be well with you.”

Verse 3 — “Your wife will be a fruitful vine” — this does not mean that she will have a lot of children, it means she responds to your cultivation, i.e. she will not nag you, she will not complain, she will just be one great ray of sunshine. It means that she is a responder to you in every way and that you have nothing inside of your home but peace and happiness in every sense of the word — you have felicity and beatitude — “in the innermost parts of your home: your children are like olive plants around the table” — they comply to the principles of establishment and they respond to your discipline. The olive plant represents the principle of discipline. You must crush the olive plant to get the oil, you must crush the child to get the child straightened out. Your children will be moulded, in other words, in conformity with the principles of establishment.

Verse 4 — “Behold, for thus shall the man be happy who is occupied with the Lord.” So occupation with the Lord relates itself to various parts of life.

2. Happiness is related to adversity — 1 Peter 3:14.

3. Happiness is related to GAP — Proverbs 3:13. “Happinesses to the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.”

4. Happiness is related to grace function — Proverbs 14:21 — “The one despising his neighbour’s sins is miserable” — if you spend all your time sticking your nose into someone else’s business and nosing out their sins you are miserable, not happy at all — “but happinesses to the one who is gracious to the afflicted” — it is live and let live.

5. Happiness is related to the supergrace status — Psalm 146:5 — “Happy is the one whose assistance is the God of Jacob, whose confidence is in the Lord his God” — when we have “the God of Jacob” here as an assistant it means reversion recovery, reversion recovery producing happiness. Also Proverbs 16:20; 28:14.

6. Happiness is related to a clear conscience — Romans 14:22.

7. Happiness is related to the laws of establishment — Proverbs 29:18 — “Where there is no revelation [of doctrine] the people are unrestrained.”

8. Happiness is related to total military victory — Psalm 137:8,9.

9. Happiness is related to national prosperity — Psalm 144:15.

Doctrine of happiness (continued):

1. Happiness is related to the essence of God. This is the ultimate in happiness.

a. God is perfect; His character is perfect. Perfect character therefore possesses perfect happiness.

b. God is eternal; His happiness is eternal.

c. God is immutable; His happiness is unchangeable.

d. God is perfect righteousness; His happiness is related to the fact that He is always right.

d. God is justice; therefore His happiness is related to always being fair. God is never unfair, it is impossible for God to be unfair.

e. God is love; His happiness is related to His love.

f. God is omnipotent; He has the eternal ability to be happy and He also has the ability to share His happiness on the principle of grace.

g. God is omniscient; His genius makes Him happy. He has found a way to share His happiness.

h. God is sovereignty; He decides to share His perfect happiness with the believer in time.

2. Happiness is related to the plan of God.

a. inasmuch as God possesses perfect and eternal happiness, and can’t lose it, He desires to share this happiness with man — with the believer.

b. In eternity past grace found a way to do this without compromising His essence.

c. There is no compromise in the holiness of God in giving the believer happiness — Psalm 97:12; Habbakuk 3:18.

d. The entrance into the plan of God is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ and this is the beginning of the grace function in the plan of God for anyone — Psalm 9:14. So happiness becomes the potentiality at the point of salvation — Psalm 51:12. Happiness begins at this point as a potential but happiness is not realised until one reaches spiritual maturity.

e. At the dedication of the second temple there was great happiness — Nehemiah 12:43. In that day they offered great sacrifices. The sacrifices speak of salvation.

3. Happiness is accomplished through grace — Psalm 31:7. Since happiness means benefit and welfare grace happiness comes through God’s benefit and welfare which is Bible doctrine.

Principles

1. Since happiness is accomplished through grace it is accomplished through the grace apparatus for perception whereby the believer transfers Bible doctrine from the written page into his soul.

2. However this +H or God’s happiness must have a starting point.

3. The starting point is entrance into the plan of God or the appropriation of eternal salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

4. But being saved does not imply automatic or instant happiness.

5. +H or God’s happiness is still a potential for the believer and depends upon his spiritual growth through the daily function of GAP.

6. The first taste of +H comes from the filling of the Spirit — Galatians 5:22; Romans 14:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6.

7. However this experience of +H is limited by no capacity. If you have Bible doctrine in the soul you have capacity but you have the filling of the Spirit as a new believer without doctrine. In other words, you do not have the balance of residency yet so the type of happiness you have is a relative thing. The filling of the Holy Spirit produces happiness but the impact of that in your life comes when you have doctrine.

8. Once you have achieved balance of residency, once the edification complex is constructed, once you have established a command post of doctrine in your soul, then God shares His +H with you and it is a reality to you — John 17:13.

Happiness (cont)

1. Happiness is the status quo, therefore, of the supergrace believer — cf. Nehemiah 8:10.

2. Happiness is recovered when the believer recovers from reversionism and moves into supergrace — Psalm 30:5, “For his anger [divine discipline] lasts for a moment; but it results in a lifetime of grace benefits [sharing God’s happiness]: weeping may endure for a night, but happiness comes in the morning .” The night is reversionism and the dawning of the day is entrance into supergrace.

3. Happiness protects the believer from disillusion. There are three basic disillusions in life. The first is disillusion with the circumstances of life — Philippians 4:11,12; the second is disillusion in the area of the details of life — Hebrews 13:5,6; the third area of disillusion is people — Hebrews 12:2.

4. Happiness stimulates and enhances capacity for love — Category #1, toward God; category #2, right man, right woman; category #3, friendship. Capacity for love becomes a fragrance of memories, you have a wonderful capacity for life, your relationships with people are wonderful that Auld Lang Sine is as meaningful in its sphere as the communion table is in its sphere. These are two sides of the same coin. One side is the communion table where we remember the Lord. It is a test of category #1 love. But Auld Lang Sine is a test of categories #2 and #3.

