strictly Philadelphi’a (brotherly love), a town on the confines of Lydia and Phrygia
Catacecaumene, 25 southeast of Sardis, and built by Attalus II., king of Pergamos, who died B.C.
- It was situated on the lower slopes of Tmolus, and is still represented by a town called
Allah-shehr (city of God). Its elevation is 952 feet above the sea. The original population of
Philadelphia. Seems to have been Macedonian; but there was, as appears from (Leviticus 3:9) a
synagogue of Hellenizing Jews there, as well as a Christian church. (It was the seat of one of “the
seven churches of Asia.”) The locality was subject to constant earthquakes, which in the time of
Strabo rendered even the town walls of Philadelphia unsafe. The expense of reparation was constant,
and hence perhaps the poverty of the members of the church. (Revelation 3:8) (The church was
highly commended.) (Revelation 3:7-13) Even Gibbon bears the following well-known testimony
to the truth of the prophecy, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee
in the hour of temptation”: “At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the (Greek) emperor
encompassed, all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above
fourscore years. Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect, a
column in a scene of ruins.” “The modern town (Allah-shehr, city of God), although spacious,
containing 3000 houses and 10,000 inhabitants, is badly built; the dwellings are mean and the streets
filthy. The inhabitants are mostly Turks. A few ruins are found, including remains of a wall and
about twenty-five churches. In one place are four strong marble pillars, which once supported the
dome of a church. One of the old mosques is believed by the native Christians to have been the
church in which assembled the primitive Christians addressed in the Apocalypse.” Whitney’s Bible
Geography.)
Philemon
the name of the Christian to whom Paul addressed his epistle in behalf of Onesimus. He was a
native probably of Colosse, or at all events lived in that city when the apostle wrote to him: first,
because Onesimus was a Colossian, (Colossians 4:9) and secondly because Archippus was a
Colossian, (Colossians 4:17) whom Paul associates with Philemon at the beginning of his letter.
(Philemon 1:1,2) It is related that Philemon became bishop of Colosse, and died as a martyr under
Nero. It is evident from the letter to him that Philemon was a man of property and influence, since
he is represented as the head of a numerous household, and as exercising an expensive liberality
toward his friends and the poor in general. He was indebted to the apostle Paul as the medium of
his personal participation in the gospel. It is not certain under what circumstances they became
known to each other. It is evident that on becoming a disciple he gave no common proof of the
sincerity and power of his faith. His character as shadowed forth in the epistle to him, is one of the
noblest which the sacred record makes known to us.
Philemon, The Epistle Of Paul To
is one of the letters which the apostle wrote during his first captivity at Rome A.D. 63 or early
in A.D. 64. Nothing is wanted to confirm the genuineness of the epistle: the external testimony is
unimpeachable; nor does the epistle itself offer anything to conflict with this decision. The occasion
of the letter was that Onesimus, a slave of Philemon, had run away from him to Rome, either
desiring liberty or, as some suppose, having committed theft. (Philemon 1:18) Here he was converted
under the instrumentality of Paul. The latter; intimately connected with the master and the servant,
was naturally anxious to effect a reconciliation between them. He used his influence with Onesimus,
ver. 12, to induce him to return to Colosse and place himself again at the disposal of his master.
On his departure, Paul put into his hand this letter as evidence that Onesirnus was a true and approved