Philemon – Freedom and Friendship

What do you think of when you hear the word “slave”? For me, that word conjures up the image of a band of barefooted, poorly dressed people, sweating under a hot sun, harvesting cotton under the hard eye of a foreman, who is holding a bullwhip.

We think of slaves as poor, uneducated, illiterate, unskilled people, who were mistreated, abused, and who worked hard in manual labor. We picture them living in huts and hovels. We think of the typical slave as a person in chains, living on the very bottom rung of society.

Here in North America, our view of slavery has been largely influenced by our understanding of what life was like on the plantations of the southern U.S. prior to the Civil War. Many of us have seen such images of slaves depicted in popular movies like “Roots”. But all of this has very little to do with the institution of slavery as it was practiced in the Roman Empire in the 1^(st) century AD.

Slavery was extremely common in the Roman Empire at the time of the NT. Indeed, the whole economy of the Empire was built upon the institution of slavery. Slavery was a fundamental part of the social fabric of the world at that time.

Scholars estimate that up to 1/3 of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves, and that ratio tended to be even higher in the cities. Unlike the pre-Civil War southern U.S., slaves worked in almost every occupation imaginable…

0. • farming, agriculture

   • mining

   • building trades – carpenters, stone masons, road-builders

   • domestics – butlers, maids, cooks, stewards, etc.

   • teachers – e.g. Galatians 4:1ff – guardians, tutors

   • skilled craftsmen – potters, leather-workers, silversmiths; Paul, as a tentmaker, very likely would have worked alongside slaves

   • shopkeepers; traders, buyers, sellers

   • military – soldiers were often accompanied on campaigns by a personal slave; slaves served as rowers in the galleys, or hauling seige engines.

   • professions: doctors, managers, accountants, engineers, civil servants – the man who designed and supervised the building of a Roman city street was just as likely to be a slave as the man who swept that street and picked up the garbage.

This is the remarkable thing about slavery in the Roman Empire: Slaves were at every level of society; they were mixed throughout the population; you couldn’t tell by looking at someone whether or not he was a slave or a free man. The social standing of a slave had more to do with his own education and the status of his owner than anything else. Many slaves were highly educated and highly skilled – they were intellectuals; a part of the intelligentsia.

A typical upper-class household would have 4-5 slaves. A middle class household might have 1-2. A few rich landowners might have several dozen slaves, and a very few had hundreds.

I have found that, when it comes to the subject of slavery, most Biblical commentators assume that the lot of a slave in the Roman Empire was dismal; “wretched beyond words”. Yet when I have looked at the original sources, and when I have examined the work of scholars who have studied life in Ancient Rome, I found something quite different.

Apart from the fact that they were not free individuals and had limited legal rights, most slaves were not mistreated in Ancient Rome. (Notable exceptions were areas like mining, where slaves worked under brutal conditions, and rowing in the galley ships of the navy. These slaves were expected to die in service.) Aristotle said that a slave was a “living tool”; it would be a foolish master who abused and mistreated his tools.

Many slaves lived in better quarters, ate better food, and wore better clothing than many free people did.

Slaves had few legal rights, though in the 1^(st) century AD, even this was changing for the better. A slave could not represent himself in court, inherit property, or enter into a marriage without his master’s consent. He was regarded as a piece of property, as a “thing”, and so was not regarded to have any family connections or “kin” of his own. Slave families were thus often separated; slave children taken away from their parents and so forth.

Interestingly, though, slaves were allowed to purchase property, and some slaves even bought their own slaves! Some well-educated slaves bought children, raised and educated them, and then sold them to rich families who needed tutors.

There is quite a lot of evidence that many slaves were set free, or manumitted. Cicero stated that a worthy slave could expect to receive his manumission in seven years. Other sources indicate that slaves would be freed when they reached the age of 30. This might sound quite charitable, but we have to remember that the average lifespan of an individual in those days was fairly low. If you reached the age of 30, you were a senior citizen! A slave at the age of 30 – particularly one who worked in manual labor – would have been considered well past his prime and not capable of doing much more useful work. He would have been just another mouth to feed, and so the master would want to be rid of him.

At other times in the Roman Empire special taxes were levied on households; the amount of tax was calculated on the number of people in the household, including slaves – the more slaves you had, the higher the tax would be. So many masters would free their slaves in order to avoid the higher tax.

But many masters freed their slaves for more noble reasons. If the master was himself a Roman citizen, and manumitted his slaves, they too would become Roman citizens. Pliny the Younger writes that he freed his slaves because of a desire to see his native country increase in the number of its citizens.

Someone did a scholarly study of the Roman treasury for the years 81-49 BC. He found that there was a manumission tax of 5% payable on the value of the slave who was being freed. Looking at that revenue stream, he calculated that in those years no fewer than 1/2 million slaves were given their freedom.

