The book of Philemon is one of the shortest and most often overlooked books of the Bible. It comprises of a single chapter. In this letter, Paul is writing to Philemon in defense of Onesimus. Onesimus was a runaway slave of Philemon’s, who became a disciple of Paul’s. Paul sent Onesimus back to his master, but pleaded with him to show Christian Mercy to the runaway slaveThere are multiple messages that can be taken from this book. Probably the most common is that we need to show mercy to sinners, just as Philemon was encouraged to do. This is obviously not the most important theme in the book. It is best to look at this book not as a fable, a story with a moral message. We should instead look at it as an allegory, a symbolic story used to communicate a separate idea.
In this story there are three characters; Philemon, Paul and Onesimus. Philemon is the master, the one who will more than likely be looking to exact punishment on his rebelious slave Onesimus. Paul is the mediator between the two. It is quite easy to see this as a symbol of man’s relationship to God. We men are sinful and rebellious against God, just as Onesimus was against his master. Like Philemon, we deserve nothing but punishment for our actions. There is no way we can get around this by ourselves. However, in Paul, Onesimus had a mediator between himself and his master. We too have a mediator between God and ourselves, Jesus Christ.
In both cases, the mediator pleads for the wrongdoer before the master. In both cases, the mediator goes beyond doing this. In verses 18 and 19, Paul tells this to Philemon: “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it.” Paul not only pleads for the wrongdoer, but offers to take all of his debt and punishment on himself. This is most obviously a symbol of what Christ actually did for us on the Cross of Calvary. He took the punishment for our wrong doing, our sin, and he made the payment for it that we could never make. Paul offered to take the debt, Christ did and paid it off with his own innocent sufferings and death. This is the true Gospel message of Philemon. In this short letter, Paul gives us a very vivid picture of What Christ’s work for us is. He is both our mediator and our redeemer. He is our one and only Savior.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
