As someone else pointed out, it is understood in the Eastern Orthodox Church that he is indeed the bishop whom Saint Ignatius praises in his letter to the Ephesians. Saint Onesimus has his own day of commemoration on the Church calendar, and also shares a day of commemoration with Saint Archippus, Saint Philemon (who eventually became Bishop of Gaza), and Saint Philemon's wife Saint Apphia, who is the only one of the group to receive the rare and esteemed title of Equal-to-the-Apostles. It is believed that they all lived long lives, but as often happens in Orthodox tradition, their "happily ever afters" all involved being tortured and martyred for the faith by a Roman emperor; Onesimus on his own in a separate event, and the other three after having their house church raided by pagans.
I've given a sermon on Philemon! I enjoyed getting the take of my African-american sisters in sharing how this letter was used during antebellum South to arm-twist people to return runaways to their masters. Philemon holds a lot of trauma for black people as a result. Most exciting was my discovery of Robert Carter III who freed all his slaves while still living (lots of people freed their slaves in their will) because he believed Jesus freed slaves IN THE FLESH. It is a great story which doesn't get attention it deserves.
Yes! Although Philemon wasn’t in the Slave Bible, which suggests to me that the enslavers were aware that it was a liberating text, at least on some level.
But, of course, they were happy to twist and weaponize the text at will.
I seem to remember Paul's comment about Onesimus being useless and becoming useful as a punishment on Onesimus' name. Do you know if that is the case? Was Onesimus a common slave name because it meant useful or something like it?
Mighty fine. Should I preach Philemon, I shall borrow and attribute. On another point, what have you found that makes the UE version preferable to the ‘89 version. I’m fond of it because my HarperCollins Study Bible was the first one I read to begin professional exegesis in seminary.
Philemon has repeatedly bothered me,so I appreciate your presentation of it. You covered a lot of good ground. For over 20bears I lived in Argentina, an odd Mediterranean country. Paul's writing his message between the lines became obvious to me through living there. As did the avoidance of dishonoring others. I don't know how you came to see it in Philemon, but it was well done here.
Great food for thought, thanks for sharing! One of the things I find intriguing about Philemon is that as a Christian, the culturally acceptable way of treating people is not just what you do. That every action we take toward others has implications about the God we claim to serve, and is an opportunity to show our true devotion.
I'm so glad you wrote about this amazing little letter! It's one of my favorites in the NT. I spent the past 10 years writing a literary-historical novel telling a backstory to Philemon, and I just started publishing it, one chapter a week, all free, as a serial on my Substack (three chapters out so far). I've treasured the opportunity to soak in the letter all these years.
One way my understanding of the backstory (though not of the letter itself) differs from yours is that I do think the most plausible explanation of Onesimus's separation from Philemon is that Onesimus made an attempt at escape. If he fled to Ephesus (as seems plausible to me), all he'd need to connect with Paul in prison is to somehow encounter a member of the Ephesian church, which, presumably, was Paul's lifeline in prison. I find it quite plausible that Onesimus could have crossed paths with a church member, perhaps been sheltered by the church, and then been recruited to the team caring for Paul in prison. So I think scholars make too much of the "implausibility" of an escaped Onesimus encountering Paul in prison.
The "seeking mediation" hypothesis also doesn't seem especially plausible to me because Onesimus would have had to have been gone a substantial amount of time for him to develop a close relationship with Paul ("...my very heart...," says Paul), at which point the difference between seeking mediation and escaping seems quite minimal: as you say, Philemon is still going to be irate, and it's not clear that the stated intention of a slave (e.g., "I was seeking mediation, not escaping") would hold up legally. I imagine that Philemon would experience it as an attempted escape, regardless of what Onesimus said, in which case the "seeking mediation" hypothesis doesn't seem to explain much (assuming you buy my point about encountering Paul in prison!). I also don't see strong parallels between the letter to Philemon and the letter to Sabinianus, which scholars sometimes lean hard on to support the "mediation" hypothesis.
Anyway, sorry for spilling out in your comments (!). I think I'm just excited to see someone else advocating for this favorite little letter. Thanks!
I really think we need more people blending good scholarship with good fiction writing—academics usually don’t have a fiction background, and so often when academics have attempted to write biblical fiction, their publishers haven’t given them enough fiction-oriented editorial support.
I’ve just had a quick glance at one of your chapters, and you have such a lovely style!
Thanks! I’m so glad to meet you too. I love the aim of your Substack (interpreting the difficult texts). I also appreciate your approachable yet rigorous style. I’m excited to read along!
I agree about the typical result of academics writing fiction. Definitely need better editorial support (and training in the craft). Sadly, biblical fiction has a bad reputation, partly as a result. Usually biblical fiction ends up being either a lightly disguised bible study or (on the non-academic side) romance by another name. Hoping to do it differently.
As someone else pointed out, it is understood in the Eastern Orthodox Church that he is indeed the bishop whom Saint Ignatius praises in his letter to the Ephesians. Saint Onesimus has his own day of commemoration on the Church calendar, and also shares a day of commemoration with Saint Archippus, Saint Philemon (who eventually became Bishop of Gaza), and Saint Philemon's wife Saint Apphia, who is the only one of the group to receive the rare and esteemed title of Equal-to-the-Apostles. It is believed that they all lived long lives, but as often happens in Orthodox tradition, their "happily ever afters" all involved being tortured and martyred for the faith by a Roman emperor; Onesimus on his own in a separate event, and the other three after having their house church raided by pagans.
