Paul’s Plea for Onesimus
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus—10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
With verse 8 the apostle begins to directly discuss the primary business of this letter. His plea to Philemon on Onesimus’ behalf is a model intercession, for it is based solely on Christian love. In the previous verses Paul laid the foundation for an appeal to Philemon’s heart. Now he makes that appeal in a direct and forthright manner. Paul was the Lord’s apostle. As an apostle, Paul had special authority in the church. Had he chosen to was about to request. In this case, however, Paul did not want to do it that way. He did not want to lay this request on Philemon as an obligation or a duty. He wanted it to be a matter of love. So he set himself before Philemon not as an apostle with authority but as an old man and a prisoner of Jesus Christ who is appealing to Philemon’s love.
According to our standards, Paul was not really very old. He was probably in his 60s, but life expectancy in the first century was not as great as it is now. Paul had no doubt grown old beyond his years because of the many hardships and deprivations he had experienced in his service and suffering for the gospel. Even as he wrote these words, Paul was imprisoned for the gospel’s sake. Philemon loved and respected the apostle. As a Christian who customarily showed love to others, Philemon would indeed find it hard to refuse a special appeal to love from the beloved apostle.
We 21st-century Christians can learn much from the manner in which the apostle makes his appeal here. We live in a society where demands are more common than appeals. Assertiveness, not tact, we are told, gets people ahead in life today. The apostle here shows us the better way. The most powerful motivating force on earth is not intimidation or threat or assertion of what one perceives as one’s own rights, but love. That is true to an even greater degree among Christians, whose love finds its motive and example in Jesus’ self-giving love for us. On the basis of that love, Jesus constantly intercedes for us with the Father. The most effective appeals from one Christian to another, and even, in a more limited way, from Christians to nonChristians, will be those based on love.
Paul chooses his words very carefully. As a faithful intercessor, he places himself between the one for whom he is pleading and the one with whom he is pleading as he makes the request for which this epistle was written. With tender affection and beautiful tact, calling the runaway slave “my son” and one “who became my son while I was in chains,” Paul brings the subject of Onesimus directly before Philemon.
Using a play on words involving the slave’s name, he describes the wonderful change the Lord has brought about in Onesimus’ heart and life. Onesimus, a rather common slave’s name, means “profitable” or “useful.” Formerly, of course, Onesimus had been untrue to his name. He had been a runaway and a thief, particularly unprofitable to Philemon. Perhaps Philemon cringed at the very mention of the name Onesimus. But now, Paul informs Philemon, the Onesimus who has been instructed in the gospel and converted to Christianity has become truly useful. He has already been useful to Paul, and he will again be useful to Philemon, if only Philemon will receive him. Paul further describes the deep affection that has grown between himself and Onesimus. He is confident that such affection could quickly grow also between Philemon and Onesimus when he tells Philemon, “I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.”