The Role Of Philemon In The Bible

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The book of Philemon is the shortest manuscript Paul wrote in the New Testament of the Bible, it reveals the operation of slavery and the valuable relationships Paul had with Philemon and Onesimus. Paul’s writings of Philemon result to be no more than a page in length and focus on one essential matter. The Bible advocates the book of Philemon by placing focus on the subject of slavery through the situation of Philemon and Onesimus. Slavery played an active role in the New Testament times, Judea, Galilee and the rest of Roman Empire lived with slavery being an active part of everyday life. “In Italy the percentage of slaves was much higher, estimated as high as 40 percent of the population.”(Tabor, 2012, p. 171) The Old and New Testament painted …show more content…

The Roman laws established the standards of a Master having control over their servants. This allowed the master elasticity of any situation concerning the slaves, giving them open right to react to their servants in any form of their pleasing. The freedom of masters having control of the penalty often resulted to servants being punished by beatings. The reality of the situation of slavery was that the work ethic of slaves varied. Many did what pleased their servants, well others struggled with the role of responsibilities and obligations of being a good servant. Servants often feared their masters in the reason of the law supporting great forms of discipline. These punishments ultimately formulated fear for the servants and how they interacted and viewed their masters. The historical background of slavery was the modern way to living life, Paul's letter to Philemon provides us with a clear precipitation of how life was lived as a master and slave during this period …show more content…

Onesimus had established a connection to Paul after participating in his ministry teachings in Ephesus. At this point Onesimus had been encouraged by Paul and was heading on path of becoming a Christian. The relationship between Onesimus and Philemon became unstable when Onesimus stole money and fled to Rome. One of Onesimus' intentions of running may have been influenced on hope that Paul would help him escape slavery. When Paul received news of the situation he allowed his disarmament to speak through him, his words spoke truth of God's laws and grace. Paul's reaction to the topic of slavery was not intended to disregard the ethic of slavery, but was intended to shine light to the fact that slaves were not seen as Christian siblings. The purpose of Paul's words were to emphasize the true metaphor of master and slave. Colossians 4:1 states, "Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven." (New International Version) Paul did not enable sin, but he was greatly concerned that the Roman laws would not be considerable to the dynamics of the situation involving Philemon and Onesimus. Therefor his message of wisdom to Philemon was straight forward in the communication of how he should accept Onesimus back. Despite any uncertainty Paul may have had in regards to how Philemon may reciprocate to his letter, his

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