Philemon vs 1To: Philemon Main MenuTo: Grace Notes Home Page By Dr. Randall E. Radic, Pastor First Congregational Church 100 N. Acacia Avenue Ripon, California 95336 Internet: drradic@sprynet.com Salutation to PhilemonPhilemon 1 "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker(,)."In the Greek, Paul's name is PAULOS; and the Latin form of his name is Paulus. The Greek term PAULOS means "small," or "release from sin." This Roman name was selected by Paul to demonstrate his 'orientation to grace' and the Plan of God, and his place within that Plan, which place was not deserved nor merited. Note that Paul does not wield his supreme spiritual authority as an Apostle. He refrains from opening the letter with the phrase "Paul, the Apostle." This is because this letter deals with the subject of slavery and free-will, and Philemon's volition must be protected. So Paul approaches Philemon on the basis of their mutual ambassadorship as the representatives of Christ on earth. Both are royalty, then, and in this instance, equal in rank and privilege. And with Paul in Rome is Timothy. PaulThe Apostle Paul's name in the Hebrew was Saul. Paul was born at Tarsus of Cilicia, according to Acts 9:11, 21:39, and 32:3; and Philippians 3:5 informs us that his parents were Jewish. His father, however, in addition to being a Pharisee, was also a Roman citizen (Acts 23:6). And this meant that Paul himself was a Roman citizen by birth (Acts 22:28, 16:37). Paul was a man of remarkable gifts outside of his gift of Apostleship. At an early age he was moved to Jerusalem where he was trained to be a Pharisee; indeed, his mentor was the famous Gamaliel, according to Acts 22:3, 5:34. As a Pharisee he was the most dedicated of the zealous. For he persecuted the Christians relentlessly and without mercy. He was a murderer of Christians. And it was on the Damascus road that he was converted to belief in Christ by means of a miracle. As a result, that for which he was once most zealous, the persecution of Christians, became that which he defended with equal zeal. He was the Apostle of grace, not only in his way of life and his lifestyle, but in his teaching. He taught that justification is through faith and its object, Christ, and not the keeping of the law or human works. And the result of this doctrine proved to be his undoing in the end; for he himself became the quarry of the Pharisees. Regarding his death, there are two primary versions: 1) that in 57 or 58 AD he was imprisoned in Jerusalem and from there transported two years later to Rome, where he was executed in 64 AD; 2) that Paul was freed from his Roman imprisonment and took subsequent missionary journeys to Spain and Asia Minor, and subsequent to a second and third incarceration in Rome, was decapitated in 67 or 68 AD, while Nero was still emperor. Paul is referred to by the Apostle Peter in II Peter 3:15,16, which says, "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." Here, Peter acknowledges Paul's great spiritual genius in the phrase "some things that are hard to understand." There exists no infallible description of the great Apostle. The Acts of Paul and Thecla describe him thusly, "baldheaded, bowlegged, strongly built, a man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose, full of grace, for at times he looked like a man and at times he had the face of an angel." This description may not be flattering but would appear to be true based on Acts 14:12, which says, "Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker." Thus Barnabas was much more attractive and physically imposing than Paul to the people of Lystra. And II Corinthians 10:9ff. sustain this picture of Paul's physical attributes, for they compared the power of his letters with the frailty of his presence. So, although he may have been a man of meager physical appearance, his intellectual and spiritual might can only be fathomed by delving into the Greek of his letters. His use of the language, of metaphors and, most of all, of logical sequences, is architecturally elegant and shimmers with richness of nuance. He was indeed a genius of complexity and tremendous stature; and as yet, we have no basis or foundation for assessment. The term SUNERGEI means "one who labors with another in furthering the cause of Christ; one whom God employs as an assistant, as it were." [11] This, then, is a reference to the Ambassadorship of both Paul and Philemon. And remember, this is the keystone of Paul's grace appeal to Philemon concerning Onesimus. Christian AmbassadorshipWebster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary defines an ambassador as: "1. the highest diplomatic representative that one sovereign power or state sends officially to another. 2. a special representative: an ambassador-at-large is one accredited to no particular country; an ambassador extraordinary is one on a special diplomatic mission; an ambassador plenipotentiary is one having the power to make treaties. 