Filemon 1:5

1:5 because I hear ¹  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ²  for all the saints. ³ 

Filemon 1:18

1:18 Now if he has defrauded you of anything or owes you anything, charge what he owes ⁴  to me.

Filemon 1:7

1:7 I ⁵  have had great joy and encouragement because ⁶  of your love, for the hearts ⁷  of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Filemon 1:19

1:19 I, Paul, have written ⁸  this letter ⁹  with my own hand: ¹⁰  I will repay it. I could also mention that you owe ¹¹  me your very self.

Filemon 1:22

1:22 At the same time also, prepare a place for me to stay, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given back to you.

[1:5]  ¹ tn The Greek present participle ἀκούων (akouwn, “hearing”) is an adverbial participle of cause relating to εὐχαριστῶ (eucaristw, “I give thanks”).

[1:5]  ² sn Your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. In accord with Paul, John also advocates this combination of “faith in Christ and love for the saints.” The believers’ invisible faith becomes visible in the demonstration of love for others. This, of course, is not only desired, but commanded (1 John 3:23). Although Paul’s comment here may appear as a stock expression to the casual reader, praising Philemon for his track record of faithfulness to Christ demonstrated in love for the saints is actually integral to the author’s argument in this short but pithy letter. Paul will soon ask Philemon to demonstrate this love toward Onesimus, his runaway slave.

[1:5]  ³ tn The Greek is somewhat awkward here. It appears as though the text reads “…the love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.” In other Pauline letters the emphasis seems to be “faith in Christ Jesus and love for all of the saints.” Some ancient mss have altered the wording to produce a smoother reading; scribes changed the wording to resemble the more readable versions in Eph 1:15 and Col 1:4, “your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints.”

[1:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “charge it to me.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn The Greek preposition ἐπί (epi) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn The word translated “hearts” here is σπλάγχνα (splancna). Literally the term refers to one’s “inward parts,” but it is commonly used figuratively for “heart” as the seat of the emotions. See BDAG 938 s.v. σπλάγχνον 2 (cf. Col 3:12, Phil 2:1).

[1:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “I wrote” Here ἔγραψα (egraya) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.

[1:19]  ⁹ tn The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to clarify the meaning.

[1:19]  ¹⁰ sn With my own hand. Paul may have considered this letter so delicate that he wrote the letter himself as opposed to using an amanuensis or secretary.

[1:19]  ¹¹ sn The statement you owe me your very self means that Paul was responsible for some sort of blessing in the life of Philemon; though a monetary idea may be in mind, it is perhaps better to understand Paul as referring to the spiritual truth (i.e., the gospel) he had taught Philemon.