Year 6, Day 53: Philemon 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Pioneer

• Pioneer: One who goes into the world under God’s authority to claim ground for God’s Kingdom that is not currently claimed.

I have always had a fascination with the book of Philemon.  To be clear, it isn’t because the book is short.  In truth, there are a number of short books in the Bible.  2 John and 3 John are in the New Testament and they are shorter than Philemon.  Jude isn’t much longer.  Obadiah in the Old Testament is shorter than Philemon as well.  Size doesn’t have anything to do with my appreciation for a book of the Bible, although admittedly it is neat to say, “I read a whole book of the Bible today.”

In truth, what I love about the book of Philemon is Paul’s entrepreneurial spirit.  Paul is absolutely being a trendsetter here in this book.  Mind you, the whole missionary journey in telling people about Jesus is a huge dose of trendsetting by going out on a limb.  So Paul isn’t on unfamiliar ground here.  But seldom do we get to see Paul putting this new theology into legitimate cultural practice as we see done in Philemon.  Philemon is one of the best books of the Bible to see theology applied to life in such a direct manner.

Let’s look at this book.  Paul was in prison.  While he was there, he met a runaway slave named Onesimus, who happens to be a slave owned by a man that he knows personally, Philemon.  Paul shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Onesimus and begins to teach him about the ways of God.  As Onesimus learns, he is convinced by Paul to return to Philemon.  Paul convinces Onesimus to return to his master in the spirit of Christ and repent for running away.  Talk about pioneering new ground and applying faith into life!

But that isn’t the end of the pioneering spirit that we see in Paul.  Paul then turns to Philemon and asks him to forgive Onesimus.  Paul asks that Philemon simply forgive the error of Onesimus without exacting retribution.  Paul asks Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ and not a returned runaway slave.  Paul imitates the model he found in God through Jesus Christ and asks that any debt Onesimus might have incurred against Philemon might be charged to Paul instead.  In fact, Paul tells Philemon that he believes Philemon will do even more than this.  Paul not only pioneers a new way for slaves to think of masters, Paul pioneers a new way for masters to think about their slaves.

This is indeed a place that we can see Paul claiming new ground.  Paul is taking the culture around him and shaping it so that it looks more like the world he sees in Christ.  This is what I love about the book of Philemon.  Here we see theology take real shape and impact the world of slaves and slave owners around him.

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