Once you have this capacity for love then you have fragrance of memory in every area. With fragrance of memory in category #1 love we have the communion table, as per 1 Corinthians 11:24,25. Fragrance of memory in category #2 love is found in Song of Solomon 3:1; 4:6; 8:6. Category #3 fragrance of memory is Philippians 1:3.

5. The future happiness beyond +H in supergrace is called phase 3 happiness. Whether a believer gets +H or not in phase 2, all believers will have +H in phase 3. Beyond this life in eternity there is a happiness that is so great and indescribable that there are no adequate adjectives in any language to begin to extol the fantastic blessing involved for all of us in eternity.

6. There is another kind of happiness in the Bible that is a little misleading. It is misleading in the same sense that the peacenicks quote that the swords will be turned into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks. That is a Millennial passage. In the same passage the lion and the lamb lie down side by side but they never think about that! So there is a happiness which is described in terms of great beauty and very glowing, something that we do not have to day and will never have. We have something better as believers but this is a universal type happiness, it will exist in the Millennium. It is described in the Millennial passages of Isaiah — 35:1,2; 64:4,5; 65:18,19; 66:10. It is also described in the beatitudes. The word “blessed” means happinesses, it has nothing to do with today. It has to do with the Millennial reign of Christ, as do all of the beatitudes.

7. The principle of human happiness. There is a human happiness which is distinct from, apart from, +H. All happiness is not related to God; some happiness is even related to sin. So we have to distinguish between God’s +H and the various types of happiness that exist in the human race. Basically there are three categories of human happiness. The first is happiness based on sin. It is there for a moment but it isn’t permanent and usually the happiness turns around and becomes misery — it boomerangs. However there are two other kinds of happiness that are legitimate happiness. There is neutral H. This is happiness derived from the observance from the laws of divine establishment. Then there is another type of happiness called minus H. This is pleasure type happiness, a very temporary and superficial type of happiness. It is the pleasure of the unbeliever and it is the pleasure of the reversionistic believer. This happiness depends upon pleasant environment, the details of life, stimulating circumstances. This same happiness comes from having your own way and not being crossed. However, this happiness leaves very quickly. Boredom, restlessness, frustration, instability and all the phases of reversionism neutralise this happiness. Minus H does not sustain in adversity or catastrophe and it is often the producer of great bitterness in life.

8. Negative principles of happiness.

a. You cannot build your happiness on someone else’s unhappiness.

b. You cannot build you happiness on the details of life — money success, pleasure, social life, friends, relatives, health, sex, materialistic things, status symbols. You can enjoy these if you have +H but you can’t build happiness on them.

c. You cannot build your happiness on pleasant environment.

d. You cannot build your happiness in people you love.

e. You cannot build your happiness on fame or celebrityship.

f. You cannot build your happiness on the overthrow of establishment by violent revolution. Anything solved by violence creates many more problems than it solves; that is, unless the violence is used in the defence of one’s country or in the control of crime.

g. You cannot build your happiness on the lust pattern and the lust motivation of the old sin nature.

9. The positive principles of happiness.

a. You can build your happiness on balance of residency in your soul — the filling of the Spirit and Bible doctrine. This is the only happiness that has any permanence.

b. You can build your happiness on the daily function of GAP, the erecting the altar of the soul, and establishing a command post for your life.

c. You can build your happiness therefore by reaching supergrace and receiving from God your paragraph SG². Furthermore you have the capacity for the happiness which you have constructed.

d. You can build happiness by glorifying God in the holding of your supergrace status. Supergrace is held and maintained by continuance in the function of GAP.

e. You can build happiness by not only holding that high ground but holding it until dying grace. This is +H with no regrets.

f. You can build happiness by observation of the laws of divine establishment. Related to this is you capacity for freedom and the blessings that are related to it — capacity for freedom, privacy, and function in life.

10. The happy person provides blessing for others. The happiness of the supergrace believer, therefore, spreads to others. Either by personal contact or through verbal report the principle of happiness spreads. Therefore this is called the ministry of refreshment in the book of Philemon. The principle is found first in Philippians 2:28,29 where speaking of Epaphroditus: “Therefore I have sent him with special urgency that having seen him back again you may have received happiness, that I may be more free from sorrow. Therefore receive him with submission and expectation in the sphere of the Lord, associated with all happiness: and keep on preserving and possessing this kind of a pastor in highest honour, most valued and precious” Cf.. also Romans 16:32; 1 Corinthians 16:17,18.

Verse 7 — “and consolation.” The word “consolation” has another meaning here. This is the accusative singular, direct object of the noun paraklhsij, which means here, encouragement. Happiness overflowing means encouragement. People are encouraged when they share or bask in your happiness. The phrase “in the love” indicates who has happiness originally. We have e)pi plus the genitive of a)gaph. Here it is actually used for category one love toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

“because the bowels of the saints” — we have a conjunction o(ti, and then the word “bowels” is the nominative plural from the noun splagxnon, which actually means here very tender and deep affection. Then we have a(gioj, which refers to the members of the royal family of God — “are refreshed” — perfect passive indicative of a)napauw, meaning have been refreshed. Here is our ministry of refreshment. When you have this +H in your soul and people come into contact with you their deepest affections are refreshed. The perfect tense is a dramatic perfect, it is about as strong as you can get for permanent results. The passive voice: the believers who have come into contact with Philemon have received great blessing. He has the ministry of refreshment, it belongs to all supergrace believers. The ministry of refreshment is the overflow of supergrace happiness into the lives of others. The passive voice means they are all blessed — “by thee” is dia plus the genitive of the pronoun su, and it means “through you.” Then he adds the word “brother,” or member of the royal family of God. He is indicating that he is about to take up a family matter.

Corrected translation of verse 7: “For I have come to much happiness and encouragement by your [Category #1] love [occupation with Christ], because the tender affections of the royal family have been refreshed through you, brother.”

