1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,

This letter of Paul's differs from the rest of the epistles in being a private communication on a private matter, affecting only the brother to whom principally it was sent.

...We must not be led away with the idea that the apostles occupied a sphere too high for us to attain. If we hope to be with them in the day of the manifestation of the sons of God, we must strive to conform to their thoughts and ways, in these, our days of the prophecy and the tribulation.

They have commanded us to imitate them even as ye have us (the apostles) for an example" (Phil. iii. 17); and this command we must obey, if we desire to stand right in the day when popular sentiment and popular usage in such things will disappear as completely as mist before the rising of the sun. The apostles are our brethren. Their being called "apostles" simply signifies that they were specially sent (from apostolos, one sent).

Their speciality lay in the message they had to deliver; it did not lie in the principles or practices required of them. These principles and practices (commanded by Christ) are of common obligation among all their fellow-heirs unto eternal life. They are exhibited in the apostles as patterns for our imitation.

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873 

2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the ecclesia in thy house:

Doubtless, there is in our day a great deal of hypocritical cant in the use of friendly phrases; this may have had the effect of toning down the cordiality of true men, who abhor effeminate sanctimony, but it is no reason why they should discard the genuine article.

There is a great and always perceptible difference between the parroting of friendly forms of speech and the genuine use of these as the channels of a real friendship in Christ. Therefore, the existence of the one need not exclude the other. Nay, we may go further, and say that the genuine cannot be excluded. Where a friendship of the apostolic type, having its foundation in God, truly exists, it will show itself in its own way as inevitably as the love of the sexes.

Let the love of the brethren have its free course. Let us not be afraid to call them "beloved," and "dearly beloved," and "fellow-labourers," if they be so. By all means let us eschew a hackneyed or stereotyped phraseology, which is as lifeless as the rattle of a Papist's beads; but let us not on principle steer clear of endearments.

They belong to the truth, and the truth has scarcely got hold of us if we feel them not. Let us not say "dearly beloved" if we feel not so; let us not salute another as a "fellow-labourer" if he be not so. Let all our words be built in truth; but let us not rob ourselves or our brethren of the sweetness and the edification that come from a frank and childlike declaration of the glorious love that grows from the truth.

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873 

3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In some form or other, Paul always invokes the blessing of the Father and of the Lord on those to whom he writes in love. It is not difficult to see that this is a good thing. It is an exercise in true godliness every time it is done. It unbends the mind to the attitude of suppliancy and benevolence, which we always ought to occupy. It brings with it to our own mind a recognition of God's relation to all our matters, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways.

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873

4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,

Paul was not above thanking God for a worthy fellow-labourer, and letting him know it. In our dry, democratic days, this fruit of the Spirit is nearly extinct. A universal self esteem kills generous gratitude in the birth, and fears to lose its own exaltation by even implied appreciation of another's worth.

What made Paul more thankful was this:

"hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints."

Such a condition in any professor will certainly inspire thanksgiving in any brother to whom, like Paul, "to live is Christ" It is an unerring law that

"he that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten."—(1 John 5:1.)

A man whose sympathies are toward God and the Lord Jesus, will, without fail, have his love drawn out by those symptoms in another, which show he has been begotten by the word of truth.—(James 1:18.) **

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873

7 For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.

A man whose sympathies are toward God and the Lord Jesus will, without fail, have his love drawn out by those symptoms in another, which show he has been begotten by the word of truth (James i. 18).

... Paul's satisfaction on Philemon's account arose from Philemon's spontaneous well-doing -- not well-doing in the limited sense of correctness of conduct, which in many cases is but a refined kind of selfishness; but well-doing in the sense of doing good to others. There is no more consoling manifestation than this -- to see a brother refreshing the saints, comforting, sustaining, helping, gladdening them in the things of the Lord. There are who discourage, pull down, hinder and distress by their hypercriticism and unwise pugnacity, and others by their evil deeds.

Others there are whose influence is simply neutral, which is better than mischievous, and some who are neutral think they are of Philemon's stamp refreshing to the saints: but the latter are the judges. No man can testify of himself. The fruit is known by its taste; and the fruit depends upon the seed and the soil it is grown in. Let every man enrich his ground with self-crucifixion, and plant carefully the seed of the Word, and water well with prayer and daily reading, watching, and plucking the weeds; the fruit will then be pleasant to the taste of all who eat.

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873

9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Why might Paul have assumed the attitude of command? Because he was an apostle, and because Philemon, equally with Onesimus, was his son in the Gospel. But Paul does not take the attitude he might have taken. Why? For love's sake.

Very well, if Paul abstained from the dictatorial and resorted to the persuasive -- the supplicatory -- the courteous -- the respectful, which of his poor copyists in this late century will justify the adoption of a different style? Few would care to justify such a thing theoretically, and yet many practise what they would be ashamed to preach.

In their dealings with men and brethren they are not gentle and courteous, but imperious, abrupt, dogmatic, and disrespectful. This ought not to be so. Followers of Paul must be what Paul was if they are to follow him into the kingdom; they must be kind, gentle, courteous, easy to be entreated; and not austere, haughty, unfeeling, harsh, implacable, selfish, overbearing, and unkind. These are the features of the old man, whose children "shall not inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God."

Paul beseeches Philemon to receive Onesimus, "not now as a slave, but above a slave -- as a brother beloved." "Receive him," says Paul, "as myself" : that is "if thou count me a partner."

Paul does not even presume upon Philemon's recognition of his position. An egotist would have taken this for granted without qualification, and even paraded his presumption; but Paul had modesty enough to allow the possibility of Philemon thinking as little of him as he did of himself, "leaving us an example."

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873

19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.

This is a very practical illustration of what Paul means when he exhorts believers to "bear one another's burdens." It is a distinct taking by Paul on his own shoulders of the obligations which were burdensome to another. In this, some in our day might consider Paul a foolish enthusiast, that is, if their estimate of his case is to be argued from their view of such conduct in our day. Well, we, must be on our guard against the influence of such.

It is very common to praise virtue in the abstract, and admire it in remote times, but to pooh pooh it when the occasion for it comes to our own door; and on the other hand, men unite with refreshing unanimity in the condemnation of selfishness and rapacity that have become historic, but at the same time practise every day the same thing without compunction.

In the name of our eternal well-being, let us, be on our guard. There were men in the days of Christ who made a great show of religion, but of whom he said they bound heavy burdens on other men's shoulders, but would not so much as lift a little finger to ease them. And there are the same sort now. We must not take our morality from them. Only the well-doing prescribed by the King will pass the King's muster in the day of account; and prominent as a feature thereof is this virtue illustrated in the words of Paul:

"I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand -- I will repay it."

Let us be with Paul in the great day approaching. But if we stand with him then, it will be because we stand with him now in his rules of business, taking not our cue from the world in such matters; but in all things acting on the principles on which we hope to govern and see the world governed in that glorious day when the haughtiness of men shall be brought down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted.

Sunday Morning 44, The Christadelphian, May 1873