no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother — especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
Paul writes to a slave-owner about a runaway. The man has since become a Christian, and Paul asks Philemon to take him back on a new footing. The verse turns on two small words — "no longer" and "more than." What happens to an ordinary relationship when both people belong to Christ?
No Longer Only a Slave
Onesimus did not stop being a slave. But being a slave stopped being the whole account of him. One writer traces this new standing back to what Christ Himself became:
William KellySuppose Onesimus had served as faithfully as could be, and had never once run away. Even then, a pagan could have no link with a Christian beyond the things that perish. But in the wonderful grace of God, the poor pagan slave heard the voice of Christ while he was away from the household he belonged to. He returned, so that Philemon might have him as never before. He came back no longer as a bondman — though a bondman he was, and he would be the last to dispute the fact — but above a bondman. This came through the Son of God, who became a bondman to make him His freedman.
More Than Pardon
Pardon for the crime would have been mercy enough. One writer shows what grace adds on top of it:
Truth & TestimonyPhilemon had lost a slave but in return he receives more than a slave, he receives a brother in the Lord... This is the wonder of God's grace. Pardon for crimes of the deepest kind — would that not have answered our great need? But grace does not give that alone, and we are lifted up to be brothers. He is not ashamed to call us brothers.
In the Flesh and in the Lord
The last phrase of the verse joins two things we keep apart. The new bond does not cancel the old one:
William KellyA beloved brother, says the apostle, "especially to me" — more than to anyone else outside Philemon. The tie was close and very dear to Paul, who had brought him to faith, and who was in prison himself. Yet he adds, "but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." Philemon had known him day by day and stood in a close relationship with him. The apostle still recognises that old tie ("in the flesh"). At the same time he asserts a new one ("in the Lord"), and it can never grow old.
Another writer draws out what that phrase covers:
George DavisonPaul calls Onesimus a beloved brother "both in the flesh and in the Lord" (Philemon 16). That is a striking phrase. It covers what we call everyday life as well as the interests of the Lord.
A Claim Neither Side Presses
The outward situation stays where it was. Neither man may use the new relationship as leverage:
The Bible TreasuryGod has given us a new and eternal relationship. It has not pleased Him to change our outward conditions while we are in the world... Paul remains an apostle, high in the church. Philemon remains a master, and Onesimus a slave, though God had made them one in Christ Jesus... Onesimus was a brother, an heir of God and joint-heir of Christ. Even so, it would not have been grace in him to say he was no longer a slave. And it would not have been grace in Philemon, his master, to refuse to acknowledge Onesimus as a brother.
That leaves one question: how do the chains ever come off? One writer answers it:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinPaul lays here a broad and deep foundation for a new relation between master and servant. One is still under the other. Yet both must acknowledge a common brotherhood, and both must keep an equality before God. Christianity would melt the chains from the enslaved by the warmth of its love. Men's usual method is to strike them off by armed revolution.
The Tact of the Appeal
Paul never calls Onesimus a runaway. He puts his own affection first, and that draws Philemon instead of pushing him:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHow delicately he expresses it all! He does not speak of Onesimus as having run away, as trying to escape forever from serfdom, but that "he departed for a season."... Paul was asking Philemon to receive his runaway slave as a beloved brother. So that Philemon might not take offence, Paul tells him that Onesimus is a beloved brother especially to himself — and then how much more to Philemon, who had a claim on him.
Summary
- Cause. The Son of God became a bondman Himself. That is why a slave is now "more than a bondservant."
- Gift. Grace does not stop at pardon — it raises Onesimus to be a brother, beloved.
- Reach. The new tie runs through both worlds at once: "in the flesh" in Philemon's house, "in the Lord" in a relationship that never grows old.
- Restraint. Onesimus may not demand brotherhood as a right. Philemon may not deny it as a master. Grace melts chains by love, not by revolution.
- Result. Philemon loses a slave for a season and gains a brother forever — the better bargain by far.