The principle here is that the ministry of refreshment goes with being in supergrace. It is an overflow of +H, it is the result of occupation with Christ, and it stems from doctrine resident in the soul. The ministry of refreshment is the fulfilment and function of the supergrace status. Philemon has an extensive ministry of refreshment which is about to be tested. You can begin to see why Paul used the word “brother” in the family matter that is about to break out. Philemon has a wife Apphia, it overflows to her. He has a son, Archippus, it overflows to him. He is a great leader in the Colossian church, it overflows to them. He is an owner of slaves, it overflows to them. It overflows all the way to Paul in Rome just hearing about it. Now, there is one thing that is going to mar the whole ministry of refreshment. Who is about to come to the door of Philemon but that “rat,” that “worst of all creatures", that “not-quite-human so and so” who took advantage of him, Onesimus. So the ministry of refreshment is about to get a challenge. So what is going to happen? This is the whole point for the verse: to make it clear to us and to remind Philemon as well that this man is a supergrace believer, that this man has a ministry of refreshment. Now the question arises: What happens to the ministry of refreshment when it encounters a person like Philemon? By Roman law Philemon would be within his rights to be very severe. So will the ministry of refreshment extend to Onesimus? Maximum prejudice is involved at this point. Is doctrine in the soul greater than the prejudice of the greatest prejudice of life. Philemon is being prepared to face the grace crisis.

Verses 8-12, the grace crisis.

Summary of some of the crisis problems here

1. Essentially the subject of this epistle is the crisis of grace. The greatest enemy of Christianity is legalism and many times when people do something legalistic they are doing something right, something compatible with self-righteousness. Legalism is compatible with self-righteousness and people are doing something right when they do legalistic things. Righteousness is their trademark, but it is self-righteousness. It is even arrogant righteousness.

2. The Colossian church was under two separate attacks — the doctrinal attack of Gnosticism and the grace crisis, which is an attack really of legalism. The voluntary return of Onesimus creates a fantastic crisis. Why? Onesimus ran away from Philemon as an unbeliever. He returns as a born again believer, in fact a supergrace believer. However, he was still a slave. If Philemon receives Onesimus as a fellow believer, forgives him, and even gives him a writ of manumission releasing him from slavery, then Philemon continues his ministry of refreshment and emerges as one of the great believers of his generation. If on the other hand Philemon functions within his legal rights, punishing Onesimus under Roman law by torture, branding, even death if he so desired (but with permission from the court), he will void the grace of God in his life although he will be within his rights. And Philemon, of course, will be tempted to censor, to punish, to make Onesimus miserable in some way, and he must overcome this temptation completely and absolutely by doctrine resident in his soul in order to continue and perpetuate his great ministry of refreshment as well as glorifying God. Legalism never glorifies God; legalism glorifies the person who practices it. Every believer must be prepared for this same crisis, if he is an advancing believer. If Philemon fails to pass the test he will enter legalistic reversionism and as a result: the type of Gnosticism which was found at Colosse is Judaistic, it is a legalistic apostasy, and if one man (the leader) fails then the whole church will go down under legalistic reversionism and apostasy. One failure on the part of this Christian leader could turn that entire local church into a Gnostic centre.

Verse 8 — We start out with an inferential conjunction, translated “Wherefore” is dio, a compound of dia plus o(j, and it should be translated “Therefore.”

“though I might be” — present active participle of e)xw, and e)xw doesn’t mean to be, e)xw means to have. So the translation should be: “Therefore, though I might have.” The present tense is a static present representing the fact that Paul has the authority as an apostle to order Philemon to forgive Philemon, his runaway slave, and forgive him. Paul as an apostle has that authority but would never use it, it would destroy the issue completely. Furthermore, Paul’s job is to teach doctrine to Philemon, which he did. Philemon now has his own command post, therefore Paul goes through channels, he does not give any orders. Philemon now has the privilege of using what Paul taught him years before — “much boldness.” It is “much confidence” literally, the accusative singular, direct object, first of all of the adjective poluj, for much, and then parrhsian, which means confidence — not “in Christ” but “by Christ,” Paul’s apostleship came directly from Christ. “Therefore, though I might have maximum authority by means of Christ” is the way we would translate it.

“to enjoin thee” — that is old English, it is a present active infinitive of e)pitassw, and it means to give a direct order. It should be “to command you.” And then we have “that which is convenient,” a pitiful translation. It is the present active participle of a)nhkw, and with it we have the definite article, making it an articular participle. This verb is used in the impersonal sense of doing something that is proper or fitting or right but here it is used in its idiomatic sense of doing your duty. The participle is not accompanied by a noun and therefore it becomes a substantive. So it should be translated: “Therefore, though I might have maximum authority by means of Christ to command you to do your duty.”

The grace crisis

1. In a grace crisis you are on your own. You do not call up your pastor to find out what to do, or your friends, or take a poll among your friends. You are to consult with no one, you are to consult with doctrine resident in your soul — i.e. your command post. So the grace crisis, like this one, is personal, you are on your own. And Paul hesitates, therefore, to use his apostolic authority to command Philemon to do the right thing.

2. If he orders Philemon then Philemon merely acts under Paul’s orders without making any decision of his own. Therefore he loses his own ability to function in grace.

3. Here is a case therefore where the believer must be spiritually self-sustaining or spiritually independent. This is the objective and why the royal family of God has the authority but by accepting the authority it comes to develop its own authority. For the mature believer his authority is in his soul, and his authority being in the soul means that he takes orders from his own soul. He is then spiritually self-sustaining.

4. Paul cannot be Phi lemon’s crutch. Paul has taught Philemon doctrine, now Philemon uses his own freewill in this grace crisis.

5. Philemon is prepared for this crisis.

6. He must face the pressure now of legalism versus grace or right versus right, and use his own resources to make a decision.

