Philemon vss 6,7To: 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 6"I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."The word for "pray" is omitted by ellipsis; however, the verb must be supplied to continue the thought of the sentence. And by omitting the verb, Paul stresses not his prayer, but Philemon's spiritual maturity. In other words, Paul is saying that the current situation, that of Onesimus' return as a fellow spiritually mature believer, demands that Philemon apply his faith and spiritual maturity toward Christ, not toward Onesimus. It is vital that Philemon hold onto his knowledge of Christ or he will fail when he confronts Onesimus. If he deliberates on Onesimus, he will see disrespect, disloyalty, hatred, fear, theft, etc.; however, if he deliberates on Christ, he will see intellectual agape-love, a fellow-believer, understanding, and grace. Verse 6 might also be translated "[I pray] that our (Paul and Onesimus) association with your faith (Philemon's spiritual maturity) might become operational (or effectual) toward Christ by means of [your] complete knowledge of the all good which is in you (in Philemon's soul)." [21] And what is 'the all good?' It is the Word of God living in Philemon's soul. For remember, "the Word of God is alive and powerful," and in II Timothy 1:14 Paul calls 'the all good' the 'good deposit.' "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you -- guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Philemon 7"Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints."Paul begins verse 7 with the post-positive conjunctive particle GAR used in the illative sense, and thus translated "for." Then Paul states that he has "come to have much happiness." This phrase demands some of our attention, for Paul is in prison, he is chained, his physical movements are confined, his recreation is very limited, his pleasures are denied; in these circumstances, how can Paul make the statement that he is not just happy, but that 'he has much happiness?' HappinessHappiness is the situation of well-being or general prosperity of mankind. It encompasses the circumstances of life and relationships. And happiness can run the gamut from tranquillity to intense ecstatics, and the term often used in Scripture to describe happiness is "blessedness." Blessedness relates happiness to God and His Plan of grace. Happiness has many different relative facets: 1. Happiness related to prosperity is described in Psalm 128: 1-4, "Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord." To understand the concept of happiness, we must understand the happiness of God. For God's happiness is unique in the sense that God's happiness is absolute, perfect and unlimited. In other words, because God is perfect He has perfect happiness. And as God is eternal, so is His happiness; God's happiness never ends and has never been diminished in the least and cannot be changed. And since God is perfect this means that He is perfect Righteousness; thus God's perfect happiness is directly connected to one simple fact: God is never wrong, has never been wrong, and never will be wrong. This makes God happy. Additionally, since God is perfect He is also perfect Justice; this means God is never inequitable, unfair or unjust. This makes God happy. Inasmuch as God is perfect, His love is perfect; this means that God loves the other members of the Godhead with a perfect love and that He loves Himself with a perfect love and that He loves His creatures with a perfect love; this ability to love perfectly, without bounds or mitigation, makes God happy. And because God is Omnipotent, this gives Him an unlimited capacity to be happy. In His Omniscience God's very genius adds comprehension and sharpness to His happiness; in other words, God knows that He is happy. Finally, in His Sovereignty, in His Reign, in His Supremacy, God has determined that He will share His perfect happiness with mankind, for Psalm 43:4 says, "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God." And Psalm 97:12 tells how God shares his happiness with mankind, "Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous [perfect Righteousness given to mankind at the point of salvation], and praise his holy name." And Habakkuk 3:18 states that once the believer has God's perfect Righteousness given to him/her, then the believer may be given anything and everything by God, for God gives to His perfect Righteousness (in the believer) from His perfect Righteousness (in Himself). The fact that God has determined to give His happiness to mankind and found a way to do it is called grace. And God's instrument of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ; thus true happiness begins at the point of belief in Christ. This is where happiness begins. From there, the more the believer knows about God and Christ, the greater the believer's capacity for happiness becomes. Thus through spiritual growth the believer's happiness may become as the happiness of God: without limit, without dependence on circumstances, or events, or people, or any exterior influence. And John 13:17 declares that once spiritual maturity is attained, the believer shares God's perfect happiness, "Now that you know these things (God's Word), you will be