The Letter to Philemon

Philemon and his house. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes Philemon as a well-off Christian of Colossae, probably brought to faith by Paul at Ephesus, since Paul had not been to Colossae. A Church met in his house (verse 2). Apphia is thought to have been his wife and Archippus his son, though the letter does not say so. Colossians 4:17 also mentions Archippus. He owned slaves, as many households did.

Onesimus. His name means "useful", and Paul plays on the word: once useless, now useful (verse 11). St John Chrysostom, in the Argument to his homilies, says that he robbed his master and ran away to Rome, where Paul taught and baptised him. Paul's words "if he has wronged you in any way" (verse 18) leave room for this but do not say it outright. Some modern scholars think that he had not simply run away, and that he came to Paul to ask for help. Colossians 4:9 calls him "the faithful and beloved brother", one of their own.

Slavery in that world. Slavery was everywhere in the Roman Empire and was protected by law. A master had great power over a slave, and a runaway could face harsh punishment. This is the danger in which Onesimus stands, and it is why Paul writes with such care.

The tradition. Marcion accepted it in the second century. Origen quotes it as Paul's, the Muratorian list names it, and Eusebius counts it among the books received by all. St John Chrysostom and St Jerome both defended it in the prefaces to their commentaries against those who thought it too small a matter for Scripture. Scholars today generally agree that Paul wrote it. It shares Paul's co-workers with Colossians (verses 23 to 24; Col 4:10 to 14). Its inspiration, with all the Scriptures, is the faith of the Church (Dei Verbum 11).

Afterwards. The Menaia, the books of the Byzantine tradition, say that Philemon died a martyr at Colossae with Apphia, Archippus and Onesimus, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. The Apostolic Constitutions name Onesimus bishop of Beroea. St Ignatius of Antioch, about the year 110, writes to Ephesus of its bishop Onesimus, "a man of inexpressible love" (To the Ephesians 1), and some wonder whether he could be the same man. This cannot be proved. It would be a beautiful ending if it were true.

• In Christ, a slave is a brother. This is the heart of the letter (verse 16). The Catechism cites this verse in the paragraph that condemns slavery (2414). Pope Francis took his 2015 Peace Message from this passage: "No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters".
• Love over command. Paul could order, and he refuses to do so: "I preferred to do nothing without your consent" (verse 14). Real goodness must be given willingly.
• Paying the debt of another. "Charge that to my account" (verse 18). Many preachers have seen here an image of what Christ does for us. That is a meditation on the text, and the letter itself does not say it.
• No one is beyond hope. In the Argument to his homilies, St John Chrysostom gives this reason for the letter: a slave who has done wrong can become virtuous, and should not be given up on.
• Spiritual fatherhood. Paul calls Onesimus his child, "my own heart" (verses 10, 12). A prisoner in chains can still give new life.
• Reconciliation. Paul stands between two men and brings them together, and that is the work of the Church in every age. Philemon has to forgive, and Onesimus has to go back.
• The Church in a home. The Church meets in a house (verse 2). Where Philemon and Onesimus now share Baptism and the Eucharist, their old relationship cannot remain as it was.

Readers rightly ask this. Paul sends a slave back, and the letter does not say in so many words that Philemon must release him. Here is how the Church reads it.

• What the letter does. It does not tell Onesimus that he belongs to Philemon as a thing. It calls him child, heart and brother "both in the flesh and in the Lord" (verse 16), and it asks Philemon to receive him as he would receive Paul himself (verse 17). Paul then adds that Philemon will do "even more than I say" (verse 21). Scholars debate whether this hints at his being set at liberty, and the letter does not tell us what Philemon did.
• What Benedict XVI says. In Spe Salvi 4 he writes that Christianity did not bring a message of social revolution like that of Spartacus. It brought an encounter with the Lord of all lords, which changed life from within. Paul sends the runaway back, not to be used as before, but to be received as a brother. People of different standing, joined at Baptism and the Eucharist, became brothers and sisters, and even where outward structures stayed the same, society was changed from within.
• What took too long. John Paul II observes how many generations it took for the principle of Galatians 3:28 to bring about the abolition of slavery (Mulieris Dignitatem 24). For long centuries, Christians held slaves, and some defended it. In his Argument, even St John Chrysostom thought that slaves should stay with their masters and not be drawn away, in the setting of his own age. That is not the last word. The seed was in this letter, and it had to grow.
• What the Church teaches now. Slavery is among the infamies that dishonour the Creator (Gaudium et Spes 27), and it is among the acts named in Veritatis Splendor 80. "St. Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave 'no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother'": so the Catechism at 2414, in the very paragraph which declares that it is a sin against the dignity of persons to buy, sell and exchange them like merchandise. Pope Francis in 2015 says that millions still live in conditions like slavery, and he asks us to see them as brothers and sisters.

This letter can never be used to defend any form of slavery, trafficking or forced labour. It is one of the strongest texts we have against them.

Jesus is named only a few times, and always in Paul's greetings and titles (verses 1, 3, 5, 9, 23, 25). Yet everything in the letter happens "in Christ". Paul is his prisoner. Philemon and Onesimus are brothers "in the Lord". Because Christ has made all these people one family, this request can be made at all. The word of Jesus stands behind the letter: "as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). Paul says the same in his own way: receive him as you would receive me.

The Catechism cites Philemon 16 at 2414.

The Fathers, in substance. St John Chrysostom answers those who thought the letter a small thing: every detail of the Apostles' lives is valuable, and if Paul took such care over one runaway, we must not be careless of anyone. He adds that we should not be ashamed to honour good people of low rank in our households.

Benedict XVI uses the letter in Spe Salvi 4. Pope Francis takes from it the theme of the World Day of Peace 2015.

In the liturgy.

• Syro-Malabar. In the 2025 to 2026 calendar we examined, Philem 1:8 to 20 falls on the Seventh Saturday of Kaitha at the Holy Qurbana, with Mt 10:5 to 15.
• Latin. Philemon 9 to 10, 12 to 17 is the second reading on the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. On weekdays verses 7 to 20 are read in Week 32 of Year II.
• Syro-Malankara. In the lectionary we examined, Philemon 1:1 to 7 with Lk 6:43 to 45 belongs to the day of Mar Philemon, in November, at the Holy Qurbono.

It takes five minutes. Read it aloud three times: first as Philemon, opening the letter with Onesimus standing in front of you; then as Onesimus, listening; then as Paul, in chains, dictating it. Then ask what you would have done next. The letter does not tell us. It leaves the ending to the reader.