PT-1 "Conclusion" (Philemon)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/21/2017 10:46 PM

            We actually concluded our look at all of the verses in the letter to Philemon sent by Paul, but as I mentioned in our last SD John MacArthur has a conclusion that he wrote at the end of his commentary which I think would benefit everyone to look at and so I will begin the conclusion in today’s SD and then we will see how many days it will take to quote the whole thing.

CONCLUSION

            The book of Philemon ends here, but not the story.  How did things turn out?  No doubt Philemon forgave Onesimus.  It is extremely unlikely that the book would have found its way into the New Testament cannon if he had not.  If Philemon had not forgiven Onesimus, including the book in the canon would have left a false impression for all history.  If he were not the godly, virtuous man Paul describes in this letter, there would have been no purpose in the Holy Spirit’s adding it to the New Testament.  Further, as a part of the canon, this book would have circulated widely in the early church.  If Philemon had not forgiven Onesimus, it is inconceivable that someone would not have objected to including it in the canon.  (This circulation would also confirm its authenticity.)

            “As to the further histories of Paul and Onesimus, Paul was released from prison, as he anticipated (cf. v. 22), and traveled extensively.  One of his trips was no doubt to Colossae, where he saw for himself how Philemon had treated Onesimus.

            “Half a century later the church Father Ignatius, in Smyrna on-his way to martyrdom in Rome, wrote a letter to the Ephesian church.  In that letter he writes, ‘I received your large congregation in the person of Onesimus, your bishop [pastor] in this world, a man whose love is beyond words’ (cited in Cyril C. Richardson, ed., Early Christian Fathers [New York: Macmillan, 1978, p. 88).  Could this be the same man?  Perhaps not, because Onesimus would have had to be very old.  But if so, it would be a fitting conclusion to one of the great stories of the apostolic age.

            “There is a story in our own century that also illustrates the power of forgiveness.  It begins at 7:55 A. M. on Sunday, December 7, 1941.  In a daring surprise air raid, the Japanese attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  In less than two hours, 2403 American soldiers, sailors, and civilians were killed, and another 1,178 wounded.  Aircraft losses totaled 188 planes, and much of the United States Pacific Fleet was destroyed or damaged.

            “The raid was led by a brilliant thirty-nine year old Japanese Navy pilot named Mitsuo Fuchida, whose idol was Adolf Hitler.  Although his plane was hit several times by ground fire, he survived the raid.  The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States’s entry into World War II, and ultimately to the devastation of the Japanese homeland by American conventional and atomic bombs.

            “After the war, Fuchida was haunted by memories of all the death of all the death he had witnessed.  In an attempt to find solace, he took up farming near Osaka.  His thoughts turned more and more to the problem of peace, and he decided to write a book on the subject.  In his book, which he intended to call No More Pearl Harbors, he would urge the world to pursue peace.  Fuchida struggled in vain, however, to find a principle upon which peace could be based.  His story is picked up by Donald A. Rosenberger, and American naval yeoman who survived the Pearl Harbor attack.” 

            We will continue his story in our next SD.

7/21/2017 11:08 PM