blessed (intense happiness) if you do them." In other words, God's Word is the source of the believer's happiness, according to John 17:13, "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." And sharing God's perfect happiness should be the estate of every believer, according to Philippians 4:4 and I Peter 1:8, which say, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" "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 once the believer shares the perfect happiness of God, the believer's happiness cannot be diminished by: circumstances, things, or people, according to Philippians 4:11,12; Hebrews 13:5,6, and Hebrews 12:2,3, which say, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Thus, even though mankind inhabits an imperfect world, mankind can have the perfect happiness of God. And according to I Corinthians 11:24,25, Philippians 1:3, and Song of Songs 3:1, 4:6, and 8:6, the sharing of God's happiness increases the believer's ability to love others and God. Jude 24 asserts that the happiness experienced by the believer in heaven is more intense than that on earth; this degree of intensity is related to the locale, heaven, and not to any limitations on the sharing of God's perfect happiness. Isaiah 35:1,2 declares that in the future Millennial Reign of Christ happiness will be ubiquitous. And according to the following verses, II Samuel 1:19,20, Ecclesiastes 9:9, 11:8,9, and Proverbs 23:24,25, the happiness derived from the 'world,' sin, evil, and 'pleasure' is temporary and inadequate. For "the aesthetic age seeks satisfaction through the senses, physical beauty, erotic excitement, through success in any of its guises." [22] And true inner happiness cannot be found through the senses or celebrity. Ultimately, the truly happy person, the believer who shares the perfect happiness of God, provides happiness for, and is a 'ministry of refreshment to,' [23] other believers and unbelievers. This concept is found in Philippians 2:28,29, Romans 16:32, II Corinthians 7:13, and our verse, Philemon 7, which says, "For I have come to have much happiness and encouragement by your love (for Christ) because the tender affections of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother." [24] Paul's use of the term "brother," ADELPHOS, indicates that Philemon is not only a fellow-believer, a member of the royal priest/family of God along with Paul, but that Paul is about to discuss a 'family' matter. The Greek term for "refreshed" is ANAPAUO; and this concept was briefly discussed in the above dissertation on Happiness. However, the idea commands more attention and more detail, as 'refreshment' is an attribute of those believers that have attained spiritual maturity. Thus we might say that the 'ministry of refreshment' is the realization and function of the spiritually mature. Paul calls Philemon a 'refreshment.' This means that Philemon is a vivifying and soothing personality to all that interrelate with him. Spiritually and soulishly, Philemon provides refreshment to others. He is a pleasure to be with and around; others seek out his company so that they might be restored by his calm faith in God, by his virtue-love toward others, by his real compassion, and by his doctrinal-perspective toward life. The Ministry of RefreshmentIn the papyri, the term ANAPAUO is found as "an agricultural term, e.g., of giving land rest by sowing light crops upon it. In inscriptions it is found on gravestones of Christians, followed by the date of death (Moulton and Milligan)." [25] Romans 15:32 says, "So that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed." And here, Paul implies that true refreshment comes from one saint to another as they enjoy each other's company. In I Corinthians 16: 17,18, Paul cites by name three spiritually mature believers whose company, virtue-love and faith recently 'refreshed' his soul. And the ramification is that believers occasionally require 'refreshment.' "I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition." Our Lord used the term in Matthew 11:28, where the connotation is to give rest from effort: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." And this is a remarkable statement -- that there is refreshment and rest in this Person only; only here may true ease be discovered. Paul will again use the term in Philemon 20, which says, "I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ." And the inference here is that Philemon's grace attitude, faith in God, trust in God's promises, virtue-love, and modus operandi and modus vivendi (method of operation and manner of life) are all images and expressions of love for Christ, and the character of Christ being expressed in Philemon, so that by associating with Philemon, Paul experiences the same refreshment that he would have found with Christ Himself. This verse details the importance, then, of growing to spiritual maturity and of associating with such mature believers. In II Corinthians 7:13, Paul confirms that the spirits of believers are 'refreshed' by other believers. "By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you." Physical refreshment is found through sleep and physical rest, according to Matthew 26:45, which states, "Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." And