What We Believe & Why - Chapter Thirty Two

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What We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Chapter Thirty Two
The Philemon Principle

INTRODUCTION: TEXT: Philemon 1-25

Adherence to the Philemon Principle should be a trademark of every believer. It is a principle of forgiveness, mercy and grace. Roughly stated, the principle says, "In cases where you have been wronged, and have the right and power to retaliate with harshness and justice, do not do so, but rather, extend forgiveness, mercy and grace." I call it the Philemon Principle because it is set forth so beautifully in the divinely inspired book of Philemon. However, the book of Philemon is not the only part of the Bible that teaches this principle.

I. FROM TIME TO TIME WE ALL ARE WRONGED IN LIFE.

A. There are multiple ways and sources for this to occur.

1. The family is a prime source for wrongs to be inflicted upon us. Parents sometimes wrong children by punishing them when they are not guilty, by punishing them harshly, by depriving them of what they need (including spiritual training) by harsh, cruel and unfair treatment and in many other ways. Marriage partners sometimes wrong each other by cruelty, lying, cheating, physical abuse and many other unfair practices. Children wrong parents by misrepresenting them to others, by taking and never giving, by ingratitude and by other means.

2. Employees wrong bosses and companies by insubordination and disloyalty, by stealing and by doing less than a first-class job. Criminals wrong people by all sorts of crimes. Friends lie and misuse other friends. It would be foolish to try to attempt to mention all the ways people get wronged in business deals, by those who borrow, by public embarrassment, by gossip and by a menagerie of other unethical practices.

B. The Bible warns that some wrongs are certain to come to us in life.

1. Jesus said, "Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come." (Matthew 18:7)

2. Jesus also spoke of our being persecuted and defiled, and of folks saying, "All manner of evil against you falsely." (Matthew 5:10-11)

3. Jeremiah the prophet warned, "Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not for his work." (Jeremiah 22:13) Vashti wronged her husband and the people of the kingdom by being insubordinate to her husband. (Esther 1:6) People were doing each other wrong in Moses' day. (Acts 7:24-26) David spoke of people hating him wrongfully. (Psalm 38:19)

4. Men are mortals with a basically evil nature. Jeremiah put it this way in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Thus, it is inevitable that they are, from time to time, going to deceive you, take from you and wrong you in a variety of ways.

C. This is graphically illustrated in Philemon.

1. Philemon was a very Godly man. Verse 5 says he had a reputation of "love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints." He had proven his faith by his giving (verse 6) and had blessed others by his love and testimony. (verse 7) Philemon means, "that kisses; is affectionate," and the whole tenor of the book pictures Philemon as a wonderful Christian man.

2. Philemon owned a slave name Onesimus. This can be seen by reading verses 10-11 and 16. Onesimus had been a no-good slave. Verse 11 says he had proven "unprofitable" to Philemon. "Unprofitable to thee" literally translates "the once to thee useless one." Philemon lived in Colosse, Phrygia, (Colossians 4:7-9), and Onesimus had run away from Philemon and had ended up in Rome where Paul was being held a prisoner. Many scholars believe from verse 18-19 that Onesimus had stolen from Philemon before running away. The general overtones make it clear that he had definitely wronged Philemon.

3. Thus, how typical Philemon is of all of us.

II. LIKE PHILEMON, THERE MAY BE TIMES WHEN WE WOULD BE LEGALLY CORRECT IN TAKING A HARD STAND AGAINST THE PERSON WHO WRONGED US.

A. According to Phrygian law, upon Onesimus' return, Philemon could have dealt very cruelly with Him.

1. The law considered slaves much like any other property a man might own. Slave owners could treat them pretty well any way they pleased. Under the law they did not have the protection other people had.

2. According to Albert Barnes on the New Testament, Phrygians were a very harsh people, and Philemon could have punished Onesimus without even appealing to a magistrate.