7. Every believer must resolves the grace crisis on the basis of doctrine resident in his own soul. He must not lean on another believer, whether it is a pastor, a friend, or an alleged or apparent “spiritual giant” .In other words, each believer must live his own life as unto the Lord.

8. Philemon must operate on his own motivation as well as his own inner resources because Paul, by using his authority, would both destroy motivation and neutralise his own resources. If Paul commands him then Paul is living Phi lemon’s life. So Philemon must pass the grace crisis on the basis of doctrine resident in his own soul on the basis of his own motivation. He is a priest, he is a member of the royal family of God, he has freewill and can use his own and not someone else’s. If Philemon has to depend upon Paul then Phi lemon’s volition will atrophy and then he, the free man, will become a slave. We cannot afford to lose the use of our freewill. When a believer must constantly rely on someone else to make his decisions he obviously is not advanced in the Christian way of life. Failure to use his own inner resources means the neglect of them and the loss of interest in Bible doctrine.

Verse 9 — Paul no demonstrates confidence in the residual doctrine in the soul of Philemon. The doctrine resident in Phi lemon’s soul plus his edification complex will be able to cope with the issue. Philemon has occupation with Christ, he has maximum doctrine in his soul, he will be able to choose the grace right over the legalistic right.

“Yet for love’s sake” — dia plus the accusative of a)gaph, Because of your love [for Christ], literally.

“I rather beseech [encourage] thee” — the present active indicative of parakalew means to encourage. But with this particular verb we have a comparative adverb, mallon, which means “even more.” It should be translated: “I encourage you even more.” Paul is being encouraging, not only to him but to all who face the grace crisis. The present tense is an aoristic present, it is for punctiliar action in present time. It is just a momentary encouragement, he doesn’t have to keep standing behind him. The active voice: Paul appeals to the proper motivation which is occupation with Christ. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of a point of encouragement without an intrusion upon his volition.

“being” — present active participle of e)imi, a static present The participle is circumstantial, the static present means something that always exists.

“such a one as Paul the aged” — “Such a one” is an Attic Greek word thrown in, it is a correlative relative pronoun, toioutoj, it is a demonstrative used to call attention to the fact that Paul is not standing on his rank. But neither is he standing on his age. The word “aged” is incorrect — Pauloj presbuthj, which means Paul the ambassador. So it should be translated: “Being such a person as Paul the ambassador,” not Paul the apostle. That puts Paul on the same level as Philemon. Every believer is an ambassador for Christ and therefore Paul, being an ambassador, and Philemon being an ambassador, in this way Paul sets aside his rank in order to avoid any coercion or pressure from authority. Instead this is the common meeting ground of equality between Paul and Philemon, they are both ambassadors for Christ. For Paul to use his rank would destroy the issue of grace but he [preserves the grace crisis by forcing Philemon to make his own decision on the basis of his own inner resources based on Bible doctrine. Every believer must live his own life before the Lord.

The doctrine of ambassadorship

1. Definition: An ambassador is a high-ranking minister of state or a member of royalty sent to another nation to represent his sovereign. The Church Age believer is an ambassador for Christ. He qualifies as royal family of God and he represents his sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, even Jesus Christ. He is sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to the world to represent Him and each ambassador is nobility through regeneration. Ambassadorship is used to emphasise the fact that each believer is in full time Christian service.

2. The profile of an ambassador:

a. An ambassador does not appoint himself. We have been appointed by God, we are not self-appointed. b. An ambassador does not support himself. The canon of scripture forms the information for our support and sustenance.

c. His instructions are in written form. Of course, so are ours.

d. The ambassador does not belong to the country to which he is sent. We belong to God and we are a heavenly people.

e. Therefore he does live in that country for his own personal interest. We are here for the interest of the Lord Jesus Christ.

f. He does not treat any insult to himself as personal. This indicates something of our function. In this life we are the recipients of antagonism from Satan and our benefit comes from the Lord.

g. His recall is tantamount to a declaration of war, and the removal of the Church is the declaration of war when heaven and earth meet on earth for the final great stage of the angelic conflict — the Tribulation.

3. Ambassadorship is also related in a definite way to witnessing for Christ — 2 Corinthians 5:20. Ours is the responsibility of witnessing and our witnessing is a part of our ambassadorship. Our ambassadorship is fulfilled to the unbelieving world, we entreat them to be reconciled to God — Ephesians 6:20.

4. Not all ambassadors are effective — Proverbs 13:16,17. Effectiveness in the royal family of God on earth depends on whether the believer is positive or negative toward Bible doctrine. The supergrace believer is an effective ambassador but the reversionist is a miserable as well as disciplined ambassador.

5. The perspective of a royal ambassador. The believer is the personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. This means that every believer is in the plan of God, lives under the concept of full-time Christian service, and carries the title of ambassador.

6. The weeping ambassador — Isaiah 33:6,7. Whenever a person goes out into this world with the idea that he can make peace or a treaty with another nation which includes disarmament, that person will be an ambassador of weeping. The weeping ambassador was a dove and he despised military training, military preparation, and money spent on the military services. The brave man of the nation is therefore wasted because of this idiot. The weeping ambassador always learns too late that military is necessary as a part of divine laws for the protection of a nation. He also learns too late that Jesus Christ is a wealth of salvation wisdom and knowledge, as portrayed in the passage on the weeping ambassador in Isaiah.

7. The successful ambassador. For the believer who follows the colours to the high ground of supergrace, builds and edification complex of the soul, establishes the command post of the inner residency of doctrine, and puts on the whole armour from God, this person becomes a successful ambassador. All of theses synonyms reflect reaching and attaining the Christian maturity principle. Under Christian maturity the believer is an effective ambassador.

Verse 9 — “and now also,” nuni de, this actually indicates Paul’s incarceration which puts Philemon on his own. Paul will not make his decision by writing to him; Paul will not come and direct the situation.

