¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
²sn The phrase a prisoner of Christ Jesus implies that Paul was being held prisoner because of his testimony for Christ Jesus. Paul’s imprisonment was due to his service to Christ, in the same manner as John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony (Rev 1:9).
³tn “our” is not present in the Greek text, but was added to bring out the sense in English.
⁴tn Grk “dear.” The adjective is functioning as a substantive; i.e., “dear one” or “dear friend.”
⁵sn Apphia is thought to be the wife of Philemon.
⁶tn Though the term “our” does not appear in the Greek text it is inserted to bring out the sense of the passage.
⁷tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”
⁸sn I always thank my God. An offer of thanksgiving (eujcaristw', eucaristw) to God is a customary formula for Paul in many of his epistles (cf. Rom 1:8, 1 Cor 1:4, Eph 1:16, Col 1:3, 1 Thess 1:2, 2 Thess 1:3). The content of the thanksgiving typically points to the work of God in the salvation of the believers to whom he [Paul] writes.
⁹tn Grk “making remembrance (or “mention”) of you in my prayers.”
¹⁰tn The Greek present participle ajkouvwn (akouwn, “hearing”) is an adverbial participle of cause relating to eujcaristw' (eucaristw, “I give thanks”).
¹¹sn Your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. In accord with Paul, John also advocates this combination of “faith in Christ and love for the saints.” The believers’ invisible faith becomes visible in the demonstration of love for others. This, of course, is not only desired, but commanded (1 John 3:23). Although Paul’s comment here may appear as stock and trade to the casual reader, praising Philemon for his track record of faithfulness to Christ demonstrated in love for the saints is actually integral to the author’s argument in this short but pithy letter. Paul will soon ask Philemon to demonstrate this love toward Onesimus, his runaway slave.
¹²tn The Greek is somewhat awkward here. It appears as though the text reads “…the love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.” In other Pauline letters the emphasis seems to be “faith in Christ Jesus and love for all of the saints.” Some ancient manuscripts have altered the wording to produce a smoother reading; scribes changed the wording to resemble the more readable versions in Eph 1:15 and Col 1:4, “your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints.”
¹³tn The term o{pw" ({opw") refers back to the idea of prayer (mneivan sou poiouvmeno" ejpiV tw'n proseucw'n mou, mneian sou poioumeno" epi twn proseucwn mou) in 1:4. See BAGD 577 2.b; Peter T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon, Word Biblical Commentary, ed. Ralph P. Martin, vol. 44 (Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher, 1982), 279. The indicative “I pray that” was added in the English in order to make this connection clear.
¹⁴tc Many ancient and diverse witnesses add the article tou' (tou, translated “that is”) here. The omission could be a case of haplography, but the diversity of witnesses coupled with the motivation of clarity suggests that the omission is original.
tn Grk “everything good.”
¹⁵tc uJmi'n (Jumin, “in you”) is found in a many valuable witnesses (Ì61 Í 33 1739 1881 it^{ar, b, f, g} syr^{p, h} cop^{sa, bo} arm). The witnesses for hJmi'n (Jhmin, “in us”) are not as strong (A C D Byz et alii), but hJmi'n is to be favored because of internal considerations: the first person pronoun is surrounded by second person pronouns and hence is the harder reading.
¹⁶tn There are numerous difficulties with the translation and interpretation of this verse: (1) What is the meaning of hJ koinwniva th'" pivstew" sou (Jh koinwnia th" pistew" sou, “the fellowship of your faith”)? Several suggestions are noted: (a) taking koinwniva as a reference to “monetary support” and th'" pivstew" as a genitive of source, the phrase could refer to Philemon’s financial giving which he has done according to his faith; (b) taking koinwniva as a reference to “sharing” or “communicating” and the genitive th'" pivstew" as an objective genitive, then the meaning would be “sharing the faith” as a reference to evangelistic activity; (c) taking koinwniva in a distributive sense referring to fellowship with other believers, and th'" pivstew" as a reference to the common trust all Christians have in Jesus, then the meaning is Christian fellowship centered on faith in Jesus; (d) taking koinwniva as a reference to “participation” and the genitive th'" pivstew" as a reference to the thing participated in, the meaning would then be Philemon’s “participation in the faith”; (2) what is the meaning of ejnerghV" (energh"; Does it mean “active” or “effective”?) and ejpignwvsei (epignwsei; Does it refer to simply understanding? Or “experiencing” as well?); (3) what is the meaning of phrase pantoV" agaqou' (panto" agaqou)? and (4) what is the force of eij" Cristovn (ei" Criston)? It is difficult to arrive at an interpretation that deals adequately with all these questions, but given the fact that Paul stresses what Philemon has done for the brothers (cf. the gavr [gar] in v. 7), it seems that his concern in v. 6 is on Philemon’s fellowship with other believers and how he has worked hard to refresh them. In this interpretation: (1) the phrase hJ koinwniva th'" pivstew" sou is taken to refer to fellowship with other believers; (2) ejnerghv" is taken to mean “effective” (i.e., more effective) and ejpignwvsei involves both understanding and experience; (3) the phrase pantoV" ajgaqou' refers to every spiritual blessing and (4) eij" Cristovn carries a locative idea meaning “in Christ.” The result is that Paul prays for Philemon that he will be equipped to encourage and love the saints more as he himself is brought to a place of deeper understanding of every spiritual blessing he has in Christ; out of the overflow of his own life, he will minister to others.
