PT-5 "Intro to Phil. 8-18"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/10/2017 10:43 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-5 Intro to Phil. 8-18

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Philemon 1-10

            Message of the verses:   “8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you-since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus- 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,”

            I may have mentioned that the word “therefore” in the New American Standard 95 version of the Bible is found 907 times with 257 times in the New Testament.  The word therefore has always been an interesting word to me as when you see it, it takes the subject back to previous verses and that is the case found here as the therefore links you back to the introduction of the main body of the letter.  We can be sure that Philemon knew and understood what the doctrinal foundation of forgiveness was as Paul does not go over it now.  Paul had enough confidence in his apostolic authority founded in Christ to order Philemon to do that which is proper, he did not want to make Philemon forgive out of the authority of Paul, but do it because Philemon had been forgiven of everything because of what Christ did in his life.  Paul was appealing for loves sake.

            We know that from reading the first section of his letter to Philemon that Paul loved him as Paul called him agapetos “beloved.” 

            In spite of Philemon’s spiritual maturity and his deep love for Paul, Paul knew that it was going to be difficult for him to forgive Onesimus.  I don’t think that we, living in the 21^st century can understand what slavery was like during Paul’s day; therefore it would be difficult for Philemon to forgive Onesimus.

            John MacArthur writes that “Paul includes two statements about himself.  He thereby hopes to persuade Philemon to grant his appeal for Onesimus.  That appeal comes from ‘such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.’”  Perhaps Paul was similar in age to Philemon but as I have heard many times when I was working at my job in a large foundry when someone speaks of a person who seemed older than their years “he has been run hard and put away wet too many times.”  This is true of Paul as he had a lot of miles on his body, sometimes running for his life, and also he had pressure on himself to work for the cause of Christ.

            MacArthur concludes “If that were not enough to elicit Philemon’s sympathy, Paul rattles his chains again.  He reminds Philemon that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus.  Philemon could not possibly turn down a request for a man in such honorable suffering.

            “Beginning in verse 10, Paul moves into the specifics of his request.  In verses 10-18 he describes three actions that one who forgives must take.  Forgiveness involves reception, restoration, and restitution.”  That is the outline we will follow as we move through verses 10-18.

7/10/2017 11:06 PM