“a prisoner of Jesus Christ” — the word for “prisoner,” desmioj, means that Paul is stuck in Rome at this moment. But he is not a prisoner of Nero, he is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. This becomes an appeal of someone who cannot be on the scene. In a very gracious sense Paul has delegated his authority to Philemon to deal with the problem of the runaway slave, Onesimus. Paul has done all he can do for Onesimus in his present condition as a prisoner so he leaves the rest to Philemon.

Verses 10-12, the grace presentation of the issue.

Verse 10 — “I beseech,” present active indicative from the verb parakalew, which means here, “I encourage” .Instead of telling Philemon what to do he encourages him into a grace course of action.

“thee” — the accusative singular, direct object of the personal pronoun su, and by this personal pronoun in the accusative Philemon is now isolated. There will be no friends to discuss this with, Paul himself will not offer any advice or give any commands, he is completely isolated. There comes a time when the believer must make a decision and take full responsibility for that decision.

In this particular decision we have the grace issue brought up before Philemon. Philemon can be very cruel and very evil, and he can in effect be right in being evil. It is the same principle again: there were two forces here when we were born and these two forces will be here after we die. The first of these is evil. Evil has always been here and no matter how you try to change evil or destroy evil, evil will be just as big and just as fat after you are gone. The reason being that Satan, the ruler of this world, is the father of all evil and the author of evil. So there is no way that Philemon can change the course of slavery, there is no way that he can solve social problems, there is no way that Rome can do it, there is no way that any nation can do it or any type of person. The problem of a grace crisis is that a grace crisis always takes a situation where right versus right is the issue.

Now here is Philemon. When he came into the world there was doctrine and there was evil. When he died doctrine and evil were still there. The point is Philemon cannot change doctrine; Philemon cannot change evil. The only thing that Philemon can do is to be influenced by doctrine or he can be influenced by evil. Either way he goes he makes a right decision. If he makes a right decision which is legalistic it is an evil decision even though it is right. He is within his rights to punish Onesimus, and to torture him, to brand him. He can do any of these things and be absolutely right but if he does so then evil has influenced him and out of it will come his own spiritual detriment as well as that of the entire Colossian church, because if he does that the Colossian church is going to be split and torn asunder. On the other hand, if he forgives and even manumits his slave, Onesimus, then he will have been influenced by doctrine where the grace influence exists, and his ministry of refreshment will have been intensified and even increased in its greatness. It all depends on what is going to influence his life, evil or doctrine.

“for my son [student]” — peri plus the genitive of teknon, a word which has several meanings. It is used for a child in relationship to his father or mother. It is also used for descendants or posterity. It is used for inhabitants of a city and sometimes for the citizens of a nation. But it is generally used by Paul for a theological student, his spiritual children, as it were. To Philemon Onesimus is a runaway slave, a thief. But to Paul he is a spiritual child, a student in Paul’s travelling seminary.

“Onesimus” — a word which means profitable or useful.

“whom” — the accusative singular, relative pronoun o(j; “whom I have begotten [fathered]” — aorist active indicative from gennaw, which means to give birth when a woman is the subject. But when a man is the subject gennaw means to sire, to become the father of. The aorist tense is the constative aorist, it gathers into one entirety the fathering of Onesimus. That includes the conversion, the days of instruction, the resultant ending up in a supergrace slave. The active voice: Paul both evangelised and taught the slave Onesimus, and the indicative mood is the fact that the apostle Paul is making a simple statement of fact, he has fathered Onesimus. He led him to the Lord and then he taught him doctrine so that Onesimus, who came to him as an unbelieving slave, leaves Rome as a great believer.

“in my bonds” is literally, in my chains. So Paul says: “I appeal to you on behalf of my son, whom I have fathered in my chains, Onesimus.” He mentions the name last to prepare Philemon for the shock. His runaway slave is now a believer and has been a student of Paul’s .In his daily function of GAP he has become a supergrace believer.

Verse 11 — Onesimus is the last word in verse 10 and the subject of Onesimus is the subject of verse 11.

“Which” — there is no relative pronoun. It should read: “the one formerly useless to you.” So the translation would be: “I appeal to you on behalf of my son, whom I have fathered in my chains, Onesimus [useful], the one formerly useless to you.” In this way there is a paronomasia developing. The word “useless” is a)xrhstoj, which means totally useless.

“but now profitable” — e)uxrhstoj, which means very profitable, highly useful. So a)xrhstoj has become e)uxrhstoj by regeneration, followed by going all the way to supergrace — “to thee and to me” — kai soi, kai e)moi, both to you and to me.

Verse 12 — “Whom I have sent” — a)napempw means to send back. Paul doesn’t want to send him back but he does send him back.

“thou therefore receive” is not found in the original; “him, that is, mine own bowels [tender affections].”

Verses 13 — 15, the supergrace status of Onesimus.

Verse 13 — “Whom I would [keep desiring]” — the imperfect active indicative of boulomai, a desire based upon very deep thinking. Paul does not really want to part with Onesimus because he is such a blessing to Paul.

“have retained” — the word “retained” in the present active infinitive, means really to detain. Every day Paul keeps Onesimus after he reaches supergrace he is detaining him from his own destiny before the Lord; his grace destiny can never be resolved as long as Paul retains him.

“with me” — proj plus the accusative of the reflexive pronoun means “for myself.”

“that in thy stead” — the conjunction i(na introduces a final clause and should be translated so “that” or “in order that on behalf of you” — u(per plus the genitive of su.

“he might keep on ministering” — he was ministering to Paul in his chains. The present tense is a present tense of continued result.

“to me in my chains,” literally; “of the gospel” — this is a partative genitive, a very difficult type of genitive to explain but it indicates the whole of which something is a part. Here the gospel is the whole and the chains are a part of Paul’s ministry. In other words, you might call his whole ministry a gospel ministry. That is the whole and chains are only a part of it. The principle is that wherever Paul is he can serve the Lord. His whole life is the gospel ministry and wherever he goes, whether he is in chains or whether he is free, no matter where he is, there he has a ministry and a service.

