I thank my God, always making mention of thee at my prayers,
Paul writes to Philemon with a hard thing to ask: take back Onesimus, the man who had wronged him. Before he asks, he gives thanks to God and speaks of his own praying.
Paul says "my God" and "my prayers" (an older translation reads "at my prayers"). One writer shows what that small word reveals about how he prayed:
Paul's use of the word "my" tells us something about the relationship he enjoyed with God. The way he uses this word elsewhere in his letters shows that Paul knew his God personally. For him prayer was not reading set words from a book, or learning a few well-chosen lines by heart. Prayer was the vital experience of fellowship with his God and Saviour. The phrase "at my prayers" points to a settled, definite, daily habit. These were not occasional requests, said only when something went wrong.
Paul had something to ask, yet he thanks first. Writers point out that this order runs through his letters and is worth copying:
As in other cases, thanksgiving to God comes before Paul's prayers for Philemon. It is healthy for us to always remember this order.
One writer notes what those thanks do for the rest of the letter:
From verse 4 he lays the ground for his appeal with thanksgiving.
Paul does not pray for Christians in general. He names this one man, and that leaves a question for us:
In verse 4 he thanks God for Philemon and mentions him in his prayers. What an example the apostle is to all of us! How often do we pray for people by name — those we know who need God's help? Or do we lean on one general prayer that covers everyone?
Paul thanks God, not Philemon, for the good he sees in his friend. And the love he thanks God for is the very thing Philemon will soon have to show:
After his usual greeting of grace and peace, the apostle's heart overflows with thanksgiving to God. He thankfully recognises all the good in his dear brother… We can see this gracious way all through Paul's letters. Where there was much to blame, if he could see anything of Christ, he owned it with joy and gave thanks. That is an important lesson for our souls to learn from God today. So much grieves the spirit and draws out our protests and rebukes that we easily overlook how much fruit of the Spirit is really there. Philemon's love for all the saints was about to face a hard test. Onesimus was now a saint; would he love him? It is not easy to love those who have really wronged us, yet Christ asks for nothing less.
Others note that what moved Paul was not a bright beginning but a walk that kept going:
The news that Philemon kept on in love and faith caused deep thanksgiving to God. How it encouraged the apostle when believers kept going in the things of God! We often see a bright start, then an unsteady walk, and then it stops altogether. Paul owns with thanksgiving what God had done in Philemon's life, but he also prays that Philemon's faith might show itself in practical power.
The order matters here. Paul took this to God before he wrote a word of it to Philemon:
The love and faith of one believer drew out thanksgiving from the apostle to God. Often his soul had other exercises — deep humbling before God because of the way some walked. But here was something that glorified God. The apostle longed to see that love and that faith grow. Yet he had spread this desire before God before he mentioned it to Philemon. And he mentions it in a way that brings Philemon's soul straight before God.
- My God. The word "my" marks real fellowship, not recited words. Prayer was Paul's daily habit, not an emergency measure.
- My prayers. Paul names Philemon rather than praying one general prayer for everyone. Do we pray for people by name?
- Thanks first. Paul gives thanks before he asks. That order is worth keeping, and here it lays the ground for his whole appeal.
- Credit to God. Paul thanks God for the good in another believer. He owns any trace of Christ, even where much grieves him.
- God before man. Paul spread his desire before God before he mentioned it to Philemon. Then he wrote in a way that brought Philemon straight before God too.
hearing of thy love and the faith which thou hast towards the Lord Jesus, and towards all the saints,
Paul opens his letter to Philemon with a report, not an appeal: news has reached him in prison about the kind of man Philemon is. Before he mentions Onesimus, the runaway slave, he thanks God for Philemon's love and faith — and their order and direction shape the whole letter.
Paul first names what God has already done in the man he is about to ask a hard favour of. One writer sees a habit here, and a lesson:
He gratefully recognises all the good in his dear brother... We may always notice this gracious way in Paul's letters. Where there was much to blame, if he could see anything of Christ, he was glad to own it and gave thanks. That is an important lesson for our souls to learn in the school of God today. So much grieves the spirit and draws out our protests and rebukes. As a result, we are apt to overlook the measure of the Spirit's fruit that is really there.
Elsewhere Paul names faith before love. Here he turns the order around:
In verse 5 love came before faith, which is an unusual order (compare Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1).
One writer suggests a fellow worker brought the news, and links the order of the words to Paul's aim:
It may have been Epaphras who told Paul about Philemon's love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints (compare Colossians 1:7-8). But such news refreshed Paul's heart. Perhaps love is mentioned first because it was this that Paul was really appealing to in this letter.
