Philemon vss 3-5To: 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 Philemon 3"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."In verse 3, Paul desires that Philemon receive grace and peace (spiritual prosperity and material prosperity) from God. And God the Holy Spirit is not named because His purpose and capacity during the present Church Age is to glorify Christ. Philemon 4"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers."Here Paul states that he 'makes mention of Philemon' whenever he prays; Paul also 'thanks' God in prayer for Philemon. And the underlying principle is this: you are motivated to pray for people for whom you are thankful. This principle is contained in the Greek word MNEIA, which means "remembrance or memory." [16] Thus Paul has warm and tender memories of Philemon, so much so that he expresses these memories while in prayer to God -- he gives thanks to God for Philemon's friendship. This is quite a statement, quite a feeling, quite an emotion, and quite an honor -- to be remembered in prayer to God. Philemon 5"Because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints."In verse 5, Paul acknowledges Philemon's spiritual maturity. And spiritual maturity is made up of two items: the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit and knowledge of God's Word in the soul of the believer (saint). In the succeeding verses we will see that Onesimus, too, is acknowledged by Paul as a spiritually mature believer. Thus, both Philemon and Onesimus are spiritually mature; both are filled with the Holy Spirit and both have comprehended God's Word as taught from Scripture. And remember, that one is a slave owner and the other is a slave, yet both are spiritually mature. Paul uses the causal participle of AKOUO, which means "because I hear;" and of what has Paul heard? Of Philemon's faith and love, i.e., his spiritual maturity. And Paul has had this information related to him by Epaphras, the Pastor of the Colossian Church. Epaphras had come to Rome, where Paul was imprisoned, to consult with Paul about the 'Gnostic' issue in Colossae. The two attributes ascribed to Philemon by Epaphras are "faith" and "love," PISTIS and AGAPEI in the Greek. These two attributes together describe spiritual maturity. And Philemon has "faith" in our Lord, which faith leads to "love" for "all the saints." Romans 5:5 and Galatians 5:22 assert that agape-love is the result, the fruit of, the filling of the Spirit. "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Rom. 5:5) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness." (Gal. 5:22) And concerning the definition of agape-love, AGAPAO and not PHILEO, is the word used of God's love to men; AGAPAO is also the word ordinarily used of men's love to God, but PHILEO is once so used, I Cor. xvi. 22. AGAPAO is the word used of love to one's enemies. The interchange of the words in Jn. xxi. 15-17 is very interesting and instructive. AGAPAO denotes the love of the reason; PHILEO, the love of the feelings, warm instinctive affection." [17] However, the great linguist and theologian, Kenneth S. Wuest, reverses the definitions of AGAPAO and PHILEO. So the question persists, what is the difference? The author defines agapao-love as love based upon reason, intellect and objectivity. Robert Thieme describes it as "impersonal love." This agapao-love denotes a lack of arrogance and hatred or any type of antipathy toward others. And it is the result of the power of the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit. For it could be accomplished in no other way. Agapao-love is directed by mankind toward mankind, and by believers toward God. This is "virtue-love." [18] Whereas phileo-love is a personal love of affection or even romance toward God or another individual. And PISTIS, or 'faith,' is either what is believed or the object of belief. Thus, in a strictly Christian sense, the term refers either to Christ, the object of mankind's faith, or to God's Word, the dissertation of Christ. The Concept of Love for GodScripture provides for three different types of love for believers: 1. The believer's personal love for God and the ability to respond to God's love for the believer. The believer's personal love for God is defined herein as phileo. Love for God depends upon a knowledge of God's Word, i.e., the more you know someone the more you love them, and the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit. And this, as noted above, is the definition of spiritual maturity. And the command to love God is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." And since God is Spirit and cannot be perceived, the only manner to obey the above command is through knowledge of the Word. And this is the type of love that apostates have lost and are not capable of. The implication is that the more the believer knows of God's Word, the more the believer may love God. And this implication becomes actuality in I Peter 1:8, which says, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." And Ephesians 3:17b-19 sustains this verity: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." II Timothy 1:13,14 asserts that love for God comes through knowledge of God's Word and the filling of the Holy Spirit, "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you -- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Agape-love is the pattern of/for grace, according to Psalm 119:132, "Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name." And Psalm 31:23 relates love for God to faith and grace, "Love the Lord, all his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full." The more the believer loves God, the more God is able to bless the believer's attendant capacity for blessing, which capacity comes from knowledge and augmented love for God. This concept is related in Psalm 37:4,5 and I Corinthians 2:9, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this." "However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'" And Deuteronomy 30:15 and 30:16-20 state that love for God results in not only personal blessing but in blessing for a nation: "See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." Joshua 23:10-11 declares that love for God results in individual and collective courage toward life and circumstances. And Hebrews 11:27 maintains that love for God, Who is Spirit and invisible to the human eye, provides perseverance in disaster and trouble, "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger, he persevered because he saw him who is invisible." II Corinthians 5:14 declares that true love for God compels and motivates evangelism, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died." And I John 4:15-19 describes agape-love and phileo love, and relates them to the filling of the Spirit and a knowledge of God's Word. Finally, I Corinthians 16:22 appoints a specific curse on any believer who fails to have a personal/affectionate type of love, phileo love, for God, "If anyone does not love the Lord -- a curse be on him. Come, O Lord." Here, then, the one that fails to love God is called anathema maranatha, which is "cursed until our Lord comes." This believer, then, will receive nothing but misery and discipline from the Justice of God until he/she dies the 'sin unto death.' Salvation, however, is not lost. [19] I Corinthians 16:22 is an example of Heterosis or the exchange of one mood for another mood. Here, the imperative mood is substituted for the indicative, i.e., Paul commands that which is already to take place. [20] Discipline will be administered by the Justice of God to those that do not love God. And Paul states that Philemon has 'virtue-love' toward both Christ and EIS PANTAS TOUS HAGIOUS, which is "toward all the saints." The "saints" refers to the royal family of God, those who are believers in the present Church Age. And the word HAGIOS connotes 'separation' from Satan's system of evil (arrogance and hatred). [16] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [17] Berry, George Ricker. A Dictionary of New Testament Greek Synonyms; pages 24,35. [18] Thieme, Robert. [19] Thieme, Robert. The Doctrine of Category One Love; from notes on Hebrews, 1975. [20] Bullinger, E.W. Figures of Speech Used in the Bible; pages 510, 514. 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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