So the verse says: “Whom I kept desiring to detain for myself, in order that on behalf of you he might keep on ministering to me in my chains of the gospel.”

All the time that Onesimus has been gone from Colosse he has been useful. If his master, Philemon, had come to Rome he could not have done more for Paul than Onesimus did. Therefore this suggests that Philemon regards Onesimus as a loan to Paul in chains.

Verse 14 — “But without thy mind” — gnwmhj, which means consent; “would I do nothing” — the word “willing” is e)qelew, which means desire. So it should be translated: “But without your consent I did not desire [or want] to do anything … “ Paul’s desire was to keep Onesimus but he couldn’t possibly do it because once Onesimus reaches supergrace Paul in detaining him is doing both of them a disservice. “that thy benefit” — should be “in order that your intrinsic good.” The word for “benefit” is a)gaqoj, which is an adjective for intrinsic good, and here the intrinsic good is doctrine in Philemon’s soul.

“should not be as it were of necessity [or of compulsion], but willingly” or literally, from your own free will.

Translation: “But without your consent I did not want to do anything; in order that your intrinsic good [doctrine in your soul] should not be as from compulsion, but from your own free will.”

The doctrinal principle

1. Social problems and social evils cannot be solved by force or coercion any more than they can be solved by legislation. You can’t force solutions; you can’t legislate solutions.

2. In seeking to solve problems by force greater problems are created.

3. Seeking to solve social problems and evils by legislature is the greatest of fallacies.

4. Legislation and law is designed to protect freedom, not destroy it. Therefore, legislation is distorted to destroy freedom.

5. Neither violence nor legislation can solve social problems or turn back the tide of evil.

6. Solutions to life and life’s problems must be solved by the use of man’s freedom and free will. Criminal law is legitimate to protect freedom and free will.

7. The solution to life resides in the free will of man — his freedom to break out and break away from the evils of life. All solutions to life — social evils, and so on — must be accomplished on an individual basis and must be accomplished from free will. They are inevitably accomplished from one of two sources: the believer with maximum doctrine in his soul or the unbeliever with the laws of establishment in his soul.

8. You cannot change evil and you cannot change doctrine. They can change you but you cannot change them. One or the other will change you.

9. Therefore you must comply with one or the other. For the believer to comply with doctrine is the tactical victory of supergrace as well as solving life’s problems. For the believer to comply with evil is the defeat of reversionism. Remember that evil is more than sin, it is the human panaceas, it is getting involved, trying to solve problems by legislation, by compulsion, by the government playing God.

Application: Philemon cannot be coerced or forced by the authority of Paul to forgive Onesimus. Philemon cannot be bullied into an act of manumission. The solution must come from the free will of Philemon without compulsion or coercion. It must be his own decision, a decision based on doctrine resident in the soul; it must be a grace decision.

Verse 15 — the dynamics of divine viewpoint in facing the problem. Remember that the great issue found in the book of Philemon is the grace solution versus the legalistic solution. Both solutions are right versus right but grace is the one that must avail.

“For perhaps he therefore” — “therefore” is really “for this reason,” dia plus the accusative from the demonstrative pronoun o(utoj.

“he departed” — the aorist passive indicative of xwrizw, which means to be separated. The constative aorist gathers into one entirety all the time that Onesimus has been away from Philemon. “for a season” is a very interesting way of putting it because we have the preposition proj plus the accusative singular of w(ra, which means an hour. Paul says that the two years that he has been gone should be just counted as an hour. The time is short when the results are positive is the point. If he returns to Philemon as a supergrace believer instead of an unsaved fugitive slave then just count it as an hour. And no matter how long it takes when people go wandering off into reversionism and failure it is a short time if it succeeds in bringing them around to what is important. So two years are counted as an hour when the benefits of grace are effective. Regardless of the extent of time grace makes it short in duration when a person goes from unbeliever reversionism to supergrace status. Time is meaningless to the Lord, He counts a day as a thousand years.

“that” introduces a new clause, a purpose clause; “thou shouldest receive” — present active subjunctive of a)pexw. This means to receive back. The customary present means that we have a situation where Philemon has him back now for as long as he wants him. The active voice: Philemon produces the action of getting him back; the subjunctive mood: for a purpose clause.

“forever” — the word here indicates that the solution to man’s problems in time must come through salvation and through the intake of doctrine. Once you have that status that is the solution.

Translation: “Perhaps for this reason he was separated for an hour in order that you should have him back forever.”

Principles

1. It was obvious that Onesimus in the organisation of Philemon would not respond to the grace impact and the gospel witnessing of Philemon.

2. Before Onesimus would respond he had to be placed in circumstances of abject poverty and hopelessness. He would never appreciate or understand grace until he was down and out. When he got to Rome he was a very wealthy person because he stole a tremendous amount of money. But when he was broke and down and out he came into contact with the apostle Paul, and that is when grace became of very great interest to him.

3. By running away from the pleasant environment of Colosse and the household of Philemon Onesimus brought about a situation of destitution and desperation — which is just what he needed.

4. Onesimus had to come to the end of himself before he would understand the principle of grace — and that he did as a fugitive in Rome.

5. Under pleasant environment it was impossible for him to appreciate grace and therefore it was unpleasant for Philemon and more unpleasant for Onesimus, he had to become a fugitive to appreciate grace. As a supergrace believer now Philemon treated his slaves with great kindness and generosity. In fact there were many people like Philemon who owned a lot of slaves and it caused one Roman senator in Rome to quip: “It is better to be Philemon’s slave than to be a free man in Rome” .Principle: Many unbelievers will not respond to the gospel until they are in desperate circumstances. Once they are brought to the end of self and completely down and out then they will respond to the gospel. The same thing is true of born-again believers. They have to come to a set of circumstances where they are completely down and out and then they begin to have some appreciation for grace and those who have treated them in grace. The same principle then applies to believers as well as unbelievers. It is the concept that people do not have grace appreciation until they are completely out of gas.

