Filemon 1:10

1:10 I am appealing ¹  to you concerning my child, whose spiritual father I have become ²  during my imprisonment, ³  that is, Onesimus,

Filemon 1:12

1:12 I have sent ⁴  him (who is my very heart) ⁵  back to you.

Filemon 1:14-17

1:14 However, ⁶  without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your good deed would not be out of compulsion, but from your own willingness. 1:15 For perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a little while, so that you would have him back eternally, ⁷  1:16 no longer as a slave, ⁸  but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking ⁹  and in the Lord. 1:17 Therefore if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.

Filemon 1:21

1:21 Since I was confident that you would obey, I wrote to you, because I knew that you would do even more than ¹⁰  what I am asking you to do.

[1:10]  ¹ tn Or “I am encouraging…”

[1:10]  ² tn Grk “my child whom I have begotten.” The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied before “father” in the translation to clarify for the modern reader that Paul did not literally father a child during his imprisonment. Paul’s point is that he was instrumental in Onesimus’ conversion while in prison.

[1:10]  ³ sn During my imprisonment. Apparently Onesimus became a believer under Paul’s shepherding while he [Paul] was a prisoner in Rome.

[1:12]  ⁴ tc There are several variants at this point in the text, most of them involving the addition of προσλαβοῦ (proslabou, “receive, accept”) at various locations in the verse. But all such variants seem to be motivated by the harsh syntax of the verse without this verb. Without the verb, the meaning is that Onesimus is Paul’s “very heart,” though this is an awkward expression especially because of τουτ᾿ ἔστιν (tout’ estin, “this is, who is”) in the middle cluttering the construction. Nowhere else in the NT is σπλάγχνα (splancna, here translated “heart”) used in apposition to people. It is thus natural that scribes would want to fill out the text here, and they did so apparently with a verb that was ready at hand (borrowed from v. 17). With the verb the sentence is converted into an object-complement construction: “I have sent him back to you; accept him, that is, as my very heart.” But both the fact that some important witnesses (א* A F G 33 pc) lack the verb, and that its location floats in the various constructions that have it, suggest that the original text did not have προσλαβοῦ.

[1:12]  tn Grk “whom I have sent.” The Greek sentence was broken up in the English translation for the sake of clarity. Although the tense of the Greek verb here is past (an aorist tense) the reader should understand that Onesimus may well have been standing in the very presence of Paul as he wrote this letter.

[1:12]  ⁵ tn That is, “who means a great deal to me”; Grk “whom I have sent to you, him, this one is my heart.”

[1:14]  ⁶ tn Though the Greek text does not read the term “however,” it is clearly implied and thus supplied in the English translation to accent the contrastive nature of Paul’s statement.

[1:15]  ⁷ sn So that you would have him back eternally. The notion here is not that Onesimus was to be the slave of Philemon eternally, but that their new relationship as brothers in Christ would transcend the societal structures of this age. The occasion of Onesimus’ flight to Rome would ultimately be a catalyst in the formation of a new and stronger bond between these two men.

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Although the Greek word δοῦλος (doulos) is sometimes translated “servant” here (so KJV), the word “slave” is a much more candid and realistic picture of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. In the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century the slave was considered a “living tool” of the master. The slave was “property” in every sense of the word. This understanding heightens the tense scenario that is in view here. It is likely that Onesimus may have even feared for his life upon returning to Colossae. Undoubtedly Paul has asked this runaway slave to return to what could amount to a potentially severe and life-endangering situation.

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[1:21]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “that you would even go beyond.”