Older English translations use "towards" twice here. The Greek does not repeat the same word, and the difference matters:
A change of preposition happens. The first is "pros", towards, indicating an object. The second is "eis", unto. The use of the two words emphasises the difference in relationship. Philemon's response to Christ reaches out through Him to his fellow believers. It was not an ordinary love, but it had its origin in faith in Christ.
Faith and love are not two separate achievements here. One works inside the other:
It was faith that worked in this love and gave it its Christian reality. So faith found its special objects in the saints.
Even at a distance Philemon's love kept showing itself, and his name matched it:
Paul had probably not seen Philemon for a long time, but he kept hearing of his love and of his faith. Divine love is active, and here we see it at work in Philemon. He had a love for the saints as well as a love for sinners. His name means "friendly" or "attached", and one translator gives its meaning as "one who kisses". Philemon lived up to his name. He showed that he was living in the truth of 1 John 3:14: "We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers."
The word translated "saints" is not a title for a special few. It describes every believer:
In the New Testament the word used is hagios, which means "holy one." A saint is one set apart for God... So saints are a distinct, recognised class of people belonging to God — His saints... All Christians are included in this class, so that the apostle could speak of "all saints."
Philemon's love had found that company as its home:
Grace had opened his heart, and he found a circle to which it could go out — the saints of God.
Paul's praise is also a test. Onesimus must fit inside the word "all":
Philemon was about to be tested — would his love stand true toward all the saints?
The test is real: the newest member of that circle is the man who wronged him:
Onesimus was now a saint; would he love him? It is not easy to love those who have done us real harm, yet nothing less is according to Christ. This loving recognition of grace in Philemon is the basis of this letter.
- Report — News about Philemon reached Paul in prison. He turned it into thanks to God before he turned it into an appeal.
- Root — Faith toward the Lord Jesus makes this love real and Christian. Without it, the affection would be ordinary kindness.
- Reach — The Greek uses two different words here. Love goes to Christ, then travels on through Him to His people.
- Range — "Saints" means every believer set apart for God. That is why Paul can say "all". A love that picks favourites has not reached that word.
- Test — Onesimus is now inside the circle of "all the saints". Paul's praise in verse 5 becomes the ground of his appeal.
in such sort that thy participation in the faith should become operative in the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in us towards Christ [Jesus].
Paul's letter to Philemon asks a slave-owner to take back a runaway slave, Onesimus, as a brother. Before he asks, he prays verse 6 for him: that Philemon's share in the faith would go to work in him, showing him the good Christ has put in fellow believers.
The desire in this verse reached God before it ever reached Philemon's ears.
The apostle deeply desired to see that love and that faith grow. But he had spread this desire before God before he mentioned it to Philemon. And he mentions it in a way that brings the soul of Philemon at once before God.
Commentators read "the sharing of your faith" as Philemon's share in the faith all Christians hold.
Philemon's love and faith were of such a character that his participation in the faith might become operative in a full and precious way. His participation means his having part in the blessed faith of Christianity. It becomes operative by the acknowledging of every good thing that is in us in Christ Jesus. "In us" no doubt refers to Christians as such, because they are in Christ Jesus.
One writer describes the prayer as asking for an answering movement in Philemon's heart:
Paul prayed that his friend Philemon might find a response worked in his heart with power. That response would match, and be in unison with, the grace working in Paul on his behalf. Both had obtained the same precious faith. The chord struck by the Spirit in the heart of Paul must sound again in the heart of his friend and fellow believer.
Older English versions read "in you." The best manuscripts read "in us," and that one word changes the sense.
He puts forward Philemon's love, but in no way leaves out his faith, so that his sharing in the faith might work every good. It is "not in you," which though true is commonplace and feeble, but "in us" according to the best authorities. That is, in other Christians from Paul to Onesimus as regards Christ.
That reading widens the verse. The good to acknowledge is not Philemon's own record. It is what Christ has produced in other believers — including the runaway slave about to walk back through his door.
The ESV says "full knowledge" of every good thing; the translation these writers use says "acknowledgment." To acknowledge good in another believer means owning the new life God has given, instead of stopping at what is wrong in people.
How harmful it is when saints never rise above the sense of our natural evil! They dwell only on the heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is there no reality in the new creation? No power in the ever-indwelling Holy Spirit that makes good Christ in us?
This takes discernment. Not everything attractive in a person comes from Christ.
"Every good thing … in Christ Jesus," whether in the apostle or in Philemon, brings before us the fruits of Christ's grace shown in His own. The Lord said in Matthew 7:20, "you will recognize them by their fruits." How good it is when we can recognise and acknowledge what we see of Christ in those who are His! It may be hard for a simple Christian to tell natural kindness apart from the fruit of Christ's grace. But one who is living near the Lord will know the difference.
The test was a real man Philemon had every reason to refuse.
