Philemon vss 8,9To: 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 8"Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do,".Verse 8 as translated here in the NIV is very accurate and conveys the gist of the Greek. Paul, because of his spiritual gift of Apostleship from Christ, could order Philemon to do what is right, namely, accept Onesimus back without retaliation or hatred. But Paul sets aside his spiritual authority. ApostleshipIn the Greek, the term is APOSTOLOS, and was initially used to designate an admiral sent to command a fleet, and this admiral had complete and total authority over those whom he commanded. In Scripture, though, the term refers "specially to the twelve disciples whom Christ selected, out of the multitude of his adherents, to be his constant companions and the heralds to proclaim to men the kingdom of God." [27] The term occurs 79 times in the New Testament, and 68 of these 79 are found in Luke or the Pauline Epistles. Thus, in our context the word is used of the spiritual gift of absolute power and authority as concerns the Church. And the function of the gift of Apostleship was to support the Church during its formative years, i.e., during the first century AD, until the Canon of Scripture was completed. Thus either the apostles themselves or someone associated with them wrote the Canon of Scripture. Additionally, the apostles appointed Pastor/Teachers, interpreted the Word of God, and were responsible for formulating policy. According to Ephesians 4:8 and 4:11, the apostles were not appointed until the resurrection of our Lord. "This is why it says: When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." The apostolic gift provided each apostle with as much spiritual authority as God has ever given to any man. The apostles had complete authority over all the local churches. And Matthew 10:2 informs that Christ Himself appointed the apostles to Israel. And as has been noted above, Christ Himself appointed the apostles to the Church, Ephesians 4:11; and the appointment of spiritual gifts is the perquisite of God the Holy Spirit, according to I Corinthians 12:11. All of the apostles to the Church had to be eye witnesses to the resurrected Christ. And Paul fulfilled this qualification while on the Damascus Road, according to I Corinthians 9:1, and 15:8,9. "Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?" "Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." So that their apostolic authority might be manifest to the Church, the gift of Apostleship initially included three gifts: miracles, healing, and tongues. Citation of these gifts is found in Acts 5:15,16, 28:8,9. "As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed." "His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island (Malta) came and were cured." Nonetheless, after apostolic authority had been achieved, the three gifts were abrogated, according to Acts 19:11,12, Philippians 2:27, and II Timothy 4:20. "God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them." "Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him (Epaphroditus), and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow." "Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus." Thus, it is evident that Paul, through whom even garments that had touched him caused healing, later on could not even heal his close friends Epaphroditus and Trophimus, except through the power of prevailing prayer. So once apostolic authority had been determined, the miraculous gifts were removed. [28] Philemon 9"Yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul -- an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus --."Without presumption the translation should perhaps be altered to read as follows: "because of your virtue-love (personal love for Christ leading to toleration-type love toward all) I encourage you even more, being such a person as Paul, an ambassador and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus." In Greek the three prominent words are 'love,' 'more,' and 'ambassador.' Philemon's personal love for God stimulates a tolerant-type of love for all individuals that he comes in contact with, both believer and unbeliever. This virtue-love which Philemon has demonstrated gives Paul the confidence to 'encourage him more' to accept Onesimus based upon this very virtue-love. And the term PRESBUTEIS is the technical term for ambassadorship, which has previously been discussed. Paul here registers his perspective on his personal life and his incarceration in Rome: he is the prisoner, not of Nero or of Rome, but of Christ. And here is the principle that Paul believes, knows, and understands: that Jesus Christ controls history; that Paul's incarceration was for a purpose, two of which were the evangelizing of Onesimus and writing the pastoral letter of Philemon as a part of the canon of Scripture. Onesimus was the slave of Philemon, Paul was the slave of Christ, and both had certain portions of their freedom eliminated; but in spite of this, both achieved spiritual maturity, which maturity was the Will and Purpose of God. Thus, as per Romans 8:28, "all things do work together for good to them that love God." If Paul had not been the slave of Christ and in chains in a Roman prison, and if Onesimus had not been a slave and a fugitive, would either have become believers, attained spiritual maturity, or led others to Christ? For that matter, would all of Christendom have the book of Philemon to study? Probably not. [27] Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [28] Thieme, Robert. Doctrine of Apostleship; from notes on II Timothy, taken in 1976. 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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