In the canonical New Testament (NT), Philemon is the last of the 13 letters attributed to Paul. This is because it is the shortest, only 25 verses long, so brief it is not even divided into chapters. But in a chronological NT, it comes early, in the middle of the seven letters universally accepted as by Paul himself. It is never read in Church and so I would encourage you to pick up a NT and read it. It’s short!
Philemon is one of Paul’s prison letters There is only one other one, that to the Philippians, that is counted among the seven letters considered to be genuinely Pauline. From the details in Philemon, we know that it was a Roman prison. Some scholars think it was in the city of Rome and thus date it and Philippians to the early 60s. But there were Roman prisons throughout the empire, especially in provincial capitals such as Ephesus in Asia Minor. A majority of scholars think these two letters were actually written during an imprisonment in Ephesus in the mid-50s. Because they were written near each other in time, it is arbitrary to place one ahead of the other. For didactic rather than historical reasons, Marcus Borg, the scholar that I am using, places Philemon before Philippians.
What is unique about Philemon is that it is written not to a community but to an individual person, Philemon. The other person who appears in the letter is Onesimus, a slave of Philemon. Philemon was a member of a Christ-community, and probably its leader because the community met in his house. Onesimus, for some reason, fled from Philemon. To be a runaway slave was a very serious matter in that world. Onesimus went to Paul in prison, presumably because he knew Philemon admired Paul, and asked Paul to intercede for him with Philemon. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter. It should be noted that slavery was not something that the early Church necessarily found wrong. That was the way that society was structured.
Paul’s letter of intercession is unique insofar as it did not recommend a mitigation of punishment but, rather, that Philemon free Onesimus. Further, although the letter is addressed to Philemon, it is also addressed to the Christ-community. Therefore, as was the custom, the letter would have been read to the entire community. In the letter Paul presents the theological foundation for his conviction.
Paul’s strategy is clever: (1) he first praises Philemon as his dear friend and co-worker; (2) he then emphasizes his own situation as a prisoner of Christ; (3) he then tells Philemon that he could command him to do his duty but preferred to appeal to his love; (4) he then calls Onesimus my child and my own heart; and (5) he then makes his appeal.
Kristus vstal zmŕtvych