3. an official herald, messenger, or agent with a special mission." A Little History of DiplomacyAs people organized into special groups and then into states, the necessity of promoting and standardizing external contact with other groups became obvious. And history relates that even the oldest civilizations had systems and rules for intercourse with other nations. Greece was the first to develop and systematize diplomacy. The Greeks, because of geographical constraints, sent a deputation from one city to another to deliver warnings, messages, and terms. However, the deputation's were 'special' in the sense of being formed due to circumstances, and thus were infrequent at best. Rome's system of diplomacy quickly degenerated into the doctrine of self-interest, for its purposes were conquest and annexation of territory. The Romans were not interested in the 'interests' of other nations. Rome rarely negotiated, especially with those it perceived as weaker. Our modern system of diplomacy had its beginning in the early 15th century Italian Renaissance. Historical exigencies ushered in the concept of permanent ambassadors who represented the policies and interests of their respective states by participation, notation, and negotiation. And this conception soon expanded into a system of protocol, privileges and immunities. Ambassadors were given free access, free travel rights, and free exit from any nation. Logically, this system of protocol engendered a new concept, that of 'territoriality.' Under this idea, the embassy of any nation was perceived to stand on its native soil, even though located in another country; and within its compound or walls was subject only to the laws of its home nation. The Analogy to Christian AmbassadorshipThe idea of 'ambassadorship' always implies the following mechanisms: 1. An institution in the native country to set down policy and instruct its agents. The analogy here is Christ in His present Session at the right hand of God the Father; He has formulated the policy, which is found in Holy Scripture. He then instructs His agents and representatives through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures, and certain spiritual gifts, including pastor/teacher and evangelist. The agents, of course, are the saints of the present Church Age. It should be noted that ambassadors personally represent the heads of their governments. Thus each and every saint during the present Church Age is the personal representative, not to mention the future Bride, of Christ here on earth. This position connotes not only awesome responsibility, but awesome privileges. Thus, in Christianity, an ambassador is a member of royalty sent to represent his/her sovereign Lord. And ambassadors do not appoint themselves, or support themselves; an ambassador's instructions are in writing and the ambassador is an 'alien' in the foreign land in which he/she serves; an ambassador does not live in the foreign land to serve his/her personal interests and is precluded from accepting any insult as personal; and finally, the recall of any ambassador is equivalent to an act of war. According to II Corinthians 5:20 and Ephesians 6:20, one of the functions of the Christian ambassador is witnessing. "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." (II Cor. 5:20). "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly as I should." (Eph. 6:19,20) And unfortunately all ambassadors are not competent, according to Proverbs 13:16,17, which say, "Every prudent man acts out of knowledge, but a fool exposes his folly. A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy brings healing." The ambassador who fails does so because of misapplication, or ignorance of his/her instructions, according to Isaiah 33:6,7, which say, "He (the Lord) will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure. Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly." [12] So Paul approaches Philemon as one ambassador to another; he recognizes the privileges of Philemon's office, primarily that of free-will. Paul will not coerce Philemon, for this would be a violation of his own instructions from his sovereign Lord. Notes:[11] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament; page 603. [12] Thieme, Robert. Doctrine of Ambassadorship in Scripture; from notes, 1972. This doctrine was originally compiled by Robert Thieme; appended and altered by R. E. Radic. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. You can help further this work by your prayer and by sending a contribution to: Grace Notes 1705 Aggie Lane Austin, Texas 78757 Warren Doud, Director wdoud@bga.com Grace Notes Web site: http://www.realtime.net/~wdoud/ Anonymous FTP site: ftp://ftp.bga.com/vendors/wdoud/ Grace Notes is a ministry of Village Missions International. |
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