3. So, it is evident that legally Philemon had virtually a free hand in dealing with Onesimus. When you consider the fact that Onesimus had wronged Philemon and that he had run away, which was always a serious offense with slave owners, and when you consider the laws of the day, you can see that Philemon would have been legally within his rights to really crack down hard on Onesimus. He could have beaten him as much as he pleased, locked him up in a dungeon, verbally abused him, sold him to another owner, starved him, made a public spectacle out of him, and some have said he could have even killed him.

B. No doubt, each of us has found himself at times in the position of Philemon.

1. Little children are quick to stand upon what they think to be legal rights. One will generally defend a blow to another by saying, "he hit me first" or "he called me an ugly name." An almost universal attitude in the human race says, "If I am wronged, then I have a legal right to come down hard on the one who wronged me." It is the idea of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Leviticus 24:20 reads, "Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again." It continues from childhood into adulthood. An adult who has hard feelings and bitterness against someone who has wronged him is like a child, quick to defend it by saying, "look what that person did to me." The idea is that the wronged party has a legal right to be hard on the person who committed the wrong.

2. What parent is there among us who hasn't at one point or another been wronged by our children, and who has not found himself in a position to legally come down hard on that offending child? By following the letter of the law most bosses or employers could really crack down on the employees. Most marriage partners have been in places where they could make it legally very hard on the other partner. You've no doubt known terrible information on people and would have been only telling the truth if you had laid out the whole story on them. There are church occasions when you have the right to speak your piece, crime in business deals where you can legally recover your losses, and plenty of other situations where you have a legal right to a course of tough action.

III. THE PHILEMON PRINCIPLE SAYS BE FORGIVING AND MERCIFUL.

A. Look at how clearly the principle of forgiveness and grace is taught in Philemon.

1. As previously shown, Onesimus was Philemon's slave. He had wronged Philemon, perhaps having stolen from him prior to having run away. Philemon 18 says, "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought." The "If" is a condition of the first class, meaning there is no doubt he did. Also "wronged" is from the Greek "edikese" which is a first aorist active indicative verb meaning "to wrong, without justice." Thus, upon recovery of Onesimus, Philemon was in a legal position to treat him with bitter harshness and justice.

2. Through the divine providence of God, Onesimus, in Rome, came into contact with Paul, who won him to Christ. Paul put it to Philemon in this way, "I beseech thee, for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds." (Philemon 10) Paul was a reproducer and Onesimus was in one sense a spiritual child of Paul.

3. What a change conversion to Christ made in the life of Onesimus! Verse 11 says that while Philemon had Onesimus he was unprofitable, but since being saved he is now "profitable to thee and to me." God can change the vilest man. Once Onesimus was useless to everybody. Now he was useful to everybody. In fact, the name "Onesimus" literally means "useful." Paul pointed out in verse 15 that in view of Onesimus' change, Philemon could have him here on earth and hereafter in heaven, not as a slave, but as a brother. Folks, if God can work a change like that in a useless slave like Onesimus there is hope for all of us. And what a testimonial to the potential and value of soul winning!

4. In his born again condition, Onesimus would have been very useful and helpful to Paul. In Philemon 13, Paul spoke of Onesimus as him "whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel." But as he continued in verse 14, he would not do a thing like that without the consent of Philemon.

5. So Paul sent Onesimus home to Philemon, which was a testimonial to Onesimus for being willing to go and to Philemon as being a man who would do the proper thing toward him. (Note verse 12.)

6. Along with Onesimus, Paul also sent a letter to Philemon. On his trip, Onesimus apparently also delivered the book of Ephesians and Colossians. (Ephesians 6:21; Colossians 4:7-9) Philemon is a little book written to an individual about a strictly personal matter, yet like all the books of the Bible, it bears the stamp of divine authorship and speaks straight to the heart of all of us. Verse 19 shows that under divine inspiration Paul wrote the book with his own hand, which, considering it was a manacled hand of a Roman prisoner awaiting his own execution without justice, must have had a profound impact upon Philemon.

