Paul’s Plea for Onesimus
And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. 23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. 25The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Paul does not even have to wait until he hears whether or not Philemon has acted on his request. He is confident that his Christian friend has thoroughly received the spirit of the gospel, and he trusts Philemon to do what is fitting, loving, and right. Paul, in fact, is sure that Philemon will find ways of doing even more than what has been requested of him. So as far as the apostle is concerned, the major matter that prompted the writing of this letter is settled and closed.
There is one more request, however, that Paul has to make of Philemon. The fact that he unhesitatingly makes it is yet another evidence of Paul’s confidence that Philemon will honor the intercession of this letter and that this whole incident will result in further cementing the bonds of their friendship. Paul expects to be released from his imprisonment in the near future. After his release, he wants to visit Colosse. During that visit he and the various assistants that traveled with him will need a host and a place to stay. Paul asks Philemon to be that host.
Among the first-century Christians, when traveling was difficult and there was nothing comparable to our modern motels, hospitality was considered a special virtue. Well-todo Christians like Philemon frequently “refreshed the . . . saints” (verse 7) by providing necessary accommodations for their fellow believers, like the apostle, when these people traveled through or stopped to work in their cities.
That he expects his release from imprisonment to take place rather soon is something the apostle credits to the prayers of his fellow Christians. Paul began this epistle with a reference to prayer. He closes it in much the same way. Not only has the apostle been praying for Philemon and the Colossians; he knows that they also have been praying for him. This is as it should be. Those who share God’s grace in the gospel should regularly remember one another before the throne of grace.
The apostle’s expected release, a release for which so many Christians had been praying so fervently, would be dramatic evidence once more that God is moved to gracious actions by believers’ prayers. All the evidence we have indicates that Paul was released from this particular imprisonment and was permitted to make more journeys on behalf of the gospel, and he did use the guest quarters at Philemon’s home.
The greetings Paul conveys in this epistle are from five of the men mentioned in Colossians 4:10-14. The reader may wish to review what was said about each in that section. Epaphras is mentioned first, probably because he had been Philemon’s pastor at Colosse. Jesus Justus, who is mentioned in Colossians, is not mentioned here, probably because he was not personally known to Philemon.
The fact that these servants of the gospel sent their greetings shows that they too had a vital interest in the outcome of this matter. Like Philemon, they were fellow laborers with the apostle Paul for the cause of the gospel, and all were convinced that the cause of the gospel would be wonderfully served and promoted if Philemon showed his returning slave forgiving love modeled on and motivated by the love of Christ.
Upon Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and all who gathered for worship in their home—yes, on all the Colossian believers and on every believer down through the ages who reads this epistle—Paul, God’s apostle, pronounces God’s grace. Grace, God’s unmerited love for lost and fallen sinners, is his most important gift to sinners, and it is the source of every other spiritual blessing. As it fills believers’ hearts through the gospel, it gives birth to a peace beyond human understanding, and it empowers believers to live lives that give evidence of that love.
There is no postscript attached to this epistle. We have no knowledge of Philemon’s reaction to Paul’s plea, but a positive inference is inescapable. If Paul was absolutely confident that Philemon would honor his request, why should we not be confident? The very fact that this letter has been preserved for the church is a silent argument that its eloquent plea fell upon a sympathetic ear. May each of us likewise be moved by this beautiful little epistle to seek and to practice a faith that, in all circumstances of life, works by love.