Filemon 1:3

1:3 Grace and peace to you ¹  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Filemon 1:5

1:5 because I hear ²  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ³  for all the saints. ⁴ 

Filemon 1:8-10

Paul’s Request for Onesimus

1:8 So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper, 1:9 I would rather appeal ⁵  to you on the basis of love – I, Paul, an old man ⁶  and even now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus ⁷  – 1:10 I am appealing ⁸  to you concerning my child, whose spiritual father I have become ⁹  during my imprisonment, ¹⁰  that is, Onesimus,

Filemon 1:20

1:20 Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. ¹¹ 

[1:3]  ¹ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:5]  ² tn The Greek present participle ἀκούων (akouwn, “hearing”) is an adverbial participle of cause relating to εὐχαριστῶ (eucaristw, “I give thanks”).

[1:5]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.”

[1:9]  ⁵ tn Or “encourage.”

[1:9]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV, TEV), reading πρεσβευτής for πρεσβύτης (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BDAG 863 s.v. πρεσβύτης). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.

[1:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”

[1:10]  ⁸ tn Or “I am encouraging…”

[1:10]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn During my imprisonment. Apparently Onesimus became a believer under Paul’s shepherding while he [Paul] was a prisoner in Rome.

[1:20]  ¹¹ sn Refresh my heart in Christ. Paul desired that Philemon refresh his heart in the same way that he [Philemon] had refreshed the hearts of other believers (cf. Phlm 7), that is, by forgiving and accepting Onesimus. In this way the presence and character of Jesus Christ would be vividly seen in Philemon’s attitude toward his runaway slave.