Philemon 1: 10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
12 Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
14 But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.
15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;
16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
18 If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
19 I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
The letter to Philemon is but one chapter. Philemon was apparently a wealthy leader in Colosse who had come to know Christ as His Savior under the teaching of Paul the Apostle. Paul was enslaved in Rome. Most say that Onesimus was a runaway slave that somehow ended up in being found by Paul, some say that he had stolen from Philemon; but whether he had runaway or was sent to Paul, we do know that while with Paul he found Christ as his Savior and Paul was sending him back to Philemon. Whatever debt he had to his master, Paul chose to take that debt upon himself, much like Christ paid our debt to God on the cross. Within this short letter, there is a reminder of two important facts.
1. The great forgiveness which is afforded us as Christians. Christ paid our penalty of sin on the cross so that now we are more than servants to God (though servants we should be). We are also brothers and sisters of Christ having been adopted into God’s family (Romans 8:15). Though we were unprofitable to God we know become profitable by the living out of our salvation in Christ.
2. We as Christians need be forgiving of those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Many times we want people to "pay the price for their sins-even if they find Christ and are forgiven by God" We should follow Paul’s example and be willing to help them in every way that we can and demonstrate the love of Christ to our brethren. We should rejoice in the salvation of each soul instead of pridefully saying or thinking, "I can’t believe that he or she is now saved. What was God thinking when such a horrible person was offered the same salvation as I." How quickly forget the darkness from which God has rescued us. Let us always be mindful of the Grace that set us free from the chains of sin and that it had nothing to do with us.
Let us remember the Fullness of His Grace that we may also display that grace to a world in need of a Savior.