Philemon 1:4-5
4 I thank [eucharisteo] my [mou] God [theos], making [poieo] mention [mneia] of thee [sou] always [pantote] in [epi] my [mou] prayers [proseuche],
5 Hearing [akouo] of thy [sou] love [agape] and [kai] faith [pistis], which [hos] thou hast [echo] toward [pros] the Lord [kurios] Jesus [Iesous], and [kai] toward [eis] all [pas] saints [hagios]; KJV-Interlinear
4 I thank my God always, making
mention of you in my prayers, 5 because
I hear of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and
toward all the saints; NASB
Paul is in prison
awaiting his trial.Paul does not have
any wiggle room as far as his ability or opportunity to travel and meet people.
Paul may have met
Philemon in his previous travels, or heard about him from someone who has
spoken of him.
Most likely, Paul has
heard of Philemon from Onesimus, the slave who ran away from Philemon, probably
in addition to whatever knowledge he already had heard regarding Philemon.
Paul is writing this
letter to Philemon in behalf of Onesimus.
That indicates that Paul and Onesimus had a reasonably close relationship,
such that Paul has taken it upon himself to write this letter.
Typically a person will
not write an extensive and personal letter for someone that is more a stranger
than a friend.
Philemon had a strong
enough reputation such that Paul mentions him (Philemon) in his prayers on a
regular basis.
The world can really be
a small place.How is it that a runaway
slave, a useless slave, travels hundreds of miles, across the world in those
days, happens to meet Paul who is in prison, no less, hears the gospel,
converts, develops a relationship with Paul, requests aid from Paul in setting
things right with his prior master, and all of this ends up as a part of the Bible,
recorded forever?
Were it not for this
letter, none of us would have ever known the names of Philemon, Onesimus,
Apphia, and so many others whose names appear perhaps once in the Bible.
And, just because names
do not appear in the Bible, that does not mean that history never knew them.
Your name and mine, are
not in the Bible.Virtually no one on
this planet, except for family and immediate friends, even know that we
exist.And yet, in heaven God knows us,
and in heaven God guides the events of history which have brought us all
together, either through this online study, or by some other means.
Most of us are
separated by thousands of miles, separated by culture, separated by language,
separated by so many things that it would be virtually impossible for us to
have any kind of acquaintance or relationship by any other means. But in Christ we have a relationship that
will last forever.And one day, perhaps
in heaven, I hope that we will all be able to get together and get better acquainted.
With these few verses
we have been able to learn about Philemon, and this prepares us for the rest of
the book.
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