¹⁷tn Here gavr (gar) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.
¹⁸tn The Greek preposition ejpiv (epi) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”
¹⁹tn The word translated “heart” here is splavgcna (splancna). Literally the term refers to one’s “inward parts,” but it is commonly used figuratively for “heart” as the seat of the emotions. See BAGD 763 s.v. splavgcnon 1.b (cf. Col 3:12, Phil 2:1).
²⁰tn Or “encourage.”
²¹tn Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV), reading presbeuthv" for presbuvth" (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BAGD 700 s.v. presbuvth"). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.
²²tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”
²³tn Or “I am encouraging…”
²⁴tn Grk “my child whom I have begotten.” The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied before “father” in the translation to clarify for the modern reader that Paul did not literally father a child during his imprisonment. Paul’s point is that he was instrumental in Onesimus’ conversion while in prison.
²⁵sn During my imprisonment. Apparently Onesimus became a believer under Paul’s shepherding while he [Paul] was a prisoner in Rome.
²⁶tc kaiv (kai, “both you”) is added by several ancient witnesses, either to clarify the meaning or in imitation of the nuniV deV kaiv (nuni de kai) in v. 9.
²⁷tn Grk “whom I have sent.” The Greek sentence was broken up in the English translation for the sake of clarity. Although the tense of the Greek verb here is past (an aorist tense) the reader should understand that Onesimus was probably standing in the very presence of Paul as he wrote this letter.
²⁸tn That is, “who means a great deal to me”; Grk “whom I have sent to you, him, this one is my heart.”
²⁹tn This is one of the clearest texts in the NT in which uJpevr is used for substitution. Cf. Wallace, ExSyn 387.
³⁰tn Grk “in my imprisonment.” Paul seems to expect release from his imprisonment after some time (cf. v. 22), but in the meantime the assistance that Onesimus could provide would be valuable to the apostle.
³¹tn Grk “in the chains of the gospel.” On the translation “imprisonment for the sake of the gospel, cf. BAGD 176 s.v. desmov" 1 where it says: “ Oft. simply imprisonment, prison (Diod. S. 14, 103, 3; Lucian, Tox. 29; Jos., Ant. 13, 294; 302, Vi. 241) Phil 1:7, 13f, 17; Col 4:18; Phlm 10. mevcri desmw'n 2 Ti 2:9. ejn toi'" d. tou' eujaggelivou in imprisonment for the gospel Phlm 13; cf. ISm 11:1; Pol 1:1.”
³²tn Though the Greek text does not read the term “however,” it is clearly implied and thus added in the English translation to accent the contrastive nature of Paul’s statement.
³³sn So that you would have him back eternally. The notion here is not that Onesimus was to be the slave of Philemon eternally, but that their new relationship as brothers in Christ would transcend the societal structures of this age. The occasion of Onesimus’ flight to Rome would ultimately be a catalyst in the formation of a new and stronger bond between these two men.
³⁴tn Although the Greek word dou'lo" (doulos) may be translated “servant,” the word “slave” is a much more candid and realistic picture of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. In the Greco-Roman world of the first century the slave was considered a “living tool” of the master. The slave was “property” in every sense of the word. This understanding heightens the tense scenario that is in view here. It is likely that Onesimus may have even feared for his life upon returning to Colossae. Undoubtedly Paul has asked this runaway slave to return to what could amount to a potentially severe and life-endangering situation.
³⁵tn Grk “in the flesh.”
³⁶tn Grk “charge it to me.”
³⁷tn Grk “I wrote” Here e[graya (egraya) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.
³⁸tn The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is added in the English translation to clarify the meaning.
³⁹sn With my own hand. Paul may have considered this letter so delicate that he wrote the letter himself as opposed to using an amanuensis or secretary.
⁴⁰sn The statement you owe me your very self means that Paul was responsible for some sort of blessing in the life of Philemon; though a monetary idea may be in mind, it is perhaps better to understand Paul as referring to the spiritual truth (i.e., the gospel) he had taught Philemon.
⁴¹sn Refresh my heart in Christ. Paul desired that Philemon refresh his heart in the same way that he [Philemon] had refreshed the hearts of other believers (cf. Phlm 7), that is, by forgiving and accepting Onesimus. In this way the presence and character of Jesus Christ would be vividly seen in Philemon’s attitude toward his runaway slave.
⁴²tn Grk “that you would even go beyond.”
⁴³sn Epaphras is probably a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus. This is probably the same individual whom Paul spoke of as “my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier” in Phil 2:25 (see also Phil 4:18). He is also mentioned in Col 1:7 and 4:12, where he is a founder of the church in Colossae (BAGD 283 s.v. jEpafra'").
⁴⁴sn Aristarchus accompanied Paul on his collection-journey when Paul left for Rome in Acts 27:2. He is also mentioned as a fellow prisoner in Col 4:10.
⁴⁵sn Demas is most likely the same individual mentioned by the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim 4:12. Apparently, he later on abandoned the faith because of his love of the world.
⁴⁶tn Grk “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [ ] with your spirit.” The elided verb, normally an optative, has been rendered as “be.”