But where did all these slaves come from in the first place? How did people become slaves in ancient Rome? There were a number of ways…

0. you were captured in war e.g. – Region of Epirus: 150,000 residents became slaves when captured e.g. – Jerusalem revolt 66-70 AD: Vespasian sent 6,000 Jewish slaves to help build a canal across the isthmus of Corinth; Josephus tells us that 97,000 Jews were enslaved as a result of the revolt

1. you were kidnapped by pirates or slave-traders e.g. – fear of travel; question to oracle: “Will I be kidnapped and sold into slavery?” e.g. - 1 Tim. 1:10 – NIV: The Law is made for lawbreakers, such as “slave traders”; KJV: “menstealers”

2. you were traded into slavery by a barbarian chieftain e.g. - Gallic chiefs loved Italian wine so much that they sold 1 slave for 1 jar of wine

3. your parents sold you into slavery in order to pay off a debt they owed

4. you yourself were sold into slavery because you couldn’t pay off a debt

5. you willingly sold yourself into slavery e.g. – many people did this in order to better their lot; to escape poverty; to climb to a different social level e.g. – if you sold yourself to a Roman citizen and could then persuade him to free you, you would be freed as a Roman citizen e.g. – Clement of Rome, one of the early church fathers, tells us that some Christians actually sold themselves into slavery in order to purchase the freedom of other Christian slaves who may have been suffering under a harsh master

6. as a free woman, if you married a slave, you would become a slave of your husband’s master

7. you were born to slave parents – this was by far the most common origin of slaves in Roman Empire

8. your parents abandoned you and you were found and raised as a slave e.g. – the practice of infanticide by exposure; “foundlings” e.g. – papyrus in Egypt – husband’s letter to his pregnant wife in 1 BC: “if it is a male, let it live; if it is female, cast it out.” E.g. – another papyrus - “to rescue from the dung pile for enslavement”

So the practice of slavery in ancient Rome was as common as employment is today. It was universally practiced; it was part of the society.

When we come to the book of Philemon, we come to the story of a slave – a slave who ran away from his master. The master’s name was Philemon; the slave’s name was Onesimus. Let’s read the story and then we’ll talk about it.

Read Philemon

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to his friend Philemon. Paul was in Rome at the time. He was under house arrest, and was chained to a Roman guard, but he enjoyed considerable contact with people; there was a lot of coming and going around him. And he was free to write letters.

During this time of confinement, which happened around the year 60 AD, he wrote four letters which are now part of our NT:

• Philippians

• Ephesians

• Colossians

• Philemon

• (he also wrote a fifth letter to the church at Laodicea which we do not have; we know that he wrote it because he mentions it in Colossians.)

We call these letters Paul’s “prison epistles” even though he wasn’t technically in prison, he was in chains under house arrest.

Unlike the other prison epistles, this letter to Philemon was not written to a church, it was written to an individual: a man named Philemon.

Philemon lived in the town of Colossae (located in present day Turkey). He was a Christian who was active in the Colossian church. This church had been planted by a man named Epaphras, who was a fellow worker of Paul’s. Paul had never been to Colossae himself; he only got as far as Ephesus. But at some point, Paul must have come into contact with Philemon and led him to the Lord. (In v. 19, Paul intimates that Philemon owes him his very life.)

Philemon must have been fairly well to do. His home was large enough for the church to use as a meeting place (v.2). And, as we know, he owned at least one slave – this young man named Onesimus. What sort of master he must have been we do not know, but we do know that Paul commends Philemon for his loving spirit in v. 5, 7. It doesn’t seem likely that he was a harsh or unkind master.

But, for whatever reason, Onesimus decided to run away from him, and in doing so, may also have stolen from him. (Paul indicates that there may well have been the matter of some restitution to be made, which he volunteers to take care of in v. 18, 19).

When he ran away, Onesimus headed for Rome, probably to “lose” himself in the big city. Somehow, though, the Lord guided his footsteps to the Apostle Paul, and Paul introduced him to Jesus Christ. Onesimus became a Christian.

That’s why Paul says in v. 10 “he became my son while I was in chains.”

And then he became Paul’s helper, as Paul indicates in v. 11…

Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

Paul is making a little play on words here. The name Onesimus means “useful”. And in v. 13, Paul says…

I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel.

But Paul obviously recognized that he couldn’t keep Onesimus there. He had a responsibility under Roman law, and an obligation to return Onesimus to Philemon. And that was for the good of Onesimus. If the Roman authorities discovered that Onesimus was a runaway slave, he would be dealt with very harshly. At the very least, he might be branded with the letter “F” for “fugitatus”, or “fugitive”. At the very worst, he could be put to death. The best thing for Onesimus, at this point, was for him to return quickly to his master.

At this point, you may be saying: Why doesn’t Paul use this opportunity to speak out against slavery? If he is going to write a letter to Philemon, a Christian slave-owner, why doesn’t he demand that Onesimus be set free? For that matter, why doesn’t he attack the whole institution of slavery? How could Paul and the early church simply accept it without criticism?

