The Letters
- When
- c. AD 60–62, from prison
- Written by
- Paul
- Chapters
- 1
The big idea
Paul sends the runaway Onesimus back to his master Philemon, asking him to receive him no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother.
Themes
- Reconciliation
- Forgiveness
- Brotherhood in Christ
- Intercession
Memory verse
Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved.
Key passages
- 4–7Paul’s thanks
- 10–16Onesimus, now profitable
- 17–19Put that on my account
Links to other Scripture
- Colossians 4:9Onesimus, a faithful brother
- Galatians 3:28Neither bond nor free
- 2 Corinthians 5:18–20Reconciliation
- Matthew 18:21–35Forgive from the heart
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Paul appeals to Philemon in love and does not demand. When you have to ask something hard of someone, how do you do it?
- Onesimus was a runaway and Paul calls him a beloved brother. Whom has Christ changed in your sight?
- Paul offers to pay what Onesimus owes. What debts could you carry for someone else?
- In one sentence, this book is about…