Paul's letter to Philemon gives us so many thoughts to ponder and lessons to learn and apply in our Christian lives. In just 25 verses, Paul effectively shows us what Christ-like character we should all employ as God's people.
In this article we'll take a look at three things we can learn from Paul's letter to Philemon. Though the letter contains many lessons, we'll focus on three important things that I believe are crucial to our lives as Christians.
Three important things we can learn from Paul's letter to Philemon
1) We must all learn to be humble
Paul, the apostle and father to many churches in different places during the days of the early church, is renowned and respected as a great man of faith.
He is known as a bold and fierce man who loved Christ and gave his life for His purposes, preaching the Gospel everywhere he went and teaching believers of every age group, gender, financial stature, size and shape to follow hard after the Lord Jesus Christ and live lives worthy of His name.
Yet, this great man began his letter to Philemon with a very humbling sentence:
"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus..." (see Philemon 1:1)
Paul often introduced himself as an apostle in his other letters. In his letter to Philemon, however, he introduced himself as a simple prisoner of Christ.
Bradley Cobb's commentary notes that with this introduction, Paul identified with Onesimus, Philemon's runaway slave.
This humble introduction comes against all our attempts to exalt ourselves with titles and labels and names. Paul, the apostle, called himself a "prisoner of Christ Jesus." That's who we should be -- captivated and held captive by Christ alone.
2) We must give effort to do what is right
Paul's letter to Philemon included one very important request: that he welcome Onesimus back, formerly a runaway slave (believed to have stolen money from his master, spending it to go to Paul) and now a brother in the Lord.
Paul's intention here was to make things right. While he admitted that he wanted Onesimus to stay with him and help him as he remained in "chains for the gospel" (see Philemon 1:13), he is sending him home because he wanted Philemon to reconcile with him and, if possible, voluntarily let Onesimus stay with Paul.
Paul, however, didn't send Onesimus back without any support or encouragement. He pleaded with Philemon,
"If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord." (Philemon 1:17-20)
Paul was willing to take responsibility for Onesimus, so that he could be restored and welcomed back.
How many of us today will look beyond our own personal comforts and give efforts to help restore other people to the Lord and to the people to whom they need to be reconciled with?
How many of us today will be willing to welcome back a sinning brother when he repents?
How many of us today will give our own lives to see others restored to God?
Let's ask ourselves these questions.
3) We must keep doing what God wants us to do to the end of our days
If there's one more thing we should look into and learn from in this letter, it's verse 9:
"...Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ..."
This short phrase in the verse struck me very strongly.
At this time we understand that Paul is already in Rome, imprisoned yet continually preaching Christ to all. He is not young anymore, and is not in a comfortable situation as he is under surveillance as a prisoner.
Nevertheless, he continues to do the work of God, aged and possibly lonely.
We must realize that Christianity, the pursuit of Christ and Christ-likeness, will be a lifelong pursuit. We must realize that living for Christ should be our lifestyle from the day we get saved by Christ until the day Christ takes us home.
Age and circumstances are no factors to living a life pleasing to God.
