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Philemon 1:16
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14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, athat your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.  
15 For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever,
16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the aflesh and in the Lord.  

Philemon’s Obedience Encouraged

17 If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.
18 But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account.
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< Philemon 1:15   Philemon 1:17 >>


Philemon 1:16

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

 

<< Philemon 1:15   Philemon 1:17 >>

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