It must be faith working by love, which alone could cause Philemon to receive Onesimus warmly as a brother. And where would faith put Philemon? Surely before God as a lost and ruined sinner, saved only by His sovereign grace. And if he put Onesimus beside him there, where was the difference? He could only see one equally ruined in himself, and saved by the same grace.
Commentators differ over whose good is in view. One writer takes the "good thing" as Paul's own motive in writing:
As we understand it, the apostle prayed that Philemon might see this: the glory of Christ Jesus moved Paul to write to him on this subject. Christ, in other words, was both his motive and his object — this was the "good thing" in him which he hoped Philemon would acknowledge.
- Prayed — Paul brought this desire to God before he brought it to Philemon, so the appeal comes as prayer, not pressure.
- Shared — the verse speaks of Philemon's part in the faith all Christians hold, not of skill in explaining it.
- Effective — that share is meant to work with power, striking an answering chord in the heart.
- Acknowledged — that power shows in recognising every good thing Christ has produced in fellow believers, not in stopping at their evil.
- Proved — Onesimus was the test. Faith working by love puts master and slave side by side, sinners saved by the same grace.
For we have great thankfulness and encouragement through thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.
Before asking Philemon for anything, Paul names what Philemon's love has already done: it has given rest to the saints and joy to Paul himself. This is the hinge of the whole letter — the ground on which he will soon ask something hard about a runaway slave.
The ESV speaks of "the hearts of the saints." Older translations use the stronger word "bowels," and one commentator objected sharply when translators softened it:
The Revisers seem to have given in to bad taste in dropping, here and elsewhere, the strong scriptural word "bowels" for the weaker "hearts," which has its own expression.
What was refreshed was the deepest part of a person, and it was refreshed by what the saints had seen in Philemon:
It was the refreshment "of the bowels of the saints" — their deepest affections went out to Philemon as they saw the faith, love, and grace in him.
Philemon's home was the place where this happened. A visitor found something better than a cup of cold water there.
Philemon was a brotherly man, not standing on his own self-importance or pompous dignity. He was a brother in the real sense of the word. When a man came into his home, Philemon treated him as a brother, and he received the refreshment that was in this home.
Verse 5 spoke of Philemon's love and faith; verse 7 shows that love at work. What reached Paul in prison was not sentiment but something the Spirit had produced.
Paul and Timothy are in prison, but joy and comfort are theirs, because Philemon has shown them brotherly love... The display of love was practical, and it was refreshing. It was not mere benevolence, but a display of the Spirit's fruit.
The word Paul chooses here comes back at the close of the letter. What he wants from Philemon is love, not a favour granted from above.
As he began so touchingly with "brother" in verse 7, so he repeats it again in verse 20. It was not in vain for Philemon. Paul sought earnest love, not condescension. The gain he yearned after was Philemon's even more than his own, without telling him so.
Paul's habit was to name every trace of Christ he could see in a person before dealing with anything difficult — and here that recognition carries a weight Philemon would soon feel.
We may always notice this gracious way in Paul's letters. Where there was much to blame, if anything of Christ could be seen, he gladly owned it and gave thanks... This loving recognition of grace in Philemon is the basis of this Epistle. Paul proceeds on the ground of it, and appeals to his fellow-labourer's heart... Philemon's love for all the saints was about to face a hard test. Onesimus was now a saint; would he love him? It is not easy to love those who have done us a positive injury, yet nothing less is according to Christ.
Paul expects that same kindness to swallow up any grudge:
But Paul appeals to Philemon wisely and kindly. He builds on the grace he knew had already worked deeply in this dear brother, seen in the way he refreshed the hearts of the saints. The apostle's great thankfulness and encouragement at this would surely dissolve any resentment Philemon might have felt towards Onesimus.
We know nothing of Philemon's preaching. This one thing is what Paul remembered, and it shames the way we often treat each other:
Of his preaching, teaching, or work we know nothing; but Paul, in his beautiful letter to him, said, "the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother." How sweet is this! How ashamed we are before it! We can criticise our brothers and sisters. We can find fault. We can show that things are not as they should be — while our own souls stay as dry as Gideon's fleece left on a wet threshing floor.
- Refreshed — Philemon reached the deepest affections of God's people. What stirred them was the faith, love and grace they saw in him.
- Home — The refreshment had an address. People arrived at Philemon's house and left better than they came, because he treated everyone as a brother.
- Brother — Paul asks as a brother, not from above. The same word opens verse 7 and returns in verse 20, where he asks Philemon to refresh him.
- Ground — Paul names the good in Philemon first. The grace already shown becomes the ground for the grace he now asks toward Onesimus.
- Test — Loving the saints in general is one thing. Loving the person who wronged you is the real test, and nothing less is according to Christ.