We now have the principle that the shadow of reversionism is removed from this unbeliever by his conversion and by his growth in grace. Now it is an interesting situation. Both Philemon the master and Onesimus are both super grace believers. Both now face a crisis which could wreck the supergrace life of either one of them. For the master Philemon the attack will be right versus right — right, grace versus right, legalism. In other words, when Onesimus comes back and they have their confrontation he can seize Onesimus and have him punished, or he can treat him in grace and forgive him and forget, and even emancipate him. For Onesimus the voluntary return also brings a crisis of grace for him. He is doing the right things by returning and surrendering himself to his master. In giving himself up, if his master becomes legalistic and punishes him as a runaway slave, there is the possibility that he might very easily react bitterly, he might react with hatred or antagonism or even self-pity. Philemon has one type of crisis in grace and Onesimus has another but both of them have an opportunity of showing what grace can do and what Bible doctrine resident in the soul can do, and how this is the only answer when it comes to social problems, social evils, and so on. Only grace can resolve the impasse and that means that both men must utilise the inner resources of Bible doctrine in their souls. And this of course brings out a very important point. When we take in Bible doctrine we are building up inner resources, we are building up a command post in our souls so that wherever we are and whatever we do in life we take our orders from doctrine resident in our souls.

There are some principles that come out of this crisis

a. The laws of establishment sustains the spiritual even as the spiritual sustains the laws of establishment.

b. Believers must become spiritually self-sustaining when they have the opportunity to take in doctrine so that when they are scattered they will never depend upon anyone but the doctrine they have in their souls.

c. The moral order of a nation sustains the social order of a nation.

d. The spiritual life of the believer sustains the social order of the nation.

Verses 16-25, the crisis of grace.

In verses 16,17 we have Philemon’s dilemma.

Verse 16 — “Not now as a servant, but above a servant.” That is all wrong. It is ou)keti o(l doulon. O)uketi means no longer; o(j means as; doulon is a slave — “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave” — u(per plus the accusative of douloj. He is still a slave but now he is more than a slave. He is a “brother beloved,” which means he is respected by the believers in Rome.

“specially to me” — malista e)moi. Malista is a superlative adverb which means “most of all — to me [e)moi], but how much more to you” — he says in effect, You have the wonderful privilege now of receiving him back. And then he adds, “both in the flesh and in the Lord?”

The verse says: No longer a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, most of all to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?”

What does this mean?

1. Though still a slave Onesimus is equal to Philemon his master in spiritual matters.

2. So whether Onesimus remains a slave or is emancipated he is still a fellow believer, a member of the royal family of God forever, and he has advanced to maturity.

3. Paul is not pushing for manumission here but establishing the fact that the fugitive slave of yesterday is the supergrace believer of today.

4. Furthermore Paul has stated in this verse his admiration for Onesimus and he wants Philemon, the master, to share in this admiration. Here is a person who was down to rock bottom and through the grace of God has come all of the way to the top.

5. That is why we have the phrase “in the flesh.” In the flesh means that Onesimus is Philemon’s slave. Then we have the phrase “in the Lord,” which means that Onesimus is Philemon’s brother in Christ. Both are now members of the royal family of God.

6. Note that the fact of both being saved and royal family forever does not change their human relationship in the flesh. In the flesh one is master, one is slave. Being members of the family of God never changes the principle of authority and never changes the principle of establishment. In other words, brotherhood does not destroy authority.

Verse 17 — “If thou count me” is wrong, it is present active indicative of e)xw, which means to have. There is no counting here at all. It should be: “If you have me as a partner” — koinwnia. In other words, Paul and Philemon are old partners.

“receive him” — aorist middle imperative of proslambanw. In the active voice this verb means to partake of food. It also means to take advantage of someone. But in the middle voice it means to receive into one’s society, so the middle voice here is important. The aorist tense is a constative aorist which gathers into one entirety the reception of Onesimus by Philemon. The middle voice then is indirect middle which uses the agent Philemon as the producer of the action. But the imperative mood is not a command. This is the imperative of entreaty which does not contain the finality of a command but has the force and the urgency of a request. This is a request and not a command.

We also have the accusative singular direct object of the intensive pronoun a)utoj. A)utoj always emphasises someone on the passage as being very special. There is emphasis here on Onesimus.

“as myself” — o(j e)me, which means “as you would receive me.”

Corrected translation: “If therefore you have me as a partner [and you do], receive him [Onesimus] as you would receive me [Paul].”

And Philemon would do anything for Paul. “Receive Onesimus as you would receive me” means forgive as Christ forgave. Instead of branding him as a fugitive, instead of torturing him as per the Roman law, do the right thing by him; receive him. To do the right thing by the law would be right but to do the right thing by grace would glorify God as only a supergrace believer can. So the crisis of grace can only be resolved by the function of grace.

Principle: No grace crisis can ever be resolved except by a grace principle. The crisis of grace can only be resolved by the function of grace. While legalism produces cursing, grace function produces grace blessing.

Verses 18-19, the case for grace.

Verse 18 — “If.” This introduces the second first class condition — “he hath wronged you [and he has].” So Paul does not in any way soft-pedal the fact that Onesimus wronged Philemon by stealing all of that money and running away. The aorist tense gathers up into one entirety the wronging. The active voice: Onesimus produced the action, he is the one who has wronged Philemon. The indicative mood is the historical reality.

“or oweth thee ought” — the word for “owe” is the present active indicative of o)feilw; the word “ought” is the indefinite relative pronoun tij, and we say today, “anything” — “If he owes you anything [and he does].” It is a hopeless debt, there is no way that Onesimus could pay it. Only grace can actually solve the debt .