this need for physical rest is also stated in Mark 6:31 and Mark 14:41. And Luke 12:19 asserts that food, drink, sleep and recreation are all forms of physical refreshment, and that they are legitimate as long as they do not take priority over God and knowledge of His Word. "And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.'" I Peter 4:14 uses the term ANAPAUO for the rest/refreshment that belongs to the saint/believer that suffers for the name of Christ. This is indeed an extraordinary statement, that spiritual 'refreshment' may be found in suffering and persecution. Only the very, very spiritually mature believer could produce this type of attitude and happiness -- more and more happiness and rest found in more and more suffering for Christ. "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." And in Revelation 6:11 dwells an unique insinuation: that the 'righteous indignation,' or 'righteous demand for vengeance from the Perfect Justice of God' by the martyred saints of the Tribulation, can only find rest/refreshment in the Perfect Righteousness and Faithfulness of God. "Then each of them (the martyred saints) was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer (rest), until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." And Hebrews 4:3,4 and Revelation 14:11 states that those who reject Christ will never know any type of rest/refreshment in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. "And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." In contrast, Revelation 14:13 states that those who accept Christ will 'rest' forever and ever. "Then I heard a voice from heaven, say, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.'" [26] Philemon's Test Philemon's spiritual maturity and his 'spiritual refreshment' to others is about to receive a test. Will the spiritual maturity of Philemon be able to endure the natural influences of the Old Sin Nature? Is Philemon's virtue-love stronger than his innate hatred of Onesimus? And the reason that the test is so difficult is because Philemon must choose between right and rightful. Rightfully, Philemon may torture, brand or even execute Onesimus; but he would not be 'right' before God; to be 'right' he must be spiritually right. So being right legally (rightful) makes him wrong spiritually. Thus, the voluntary return of Onesimus produces a great spiritual turning point. Paul's TestPaul is writing to Philemon, of course, under the Ministry of the Filling of the Holy Spirit; however, Paul's interest in Philemon's test is also personal, as Paul underwent, and failed, the same test earlier in his own spiritual growth. Paul's test revolved around John Mark, to whom is traditionally assigned the authorship of the Second Gospel. John Mark was a Jew and a native of Jerusalem. And his Jewish name was the Old Testament name yohanan, which means 'Yahweh has shown grace,' II Kings 25:23. The shortened English form is 'John.' His adopted Latin name of Marcus means 'a large hammer.' John Mark's mother was Mary. She lived in comfortable circumstances in Jerusalem; in fact, the church in Jerusalem met in her house, according to Acts 12:12-17. John Mark was the cousin of Barnabas, according to Colossians 4:10 (sister's son). And John Mark accompanied Barnabas and Paul from Jerusalem to Cyprus on the first missionary journey, according to Acts 12:25; 13:5. However, at Perga, according to Acts 13:13, John Mark left them and returned home to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas went on without him. Paul viewed John Mark's action at best as spiritual failure and, at worst, as desertion of our Lord. Later, when in Acts 15:38 Barnabas proposed once more taking John Mark along on the second missionary journey, Paul categorically refused. And here, then, is Paul's experience with Philemon's test. Paul failed to forgive John Mark. So much so that Paul and Barnabas separated over the principle of 'right' and 'rightful.' Barnabas went on to Cyprus with John Mark, and Paul traveled with Silas. Acts 15:36-41 narrate the occurrence as follows: "Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.' Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches." Paul, though, learned from his mistake. For we find John Mark in Rome with Paul ten years later, Colossians 4:10 and Philemon 24. "My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)" "And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers." Indeed, so great was Paul's change of mind and attitude that he wrote concerning John Mark in II Timothy 4:11, "Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry." Thus, Paul faced the same type of test that Philemon is about to face -- a test of grace and spiritual maturity. [21] Thieme, Robert. Philemon; from notes, 1974. [22] Muggeridge, Malcolm. Title unknown. [23] Thieme, Robert. Colossians; notes taken from lectures, 1975 [24] Ibid. Doctrine of Happiness; originally compiled by Thieme; altered and appended by R. E. Radic. Translation of Philemon 7 is by Robert Thieme from the Koine Greek. [25] Vine, W.E. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; page 288. [26] Compiled by R. E. Radic. There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. 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