Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom www.wenstrom.org

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Sunday April 21, 2013Philemon: Philemon 17-19-Paul’s Request, Promissory Note and Reminder to PhilemonLesson # 9

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Philemon 1.

4. Philemon 1 From Paul, a prisoner owned by Christ, who is Jesus, along with Timothy, our spiritual brother, to Philemon, who is our dear friend and co-worker 2 as well as to Apphia, our spiritual sister and in addition, Archippus, our fellow-soldier, also, the church, which is in your private home. 3 Grace to all of you as well as peace from God our Father as well as the Lord, who is Jesus, who is the Christ.

5. 4 I continue making it a habit of giving thanks to my God always as I myself continue to make it a habit of remembering you during my prayers 5 because I continue to regularly hear about your divine-love as well as your faithfulness, which you continue to regularly demonstrate toward the Lord who is Jesus, which is for the benefit of each and every one of the saints.

6. 6 I make it a habit to pray that the fellowship produced by your faith would cause itself to be manifested as effective because of an experiential knowledge, which produces every type of divine good of intrinsic quality and character, which is in all of us on behalf of Christ.

7. 7 Indeed, I have experienced much joy as well as encouragement because of your divine-love in the sense that the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, spiritual brother. 8 Therefore, even though I possess great confidence because of my authority from Christ to command what is appropriate and obligatory for you,

8. 9 I rather appeal to you on the basis of this divine-love, even though I am the one who is identified as Paul, an elder as well as now in fact, a prisoner, owned by the Christ, who is Jesus. 10 I appeal to you on behalf of my spiritual child whom I became the spiritual father of during my imprisonment Onesimus.

9. 11 The one who was formerly characterized as useless, of no benefit to you but now for your benefit and especially for my benefit, is characterized as useful, 12 whom I have sent back to you himself, that is, my very own affections, 13 whom I myself in contrast to this desire, could almost wish for my own benefit keep with myself in order that on your behalf, he could render service to me during my imprisonment with reference to the proclamation of the gospel.

10. 14 However, I prefer to do absolutely nothing without your consent in order that your good deed would not be as characterized on the basis of compulsion but rather on the basis self-determination. 15 Indeed, perhaps because of this he was taken away for a brief period of time in order that you would receive him back in person forever.

11. 16 No longer as a slave but rather, more than a slave, namely a divinely loved spiritual brother, especially for my benefit but how much more, for your benefit, both a human relationship and a relationship with the Lord. (My translation)

12. Philemon 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me. (NASB95)

13. “Then” is the inferential conjunction oun (οὖν), which is introducing a statement that is the direct result of an inference from Paul’s statements in Philemon 8-16.

14. This indicates that Paul is linking Philemon’s new spiritual relationship with Onesimus to Philemon welcoming Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home.

15. “If” is the conditional particle ei (εἰ), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.

16. The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that, then...”

17. This would encourage Philemon to respond and come to Paul’s conclusion in the apodosis since Philemon would already agree with Paul with regards to his statement in the protasis.

18. Therefore, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with Philemon who would respond to Paul’s protasis.

19. Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that you, Philemon, regard my as your partner with regards to the gospel.”

20. Philemon would acknowledge this.

21. The apodasis is “(then) welcome Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which meets in your home.”

22. “Partner” is the adjective koinōnos (κοινωνός), which speaks of the partnership aspect of Christian fellowship.

23. It refers to the relationship that Paul and Philemon shared with regards to the propagation of the gospel.

24. It also refers to the fact that Paul and Philemon shared a common relationship with Jesus Christ through faith in Him.

25. Also, it meant that they communicated with one another, sharing the Word of God with each other.

26. Lastly, it meant that they shared their material possessions with one another as each one had a need.

27. “Accept” is the verb proslambanomai (προσλαμβάνομαι), which means “to welcome into one’s fellowship” and is used with Philemon as its subject and Onesimus as its object indicating that Paul wants Philemon to welcome Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home.

28. The aorist imperative form of the verb is a “pure ingressive aorist imperative” emphasizing with Philemon the urgency for him to welcome Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home.

29. Philemon 17 Therefore, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument you regard me as a partner and of course you do, then please, you yourself welcome him into the fellowship as you, yourself would certainly welcome me into the fellowship. (My translation)

30. Paul is persuading Philemon with the first class conditional statement that based upon their partnership he is requesting that he welcome Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home as he would welcome himself.

31. He wants Philemon to infer from this partnership that he should welcome Onesimus, a new Christian, into the fellowship of the church which meets in his home as he would welcome himself.

32. If Philemon refused Paul’s request, then this would be inconsistent with his acknowledgement of their partnership.

33. Philemon 18 But if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. (NASB95)

34. This verse marks a mild contrast with the previous first class conditional statement and the one to follow.

35. So the contrast is between Philemon welcoming Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home and Philemon not doing so because Onesimus defrauded him of money or owes him money.

36. “If” is the conditional particle ei (εἰ), which introduces a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.

37. Here the protasis is “if and let assume that it is true for the sake argument that Onesimus defrauded you in any way or owed you money.”

38. Philemon would acknowledge this since Onesimus did wrong him by running away and thus costing him money.

39. The apodasis is “(then) charge it to my account.”

40. “He has wronged” is the verb adikeō (ἀδικέω), which refers to Onesimus wronging Philemon or acting unjustly by running away or stealing money from him to support himself while on the run.

41. “Owes” is the verb ellogeō (ἐλλογέω), which means “to owe, to be in debt” and is used of Onesimus being in debt financially to Philemon implying that he robbed him or owed him money which he did not pay back to him.

42. This financial indebtedness could be the result of Onesimus running away and costing Philemon money because of the loss of his services or Onesimus could have robbed Philemon to finance his flight or both could be in view.

43. “Charge to my account” is composed of the following: (1) dative first person singular form of the possessive personal pronoun egō (ἐγώ), “my” (2) second person singular present active imperative form of the verb ellogeō (ἐλλογέω), “charge to account.”

44. The verb ellogeo means, “to charge to a person’s account” indicating that Paul is requesting that Philemon charge Onesimus’ financial obligation to him in case Onesimus owes him money.

45. The imperative form of this verb in Philemon 18 is an imperative of request indicating that Paul is requesting that Philemon charge to his account or give him the bill for any money which Onesimus owes him for the loss of his services or stole from him.

46. Philemon 18 However, if, and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, and we know this is the case, then please, at this time, charge that to my account. (My translation)

47. So the apostle Paul is contrasting Philemon welcoming Onesimus into the fellowship of the church which met in his home and Philemon not doing so because Onesimus wronged him in any way or owed him money.

48. Here in verse 18, Paul is acknowledging to Philemon that Onesimus had in fact wronged him by running away and thus costing him money from the loss of his services or costing him money because he robbed him.

49. The responsive first class condition in verse 18 acknowledges that Onesimus wronged Philemon.

50. Paul does not mention explicitly how Onesimus wronged Philemon or owed him money because the fact that Onesimus ran away did in fact wrong Philemon and ultimately would have cost him money.