A. The writer(s), the place, and the time: This book was written by the apostle Paul and Timothy to Philemon, Apphia, and Archippus, and to the church in their house (vv. 1, 2). It was written about A.D. 64, shortly before Paul’s release from his first imprisonment in Rome (vv. 9, 22).
B. The subject: an illustration of the believers’ equal status in the new man.
C. The background: [When Paul wrote to Philemon, Philemon was in Colosse and Paul was far away, a prisoner in Rome. One of his co-prisoners, Onesimus, was brought to the Lord and begotten by Paul in the Spirit to become not only a believer in Christ and a child of God, but also a dear child to Paul himself. Since there was a church in Rome, why did Paul not recommend this newly saved one to the local church there? Paul did not do this, because Onesimus was a runaway slave and his master, Philemon, lived in Colosse.
The fact that there were churches in Rome and in Colosse indicates that the churches as the expression of the Body of Christ are universal. This was true in ancient times just as it is true today. The first church, the church in Jerusalem, came into existence approximately 34 or 35 A.D. The Epistle to Philemon was written about thirty years later. Even during the comparatively short time of thirty years, churches had been established not only in Judea, but also in the Gentile world. Thus, the church was universal. This was according to the Lord’s sovereignty to carry out the commission He had given to Paul. It also was the fulfillment of Paul’s desire to see a new man on earth.
By the spreading of the Roman Empire the various nations and peoples around the Mediterranean Sea were brought into contact with one another and were even unified politically. There was a great deal of traffic and communication between people in various parts of the empire. This communication was altogether related to the old man. But at the time Paul wrote to Philemon, another man had come into existence on earth. In the midst of the old man, the new man had come into being. This is fully revealed in Colossians 3:10 and 11: “And having put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him; where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all and in all.” Philemon was an elder of the church in Colosse. In the Epistle to the Colossians Paul emphasized that all the believers are part of the new man. Furthermore, in the new man there cannot be Greek and Jew, slave and freeman. Philemon was a freeman, and Onesimus was his bondservant. But in the new man they were of equal status.]
D. The central thought: [This short Epistle serves the special purpose of showing us the equality in eternal life and divine love of all the members in the Body of Christ. In the age of Paul the life of Christ had annulled, among the believers, the strong institution of slavery. Since the sentiment of the love of the Christian fellowship was so powerful and prevailing that the evil social order among fallen mankind was spontaneously ignored, any need for institutional emancipation was obviated. Because of the divine birth and living by the divine life, all the believers in Christ had equal status in the church, which was the new man in Christ, with no discrimination between free and bond (Col. 3:10-11). This is based on three facts. First, Christ’s death on the cross has abolished the ordinances of the different ways of life for the creation of the one new man (Eph. 2:15). Second, we all have been baptized into Christ and made one in Him without any difference (Gal. 3:27-28). Third, in the new man Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). Such a life with such a love in equal fellowship is well able to maintain good order in the church (in Titus), carry out God’s economy concerning the church (in 1 Timothy), and stand against the tide of the church’s decline (in 2 Timothy). It is of the Lord’s sovereignty that this Epistle was positioned after the three preceding books in the arrangement of the New Testament.]
E. The general sketch: [In the book of Philemon we have an excellent pattern and example of bringing a sinner to the Lord through begetting him with the divine life; regarding him as a child, even as our heart; and helping him to rectify all the human relationships. In the churches in the Lord’s recovery it is our practice to send back the escaped one and the divorced or separated wife or husband. We want to help rectify all human relationships. In doing this, we must have a loving concern and appeal to the love of the other party. Finally, in keeping with Paul’s example in this Epistle, we must help the newly saved one to come into the church life. Paul’s desire was to bring Onesimus into the church life. Having been begotten by Paul, Onesimus was now a slave reborn to be a brother. As the one who had begotten him, Paul bore the responsibility to bring Onesimus into the church life, into the fellowship among the members of the Body.]
F. The sections: 1) introduction (vv. 1-3), 2) a slave reborn to be a brother (vv. 4-16), 3) a brother recommended for the acceptance of the new man (vv. 17-22), and 4) conclusion (vv. 23-25).