Someone once said “every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” This morning we are going to look at a scoundrel who met Christ and whose life was turned right side up.
ONESIMUS (COLOSSIANS 4:9; PHILEMON)
In the short letter to Philemon we can deduce that Onesimus was a slave in the household of Philemon. It would appear from vrs 18 that he had stolen something of value from Philemon and then run away. For a slave to run away in the Roman Empire was a major crime. Captured slaves were tortured and could even be crucified. At the very least the authorities would burn a “F” into their head which stood for Latin word for fugitive (fugitivus). Onesimus could not afford to get caught. He had to find a place that was big enough for him to get lost in the crowd. Rome, with its population of 870 000 people was the ideal place to go to ground. Somehow through an amazing providence of God, Onesimus came into contact with Paul and got converted. Notice what Paul says in vrs 10; I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. What can we learn from Onesimus?
- The first thing we learn from him is that as soon as he was converted he sought to serve the Lord. In vrs 11, 12 Paul speaks of him with great affection; formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. Onesimus’ name means useful and there is a play on words vrs 11. The Greek word for useless is achrestos and the word for useful is euchrestos. Prisons in our day are bad but at least you get food and clothes. In Paul’s day if family and friends did not provide food and clothes you starved and froze to death. No doubt Onesimus ran errands for Paul, got him food etc. I could paraphrase Paul’s words as follows. “When Onesimus was in your service, Philemon he was no doubt a slacker and a thoroughly useless individual. Yes he wronged you in stealing from you and running away. But he has now come to Jesus Christ. He is truly sorry for what he has done. He has changed. He is now beginning to live up to his name. He is very useful. I am sorry to lose him here in Rome. I feel like my heart has been ripped out now that he is leaving me.” It does not matter how long or short you have been a Christian you can be an Onesimus and make yourself useful.
- The second truth we learn from Onesimus is the importance that reconciliation and restitution take place. If Paul benefited so much from Onesimus’ help why did he say in vrs 12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you? As a new Christian Onesimus knew that he had wronged his master, Philemon. He had some unfinished business in Colossae to attend to. In Matthew 5:23,24 Jesus says; therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave the gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to you brother; then come and offer your gift. Notice that Jesus considers this matter of reconciliation to be so important that it takes precedence over worship and there is nothing more important than worship. For a runaway slave to return to their master was a great risk. I think it is safe to say that Onesimus was probably the only slave in the ancient world to return voluntarily. To encourage Onesimus, Paul does two things. He sends Tychicus as a travelling companion. In Colossians 4:9 we read he is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. Tychicus also carried the letter we call Philemon with him. This was an open letter (the pronouns in vrs 3, 22, 25) are plural. In other words if Philemon was unwilling to forgive the rest of the church could encourage him in the process. The lesson from Onesimus is that if we have wronged someone we need to take concrete steps to seek reconciliation.
- There are some people who accuse Paul of not speaking out more forth-rightly against slavery. Geoffrey Wilson; says the following; if this letter presented no revolutionary challenge to the social structures of the day the implications of its teaching were bound to prove fatal to slavery in the end. Paul’s letter to the Colossians which was read to the church at the same time as Philemon provides the first nail in the coffin. In 3:11 here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. This truth that we are all one in Christ was a ticking time bomb that would explode with William Wilberforce. The second nail in the coffin of slavery is found in Philemon itself. In vrs 16 Paul tells Philemon that a converted Onesimus was now both a slave and a brother in the Lord. This was revolutionary teaching. In vrs 17 Paul continues by saying; welcome him as you would welcome me. Maybe Paul did not outrightly condemn slavery but the seeds were there which would ultimately undermine it. Paul dissolves the slave/master relationship, and erects in its place a brother/brother relationship, in which the former slave is treated with all the dignity with which the apostle himself would be treated. Thus, even before the actual institution of slavery is abolished, the work of the gospel abolishes the assumptions and prejudices that make slavery possible.
A few decades later Ignatius, one of the great Christian martyrs was being take from Antioch to Rome to be executed. As he went he wrote some letters many of which still survive to the churches in Asia Minor. He stopped at Smyrna and wrote to the Church at Ephesus, and he had much to say about their wonderful bishop. What was the bishop’s name? It was Onesimus; and Ignatius made exactly the same pun as Paul did – he is Onesimus by name and Onesimus by nature. It is certainly not improbable that this runaway slave who came to faith in Christ and returned to Asia Minor and had grown in his faith to such an extent that he ended up as the bishop of the church of Ephesus.