Onesimus

Philemon.

That's the name of what is, in my opinion, one of the weirdest books in the Bible. It's a very short personal letter (only one chapter in modern translations) from Paul to a friend of his called Philemon — and I find it weird because at first glance it seems to have very little to do with Jesus, Christian living or building up the church. But actually, it's all about that!

Let's set the scene. At some point Philemon (to whom the letter is addressed) has a slave called Onesimus. According to most interpretations, Onesimus then runs away from his master to escape punishment for a theft he was accused of, becomes a follower of Jesus through Paul's witness and ends up serving Paul during his missionary journeys. Some time later, Paul is in jail (again) and writes this letter to Onesimus.

He starts the letter by being thankful for Philemon's love and faith and for how this love and faith have been greatly beneficial in building up the church. Then he gets down to the main point of the letter: asking Philemon to take back Onesimus, who has become very dear to Paul — not as a slave, but as a brother. This is one way in which the gospel brings change to our lives — those who were once slaves are set free, and those who were free become slaves of Christ​, as Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 1:22, which is again the upside-down world of the Kingdom: as Jesus supremely showed by His example and taught by His words, those who wish to be the greatest must become​ the servant of all, and the lowly are lifted up in honour.

But what stands out for me more is what Paul says in verses 17-18, talking about Onesimus to Philemon:

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.

That's what Jesus did for us. We have wronged God, we have sinned, we owe Him our very lives — but all our wrongdoing is charged to Jesus' account. His righteousness and position become ours, and because His righteousness is infinite it is not diminished by having taken on our sin.

And in parallel, as we have become Jesus' partners, He calls us to imitate Him in our living with each other: where others have wronged us, to charge that to Jesus' account and forgive them. Where others owe us a debt of respect and love, to not hold that against them but instead to charge it to Jesus' account and treat them with love and respect, whether they deserve it or not, because Jesus does.

I know that I need people in my life to have that kind of grace with me, because I often fail to treat others with love and respect. I also need the grace to not hold it against others when they wrong me, but instead to love, respect and honour them. I hope you can be honest enough to say the same. Let's have more grace with those we deal with, shall we? Jesus paid for it all.