Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
No longer as a servant (ouketi wv doulon). "No longer as a slave." So it has to be here. So it should be always. Paul sends Onesimus, the converted runaway slave, back to his legal master, but shows that he expects Philemon the Christian to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ, not as a slave.
But more than a servant (all uper doulon). "But beyond a slave."
A brother beloved (adelfon agaphton). A brother in Christ.
How much rather to thee (posw de mallon soi). "By how much more to thee," because of Philemon's legal ownership of this now Christian slave. "In the flesh Philemon had the brother for a slave; in the Lord he had the slave for a brother" (Meyer).
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Philemon 1:16:
1 Timothy 6:2
2 Peter 3:15
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