Out of Time: Philemon

There’s a juicy bit of drama from Paul’s letter to Philemon that I left out of the sermon on August 10th.  It saved time to leave it out, but I also felt like the story of Onesimus’ arrival was dramatic enough without it.

There are many opinions out there about the relationship between Onesimus and Philemon.  Some think Onesimus was in debt to Philemon.  Some think he was born into slavery in Philemon’s household.  But there’s also an even more scandalous theory out there–that Onesimus was Philemon’s half-brother.

It was not uncommon for slave-owning men to father children by their slaves.  Such a child would have no higher status than any other slave in the household.  It was rare for the father of the child to even acknowledge the relationship in the first place, though it was probably a poorly kept secret as children of the household and slave children grew up under the same roof.

A phrase that Bible scholars have debated for centuries appears in Philemon 1:15-16. 

15For perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

 The Greek phrase, “ἀδελφὸν κατὰ σάρκα,” (adelphon kata sarka) means “brother in the flesh.”  There’s not really another way to interpret that than to mean the person is your brother, related to you, sharing common parents, etc.  So when Paul tells Philemon that Onesimus is a beloved brother to him, he says that he’s a brother more so to Philemon, because unlike Paul, to Philemon he’s a brother “both in the flesh and in the Lord.”

 Some argue that it just means Onesimus is back “in the flesh,” as if to say he’s there “in person,” as opposed to “in spirit” like someone might say today.  However, it is possible that the moment Onesimus shows up with Tychicus to deliver Paul’s Letter to the Colossians was not just a moment of high drama.  It’s possible that it was a moment of family drama worthy of its own TV show!