7. In his letter to Philemon, Paul begged or pleaded for forgiveness and mercy for Onesimus. Though Paul had a perfect right to command Philemon, yet he for love's sake begged him. (verses 8, 9) He appealed to Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother, "not as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." (verse 16) Indeed in Christ, Onesimus had become a brother to Philemon.

8. Paul also told Philemon to charge him, Paul, with whatever Onesimus owed. He promised, in writing, that he would repay it. (Note verses 18-19.) According to the customs of the times, this constituted a hand note that could be collected. What a picture this is of Christ, who took our debt!

9. Then, Paul reminded Philemon that, "Thou owest unto me even thine own self." (verse 19) Paul had won Philemon to the Lord also. Now, here in another town, at another time, he had won Philemon's slave to the Lord, and he writes to Philemon that, as he had received forgiveness and grace, so should he extend forgiveness and grace. What a beautiful, divine principle.

B. Indirectly Paul's appeal is to every child of God to live by this principle.

1. A degree of patience and mercy should be extended toward all men, but there should be no limit on our forgiveness and mercy toward those who are repentant.

a. Peter once asked Jesus, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:21-22) Then the Lord told Peter a tremendous story of patience, forgiveness, compassion and mercy. (See Matthew 18:23-35.)

b. God's word says to us, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." (Colossians 3:12-13)

c. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:1-2, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love." (Ephesians 4:1-2) "Forbearing " in the Greek is the present middle participle of "Anecho" with the ablative case, meaning "holding yourselves back from one another." (See A. T. Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol. IV, page 504.) Thus, continuous or linear action is seen.

2. Fellow Saints, we are God's children. We don't need to feel that we must avenge every wrong we receive, get even with people, crack down hard on every injustice and always stand firm on our rights. God will take care of evil and evil doers. He will avenge our wrongs far more effectively than we ever could. He says in Romans 12:19, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (That is written in Deuteronomy 32:35.)

a. Someone will say, "But the law says, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." but, let us hasten to say that the same law also says, "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:18) There is no contradiction. The law was not intended as a means of justification, but was given as a "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." (Galatians 2:16; 3:24) And the intent of Christ is that there be forgiveness and mercy. Listen to Him speak on this very subject in Matthew 5:38-42, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."

b. Folks, that is not a strange doctrine. The very spirit of Christ is forgiveness and mercy. Paul, in speaking of the subject asked, "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" (I Corinthians 6:7)

3. It is a sad reflection upon the cause of Christ that so few of God's children have ever learned the Philemon Principle. They are hard, harsh and unforgiving. They are out for blood, determined to stand on their rights, regardless of the consequences.

a. Jesus said, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12) We want people to be patient with us, overlook our faults, understand our weaknesses, be tolerant of our mistakes and forgive us when we are wrong. Jesus is saying for us to practice this same conduct which we expect to receive.

b. Peter said, "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully." (I Peter 2:19)

4. This Philemon Principle of extending forgiveness and mercy is central to the Word of God.

a. One of the most moving examples of it is the one found in Luke 15:11-24. The prodigal son wronged his father, but upon repentance, he found forgiveness and mercy plenty.

b. Throughout God's word, you will find God pleading with His people to be folks of forgiveness and mercy. The scriptures given here are just the tip of the iceberg on the subject. The earnest Bible student can find the Philemon Principle taught by word, deed and in principle throughout the pages of the Bible.

d. Oh, how incumbent it is upon God's children to practice this principle!

C. It is the principle by which God deals with us.

1. Everyone of us has sinned against God. We've wronged or injured Him. (Romans 3:23)

2. Yet, as Paul met and by the gospel changed Onesimus, Jesus has changed us. ( II Corinthians 5:17)

3. And, as Onesimus was made right with his master, likewise, we are made right with God. (Romans 5:1)

4. And, we are right with God only because of His forgiveness and mercy toward us.

5. No wonder then David cried out, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Psalm 103:10-12)

6. Now, in view of that, God's appeal to us is "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." Notice the final words, "Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." (Colossians 3:12-13)

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"