Philemon 1:10

He had deserted his excellent master, and had probably cheated him as well (verse 18). Even the worst master would have punished such an act with the greatest severity. We may be sure Onesimus had no good reason for leaving Philemon. He proved himself a worthless man who could not value goodness. But what is too hard for the Lord? He led him into Paul's path, converted him, and turned his heart and his steps back to his master.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15). Of Onesimus he says, "whose father I became in my imprisonment" (Philemon 10). This means he had been the means of their conversion, for the Christian is born of God (1 John 5:18; 1 Peter 1:3).

In one place Scripture says that God "bore witness to the word of His grace." In another, an apostle speaks by the same Spirit of a man whose father he had become while in chains, as if he himself had brought about the man's conversion. This shows how gracious God is. He owns the part we play, and He makes much of our little service and faithfulness. Yet we can truly add, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory."

So he writes, "I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became" — and not only that, but "in my imprisonment." That would make Onesimus a special object of interest and affection to a man who honoured and delighted in the apostle. If Philemon loved Paul, he would love Paul's child; and Onesimus was his child. Paul calls him his child as emphatically as he ever called Titus or Timothy. But he was a son born as neither Timothy nor Titus was — born while Paul was in chains.

What has God done! We may well say this when we see the Lord God Almighty, the High and Holy One, presenting Himself to us in such a way that He pleads with us. "We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us." … This is the grace Paul would bear witness to. He could have commanded, and yet for love's sake he chose to plead. He pleaded for his son Onesimus, whose father he had become while in chains. Had Philemon listened to the ministry of reconciliation, and received the Son of God into his soul? Then let him, as one reconciled to God Himself, exercise that same grace towards Onesimus.

The return of his runaway slave was likely to stir up something in Philemon's natural heart. So the apostle steps in with his letter on behalf of his dear child in the faith, born during his captivity. God had already stepped in with the work of His grace. That grace ought to act on Philemon's heart, producing altogether new relationships with Onesimus. The apostle begs him to receive his former slave as a brother.

This is not only a beautiful picture of spiritual affections — of the unbreakable ties between Christians, and especially between a servant of God and the converts given to his ministry. It is also a striking picture of the heart of Christ for His own. Yes, these are Paul's feelings, Paul's tender love, Paul's pleading; but in all of them he was only the vessel of Christ.