Read The Jewish Annotated New Testament Online
Authors: Amy-Jill Levine
STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS
The broad structure of the letter is consistent with Pauline epistolary style, which is generally also that of other known Greek letters. It begins with an introduction (vv. 1–3), including senders, recipients, and an opening greeting. Then follow words of thanksgiving (vv. 4–7) in which Paul expresses his gratitude to Philemon for his faith and his support of a community of early believers. The body of the letter (vv. 8–22) appeals to Philemon concerning his slave Onesimus. The section closes with an instruction to prepare for a visit from Paul. The letter concludes (vv. 23–25) with final greetings and a benediction.
INTERPRETATION
In terms of the circumstances prompting the letter, this much is clear: Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, had encountered Paul in prison. Paul converted him and is now sending him back to Philemon. Since the late fourth century, most commentators have interpreted Onesimus to be a runaway slave, but this is not certain. It is possible that Onesimus had sought Paul, as his master’s friend, to act as a mediator between the two, or perhaps Philemon had sent Onesimus to Paul to serve him while in prison, similar to the Philippian church’s sending Epaphroditus to Paul (Phil 2.25–30). Because the circumstances of Onesimus’s status cannot be precisely determined, neither can we determine Paul’s intent in writing. Is he seeking Onesimus’s continued service for himself (vv. 13–14), is he seeking to ensure that Philemon receive his returned slave with welcome and forgiveness (vv. 17–18), and perhaps “even more” (v. 21), is he suggesting Philemon manumit Onesimus (release him from servitude), since he is now a “beloved brother” to both Paul and Philemon in the church (vv. 16,21)? Although the appeal is directed to an individual, the letter is also a kind of public correspondence whose recipients include “the church in your house” (v. 1). Its private and communal character is singular among Paul’s writings; it may have functioned not only to apply pressure to Philemon in the context of a specific situation involving him and Onesimus but also to impart to the entire community Paul’s conviction that all members of the church should be treated by one another with forgiveness and love.
What is known of Onesimus, except for a reference in Col 4.9, comes from the Letter of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, to the church at Ephesus, written probably in the year 107, when Ignatius, under arrest, was on his way to Rome to martyrdom. He refers (ch 1) to the bishop of the church at Ephesus, Onesimus, and tradition has held that this is the same Onesimus as in Philemon.
In the antebellum United States, both proslavery advocates and abolitionists appropriated the letter to support their views of slavery. Some of the former argued that Paul had indeed returned the slave Onesimus to Philemon, and that Philemon himself was both a Christian and a slaveholder. Conversely, some abolitionists argued that Paul, as a Jew, could not possibly have returned a fugitive slave to his owner. They cited Deut 23.15 with its injunction that “slaves who have escaped to you from their owners shall not be given back to them,” as well as other texts from the Hebrew Bible (see “Slavery in the Roman Empire,” p.
404
) which set limits on the duration of enslavement.
Roman law and practice, even if not directly pertinent to the situation described in Philemon, is valuable in broadly contextualizing the letter. Throughout the centuries of the Roman Empire, legal and other texts from a variety of locations provide evidence of a great concern on the part of government as well as individual slaveholders that fugitive slaves be returned to their owners. Legislation also provided stipulations for the manumission of slaves. Thus Paul’s return of Onesimus to Philemon and the possibility of Onesimus’s manumission would have been consistent with Roman practice.
Paul writes of slaves and slavery, both literally and metaphorically, in a number of his letters. For example, concerning the latter, he signifies his obedience and submission to Christ in describing himself at the opening of Romans and Philippians as a slave of Christ (Rom 1.1; Phil 1.1). Elsewhere, he likens life under the law to slavery (Gal 4.8–11; 4.21–5.1). Although Paul does not seek the manumission of slaves, he envisions them as free and equal in their status as believers within the church (see 1 Cor 7.21–24; Gal 3.28).
The household codes (“Haustafeln”) of Colossians and Ephesians are rooted in the Graeco-Roman ideal of the household and its role as the foundation of the larger community. They lack the ambiguity of the authentic writings of Paul in their treatment of slavery, demanding the obedience of wives to husbands and children to parents, as well as slaves to masters (Eph 6.1–9; Col 3.18–4.1). Similarly, 1 Timothy and Titus require that slaves serve their masters (1 Tim 6.1–2; Titus 2.9–10). Like Colossians and Ephesians, 1 Timothy and Titus, while attributed to Paul, are considered by most modern scholars to be non-Pauline in authorship and post-Pauline in date.