Paul here reminds me of a beloved little old granny who knows just the right things to say to get her family to happily do exactly as she “suggests.”
I've given a sermon on Philemon! I enjoyed getting the take of my African-american sisters in sharing how this letter was used during antebellum South to arm-twist people to return runaways to their masters. Philemon holds a lot of trauma for black people as a result. Most exciting was my discovery of Robert Carter III who freed all his slaves while still living (lots of people freed their slaves in their will) because he believed Jesus freed slaves IN THE FLESH. It is a great story which doesn't get attention it deserves.
Yes! Although Philemon wasn’t in the Slave Bible, which suggests to me that the enslavers were aware that it was a liberating text, at least on some level.
But, of course, they were happy to twist and weaponize the text at will.
I seem to remember Paul's comment about Onesimus being useless and becoming useful as a punishment on Onesimus' name. Do you know if that is the case? Was Onesimus a common slave name because it meant useful or something like it?
Yes! That’s exactly right.
I sometimes, nay, often hate auto correct. It changed pun to punishment without my noticing.
I tracked anyway. Autocorrect (and voice-to-text) have done me dirty so many times. 😁
I still think there’s a deeper pun here 🙃
You should pitch your idea as an SBL paper!
I had no idea about the Gombis theory! So cool.
I’d raised it as a possibility in a conversation with another scholar, and he was very dismissive of it.
But then I found out Gombis also thinks it’s possible, and I felt extremely vindicated. 😂
Mighty fine. Should I preach Philemon, I shall borrow and attribute. On another point, what have you found that makes the UE version preferable to the ‘89 version. I’m fond of it because my HarperCollins Study Bible was the first one I read to begin professional exegesis in seminary.
I don’t really have an opinion on the ‘89 vs the UE, but UE is the one that’s on my Bible software, so I tend to use it.
Philemon has repeatedly bothered me,so I appreciate your presentation of it. You covered a lot of good ground. For over 20bears I lived in Argentina, an odd Mediterranean country. Paul's writing his message between the lines became obvious to me through living there. As did the avoidance of dishonoring others. I don't know how you came to see it in Philemon, but it was well done here.
Great food for thought, thanks for sharing! One of the things I find intriguing about Philemon is that as a Christian, the culturally acceptable way of treating people is not just what you do. That every action we take toward others has implications about the God we claim to serve, and is an opportunity to show our true devotion.
I'm so glad you wrote about this amazing little letter! It's one of my favorites in the NT. I spent the past 10 years writing a literary-historical novel telling a backstory to Philemon, and I just started publishing it, one chapter a week, all free, as a serial on my Substack (three chapters out so far). I've treasured the opportunity to soak in the letter all these years.
One way my understanding of the backstory (though not of the letter itself) differs from yours is that I do think the most plausible explanation of Onesimus's separation from Philemon is that Onesimus made an attempt at escape. If he fled to Ephesus (as seems plausible to me), all he'd need to connect with Paul in prison is to somehow encounter a member of the Ephesian church, which, presumably, was Paul's lifeline in prison. I find it quite plausible that Onesimus could have crossed paths with a church member, perhaps been sheltered by the church, and then been recruited to the team caring for Paul in prison. So I think scholars make too much of the "implausibility" of an escaped Onesimus encountering Paul in prison.
The "seeking mediation" hypothesis also doesn't seem especially plausible to me because Onesimus would have had to have been gone a substantial amount of time for him to develop a close relationship with Paul ("...my very heart...," says Paul), at which point the difference between seeking mediation and escaping seems quite minimal: as you say, Philemon is still going to be irate, and it's not clear that the stated intention of a slave (e.g., "I was seeking mediation, not escaping") would hold up legally. I imagine that Philemon would experience it as an attempted escape, regardless of what Onesimus said, in which case the "seeking mediation" hypothesis doesn't seem to explain much (assuming you buy my point about encountering Paul in prison!). I also don't see strong parallels between the letter to Philemon and the letter to Sabinianus, which scholars sometimes lean hard on to support the "mediation" hypothesis.
Anyway, sorry for spilling out in your comments (!). I think I'm just excited to see someone else advocating for this favorite little letter. Thanks!
Oh, it’s so lovely to meet you!
I really think we need more people blending good scholarship with good fiction writing—academics usually don’t have a fiction background, and so often when academics have attempted to write biblical fiction, their publishers haven’t given them enough fiction-oriented editorial support.
I’ve just had a quick glance at one of your chapters, and you have such a lovely style!
Thanks! I’m so glad to meet you too. I love the aim of your Substack (interpreting the difficult texts). I also appreciate your approachable yet rigorous style. I’m excited to read along!
I agree about the typical result of academics writing fiction. Definitely need better editorial support (and training in the craft). Sadly, biblical fiction has a bad reputation, partly as a result. Usually biblical fiction ends up being either a lightly disguised bible study or (on the non-academic side) romance by another name. Hoping to do it differently.
Interesting read, though, I listened to it and I gotta say the way everything is pronounced is so different than how I do. So it killed me inside
Oh, now I gotta listen to how the AI pronounced it. 😂
There's no historical 'proof', but Church tradition does say that the Onesimus in Philemon is the same one who was later bishop in Ephesus. https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/02/15/100526-apostle-onesimus-of-the-seventy (and also that St. Apphia was St. Philemon's wife!)