Paul wrote his letter to Philemon while he was in prison. Did Paul do something bad to wind up in prison? No! He was “a prisoner for Christ Jesus” (Philem. 1); that is, he was in a Roman prison because he was preaching the good news about Jesus. That was not right for the Romans to do. It was also not right to have slaves, and lots of Romans had slaves. Some slaves were just like workers today who worked all day for a big company. It was long and hard work for little pay, but they could go home at the end of the day, and they could try to work for someone else if they were not happy. But other slaves were owned by masters, and only their masters could set them free. And some of those slaves were treated badly. Really badly.

We don’t know how Onesimus was treated. What we do know is that he was a runaway slave and that Philemon was his master. We also know that both Philemon and Onesimus had become Christians (God is so gracious!). Paul told Onesimus to do the right thing and return to Philemon, which must have been difficult to do! But Paul told Philemon to do the right thing and free Onesimus! Paul told him it was the right thing to do, because they were both now Christians. The master and his slave were now brothers in Christ—together freed by Christ, equal in God’s eyes, and fellow members of the church. Part of God’s forever family! “Have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant,” Paul said, “but . . . as a beloved brother . . . in the Lord” (Philem. 15, 16). He told Philemon to receive Onesimus with open arms. Paul was sure that Philemon would do just that—welcome, forgive, and free his runaway slave. He believed that just as Philemon had been forgiven by Jesus and loved by God so also Philemon would forgive and love Onesimus. Because the love of God changes us. It is always more than a feeling—this kind of love leads to action. We are freed to freely love like God.