Many readers, past and present, have turned to Philemon to understand Paul’s view of slavery. However, the puzzling nature of the letter and its focus on a specific situation concerning Onesimus, Philemon, and Paul are such that it does not yield any clear conclusions. Additionally, it is uncertain what impact Philemon’s authorship by a Jew had on its content. The letter is exceptional in the New Testament corpus in its absence of concern with issues around the relationship of the Jesus Movement to other forms of Judaism.
Barbara Geller
1
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
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To Philemon our dear friend and coworker,
2
to Apphia our sister,
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to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4
When I remember you
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in my prayers, I always thank my God
5
because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.
6
I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we
*
may do for Christ.
7
I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
SLAVERY IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Chattel slavery, in which the slave-owner had absolute or nearly absolute control over the slave, was widespread in the Roman Empire. Although some, especially Stoics (e.g., Epictetus,
Diatr
. 1.13), wrote of the fundamental humanity of slaves and advocated that slaves be treated humanely, none rejected the institution. Roman slavery was not race based: individuals were enslaved primarily through captivity in war or birth to a slave mother. Slaves could be freed and become Roman citizens. Nonetheless, Roman slaves lived with the possibility of losing their families and with physical violence or the threat of it.
There is not much information about slavery in Jewish communities. The writings of Philo and Josephus as well as early rabbinic literature take it for granted, even as they advocate humane treatment and posit common humanity. Both Philo (
Good Person
12.79;
Hypoth
. 11.4) and Josephus (
Ant
. 18 1.5) claim that the Essenes do not practice slavery; Josephus says that the Essenes believe the ownership of slaves contributes to injustice, and Philo states that the Essenes view slave ownership as unjust and as destroying nature’s ordinances of equality. However, mentions of slaves in the Cairo Damascus Document suggest some practice of slavery (CD 11.12; 12.10). Jews were themselves enslaved in the Roman-Jewish wars.
The Mishnah integrates slaves into its overall system. Nearly all the texts ignore the Tanakh’s distinctions between the Israelite and non-Israelite slave, the former having more protections from the power of the slave-owner and also a fixed period of six years of enslavement, more like an indentured servant, where the foreign slave was more like a chattel slave (see Ex 21.1–11; Lev 25.39–55; Deut 15.12–18). In the Mishnah, slaves enter the Israelite household having lost their prior nationhood and ethnicity. The texts are consistent with sources such as the writings of Josephus and the New Testament in assuming the existence of slavery in the Jewish community. The Mishnah and later texts write of Rabbi Gamaliel and his slave, Tabi, as an ideal master-slave pair. Gamaliel, the Torah sage, is kind, considerate, and respectful of Tabi. Tabi embodies Gamaliel’s values and follows the teachings of Torah. (See, for example,
m. Sukk
. 2.1.) Overall, rabbinic law and Roman law reflect common concerns about the regulation of slaves ranging from their punishment to their manumission. Rabbinic law, like earlier biblical law, had greater restraints on the power of the slave-owner over the slave than did Roman law.
Paul envisioned slaves as free and equal in the church while not seeking the abolition of slavery. The Gospels assume that slaves are part of the social order. Jesus heals a centurion’s slave (Mt 8.5–13), and the slave of the high priest is in the crowd of those who arrest Jesus (Mk 14.47). Slaves figure in some of the parables, echoing Roman stereotypes of the good and bad slave, and hinting at the violence to which a slave might be subject as well as his subordinate social position (Mt 25.14–30; Mk 12.1–11; see also Lk 17.7–10). The household codes mandate obedience: Eph 6.5–8 combines a negative stereotype with a hint of the threat of violence to which slaves were subject, and then frames it in the context of the teachings of the church in which God will reward both slaves and free for the good that they do. The Jesus Movement and contemporary Jewish groups shared the Graeco-Roman practice of slavery but differed from it due to religious teachings and social conditions. Neither the institutions of pagan Rome nor those of Judaism and Christianity offered a fundamental challenge to the practice of slavery.
8
For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty,
9
yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
*
10
I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.
11
Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful
*
both to you and to me.
12
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
13
I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel;
14
but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.
15
Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever,
16
no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17
So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.
18
If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
19
I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.
20
Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ.
21
Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
22
One thing more—prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.
23
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,
*
24
and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.