“put that on mine account” — present active imperative of e)llogew, which means to charge or to put on one’s account. Hopeless situations are only solved by grace.

Verse 19 — “I Paul have written it by mine own hand, I will repay it.” “I will repay” is the future active indicative of a)potinw, and it means to pay damages.

“albeit” — the conjunction i(na which introduces a final clause and should be translated “so that.”

“I do not say” — present active subjunctive of legw plus the negative mh. Legw here means to mention. Literally, “So that I do not have to mention.”

“to thee” — dative of advantage. It is to Philemon’s advantage not to be reminded of how much he owes Paul; “how thou owest” — present active indicative from prosofeilw.

“unto me even thine own self” — With prosofeilw we have a reflexive pronoun, seautou, therefore Paul is stating the fact that Philemon owes his life to Paul. But Paul in his subtle sarcastic way is saying, “I don’t want to mention it,” or “I don’t want to mention what you owe me.”

Corrected translation: “I Paul have written this by my own hand, I will pay damages so that I do not have to mention to you that you owe me even yourself.”

Grace must come from Philemon’s own command post. Paul is reminding Philemon of the whole principle of grace. Grace function is the only solution to social evil.

Verse 20 — “Ye, brother.” This is actually “Affirmative brother” or, we might say, “Okay brother.”

“let me have joy” — the aorist middle optative of o)neihmi, which means to profit or benefit. In other words, “Let me have benefit from the fact that I led you to the Lord and helped you all the way to spiritual maturity” .This is a culminative aorist, it views the event in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing results. The results will be that Philemon’s ministry of refreshment will be directed toward Onesimus just as Paul’s ministry of refreshment was directed towards Philemon. The middle voice is a permissive middle, it represents the agent Paul securing the results of the action in his own interest as well as the interests of Philemon and Onesimus. The optative mood is a voluntative optative, it is used to express a wish for someone but they must do it from their own free will — so it is called the optative of freedom.

“in the Lord” — this is e)n plus the instrumental and should be “because of the Lord.” The prepositional phrase sets up the perfect standard for grace. As the Lord has treated us in Christ so we must treat others. It is the same concept that we find in Colossians 3:13 — “putting up with one another,” etc.

“refresh my bowels” — “refresh” is the aorist active imperative of a)napauw, which means the forgiveness principle of grace here. The imperative is the imperative of entreaty, not of command. The word “bowels” is splagxnon and it refers to tender affections: “refresh my deep affections in Christ.” In other words, he has always had a great love [category three] for Philemon; he says refresh it. The grace function of the royal family stimulates refreshment from others of the royal family. This stimulation and refreshment elicits admiration. Admiration is the basis for capacity for love. Philemon’s ministry of refreshment takes another stride by his grace treatment of Onesimus and this excites the excites the admiration of Paul and increases his category three love for Philemon. Principle: No one ever loses with grace. Grace function is based on maximum doctrine resident in the soul. Grace function produces admiration and respect from those who count and capacity for love in every category is increased and strengthened.

Verse 21 — We have one of those verses which is always misunderstood. (It appears as though Paul is going to have confidence in people. Far from it. He had confidence in Philemon’s command post, not in Philemon. Doctrine resident in the soul is Philemon’s command post. His confidence is not in a person but in the doctrine resident in the soul.

“Having confidence” — perfect active participle of peiqw. The perfect tense is an intensive perfect, something that happens in the past and the results keep going. When a person has maximum doctrine in his soul you have confidence in that person with the result that you have confidence in their doctrine with the result that you have confidence in their decisions and their judgement. The active voice: Paul produces the action, he has confidence in Philemon’s resident doctrine and therefore in Philemon. The participle is circumstantial. “Obedience” is the locative of sphere u(pakoh, it is correctly translated. Philemon’s command post in the soul makes it possible for him to obey and that same doctrine makes it possible for Paul to have confidence in him. Note that Paul does not have confidence in people but he does have confidence in doctrine in people. Translation: “Having confidence in your obedience [to the doctrine resident in your soul] I wrote to you knowing that you will do even over and above what I say.”

This brings us to the point that Paul anticipates that he will free Onesimus as well as forgive him. The first implication of this is manumission, which is beyond forgiveness. Note that social problems and evils are resolved by doctrine in the soul, not by legislation and not by violence.

Principles 1. This verse anticipates the grace function of supergrace Philemon. There is your resolving it. From the command post of doctrine resident in the soul Philemon will forgive, restore, and manumit his former slave, Onesimus.

2. However, the solution can only exist in freedom — while Philemon was free. No one coerced or pressured him. Philemon did it because of doctrine in his soul, not because of interference, and not because of do-gooders.

Corrected translation of verses 22-25. Verse 22 — “And at the same time also prepare me a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be graciously given to you” — Paul anticipates his own freedom. He wants to come and visit Philemon and Onesimus.

Verse 23 — “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you;”

Verse 24 — “Likewise Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers” .

Verse 25 — “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” Colossians 4:9 — “Together with Onesimus, that faithful and beloved brother” .

This brings us to the big issue. Should believers get involved in social action? Should believers try to change evil?

Once again let us look at the conclusion of the entire letter. The first impression is that manumission is something of great issue in the epistle. However, grace is the great issue. The implication of manumission is obvious when Paul signs a personal IOU. Note that social problems and evils are resolved by doctrine in the soul coupled with individual volition. They are never solved by legislature and they are never solved by violence. The passage which we have been studying actually anticipates the supergrace function of Philemon in facing the grace crisis of right versus right. From the command post of doctrine resident in his soul we know that there is a perfect solution, but the solution can only exist in freedom and Philemon was free to emancipate Onesimus. He did it from the doctrinal standards in his soul but not from violence, not from coercion and not because of law or a government trying to force him into a course of action.