Onesimus, like every other slave, was but a live chattel; in the eyes of Paul a redeemed child of
God and heir of eternal life, which is far better than freedom.^1189
The New Testament is silent about the effect of the letter. We cannot doubt that Philemon
forgave Onesimus and treated him with Christian kindness. In all probability he went beyond the
letter of the request and complied with its spirit, which hints at emancipation. Tradition relates that
Onesimus received his freedom and became bishop of Beraea in Macedonia; sometimes he is
confounded with his namesake, a bishop of Ephesus in the second century, or made a missionary
in Spain and a martyr in Rome, or at Puteoli.^1190
Paul and Philemon.
The Epistle is at the same time an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of Paul. It
reveals him to us as a perfect Christian gentleman. It is a model of courtesy, delicacy, and tenderness
of feeling. Shut up in a prison, the aged apostle had a heart full of love and sympathy for a poor
runaway slave, made him a freeman in Christ Jesus, and recommended him as if he were his own
self.
Paul and Pliny.
Grotius and other commentators^1191 quote the famous letter of Pliny the Consul to his friend
Sabinianus in behalf of a runaway slave. It is very creditable to Pliny, who was born in the year
when Paul arrived as a prisoner in Rome, and shows that the natural feelings of kindness and
generosity could not be extinguished even by that inhuman institution. Pliny was a Roman gentleman
of high culture and noble instincts, although he ignorantly despised Christianity and persecuted its
innocent professors while Proconsul in Asia. The letters present striking points of resemblance: in
both, a fugitive slave, guilty, but reformed, and desirous to return to duty; in both, a polite, delicate,
and earnest plea for pardon and restoration, dictated by sentiments of disinterested kindness. But
they differ as Christian charity differs from natural philanthropy, as a Christian gentleman differs
from a heathen gentleman. The one could appeal only to the amiable temper and pride of his friend,
the other to the love of Christ and the sense of duty and gratitude; the one was concerned for the
temporal comfort of his client, the other even more for his eternal welfare; the one could at best
remand him to his former condition as a slave, the other raised him to the high dignity of a Christian
brother, sitting with his master at the same communion table of a common Lord and Saviour. "For
polished speech the Roman may bear the palm, but for nobleness of tone and warmth of heart he
falls far short of the imprisoned apostle."
The Epistle was poorly understood in the ancient church when slavery ruled supreme in the
Roman empire. A strong prejudice prevailed against it in the fourth century, as if it were wholly
unworthy of an apostle. Jerome, Chrysostom, and other commentators, who themselves had no
clear idea of its ultimate social bearing, apologized to their readers that Paul, instead of teaching
metaphysical dogmas and enforcing ecclesiastical discipline, should take so much interest in a poor(^1189) "The Gospel," says Lightfoot (p. 389), "never directly attacks slavery as an institution: the apostles never command the
liberation of slaves as an absolute duty. It is a remarkable fact that St. Paul in this Epistle stops short of any positive injunction.
The word ’emancipation’ seems to be trembling on his lips, and yet he does not once utter it. He charges Philemon to take the
runaway slave Onesimus into his confidence again; to receive him with all affection; to regard him no more as a slave, but as a
brother; to treat him with the same consideration, the same love, which he entertains for the apostle himself to whom he owes
everything. In fact he tells him to do very much more than emancipate his slave, but this one thing he does not directly enjoin.
St. Paul’s treatment of this individual case is an apt illustration of the attitude of Christianity toward slavery in general."
(^1190) For these conflicting legends, see the Acts Sanctorum Boll., XVI. Febr., II. 857 sqq.
(^1191) As Hackett (in Lange), Lightfoot, Lumby, and others.
A.D. 1-100.