Let me attempt an answer. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message which brings about social change, but it does so by indirect means. The Gospel is primarily concerned with the question of our individual relationship with God, and, stemming from that, our relationship with our fellow human beings. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that God loves us, and because of that love as demonstrated through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, we can gain a right standing with God. Our relationship with him can be restored. We can be reconciled with God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

And once we enter into that newly reconciled relationship with God, we become free to relate to our fellow human beings in a relationship of love and reconciliation.

And the result is that as we carry that love into society, and into relationships, wrong institutions and evil practices such as slavery are undercut. But they are undercut—not by direct frontal assault on the institution itself; not through political change, or violent revolution—but by the inner transformation that takes place in the lives of people who are following Christ.

This is exactly what you see happening here in Philemon. Paul sends Onesimus back to his master, but he does so in such a way as to encourage Philemon to receive Onesimus as more than a slave. Look at verses 15-17…

Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good — no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.

Paul encourages Philemon to accept this runaway slave as a dear brother, as a man, as a brother in the Lord, as every bit the equal in respect, dignity, and honor as the Apostle Paul himself. This was unheard of in the ancient world! And this is the revolutionary message of Christianity.

1Cor. 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Gal. 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The Gospel undercuts racial and cultural distinctions; it undercuts socio-economic distinctions; it even undercuts gender distinctions. This is how the Gospel changes society.

This is really what I want to get at in our study of Philemon, because I think that this is why God has seen fit to include this personal little letter in our Scripture today. It is not a book about the evils of slavery, as it is a book about the importance of reconciliation.

Philemon and Onesimus had a problem that was bigger than the fact that one was a master and the other was a slave. These two individuals were at odds with one another. Their interpersonal relationship had been broken. There was division between them.

Onesimus was bitter toward Philemon; that is why he ran away. Philemon may well have been angry at Onesimus for having run away. And the fact that he had run away meant that there was now not only an interpersonal gap between them, but a geographical gap as well. Onesimus was in Rome; Philemon was in Colossae, 1,500 km away.

But the amazing thing is that the Lord wanted to bring these two men back together; he wanted to heal and restore their relationship; he wanted to bring about reconciliation. And he used Paul, and this remarkable set of circumstances to do it.

The Gospel is about reconciliation. It is about bringing God and man back together, but it is also about bringing people back together. The power and the proof of the Gospel is that it not only brings us into fellowship with God; it brings us into fellowship with one another.

So you know what that means? That means that wherever there is brokenness in my life in a relationship; wherever there is conflict or division or something between myself and another person for whatever reason, God’s desire is to bring about reconciliation in that relationship with that person.

Interpersonal conflict often creates division. And that division, if left to fester, eventually results in broken relationships. That is why God wants us to deal with interpersonal conflict Biblically. There are Biblical principals we need to apply whenever we find that something has come between us and another person. And if we apply those principals, we give God the freedom to work in that situation. To do his work of reconciliation. We unleash the grace of God to bring healing and understanding and restoration, and unity.

I wish that we could avoid conflict. But we can’t! We are sinners, and our sin and selfishness brings us into conflict with one another. What do we do then? Do we throw up our hands in despair? Do we walk away and wash our hands of the situation? Do we say “This is just how it’s going to be”?

The most helpful insight that I can give you today is to learn to view conflict as the soil in which God wants to plant the seeds of reconcilation. Conflict contains within it the promise of future blessing, if only we have eyes to see it. Out of conflict can come reconciliation: stronger relationships, greater commitment, deeper love.

(describe brochure on Biblical Conflict Resolution)

But what if I have a conflict with someone and I’ve tried to apply the biblical principals and there isn’t any more I can do? What if our situation is such that I don’t even have contact with the person anymore. Maybe this is in the distant past, or this person is living in a far-off country.

Pray. Be willing for God to intervene. Be available for him to do his work of reconciliation.

Remember the story of Philemon. Onesimus was gone. He was 1,500 km away. Philemon had no idea where he was. But God did! And God brought the two of them back together.

And if someone comes to you who is in conflict with another person, be like Paul – be an agent of reconciliation. Don’t take sides – love them both! And get them back together for the glory of God. There’s no telling how powerful the results can be!

A final historical footnote…

One of the early church fathers was a man named Ignatius. He was the bishop of the church at Antioch. Ignatius lived just after the time of the apostles; he died around 115 AD. In his writings, Ignatius describes how a certain bishop of Ephesus collected all the letters of the Apostle Paul so that the church could preserve them and distribute them as a collection, not singly as they had been circulated previously. That collection, from Romans to Philemon, was the form in which Paul’s letters came to be included in the canon of NT Scripture.

The bishop of Ephesus who assembled that collection was named Onesimus. (We don’t know for sure if it was the same guy, but I like to think that it was.)

And now you know the rest of the story!