29 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Philemon 1 This epistle has an inscription, salutation, and preface, the same with others, which are in Philemon 1:1, the principal view of it is to persuade Philemon to receive his servant Onesimus; the arguments used are taken from the general character he had for love to the saints, and people of God, and therefore it was hoped...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,.... Not made a prisoner by Christ, though he was apprehended, laid hold on, and detained by Christ as a prisoner of hope, at his conversion; but this is not intended here: but he was a prisoner at Rome for the sake of Christ, on account of professing him, and preaching in his name; his bonds were for the sake of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Apostolic Salutations; Gratitude on Philemon's Behalf. (a. d. 62.) 1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ....
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, — This is one of Paul’s private letters, though it has the stamp of inspiration upon it. It was not written concerning church business, nor to teach some great doctrinal truth, but there was a runaway slave who had come to Rome, and who had been converted under Paul’s ministry, and Paul was sending him back to his...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: He joins Timothy with himself, to give double weight to the message. Probably Timothy was well known to Philemon, and much respected by him, so he puts Timothy’s name that there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And to our beloved Apphia,.... The Alexandrian copy reads, "to sister Apphia"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "to the beloved sister Apphia"; for this is a woman's name; and it is thought that she was the wife of Philemon, since she is placed next to him, and before Archippus, a minister of the word; and very prudently is she wrote to, and justly...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Grace to you and peace, from God,.... Which is the same form of salutation used in the other epistles; [See comments on Romans 1:7] for though this epistle is but a very small one, yet it is introduced in the same form as the larger epistles are; and has an inscription in the former verse, a salutation in this, and a preface in the three following.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I thank my God,.... Meaning on account, of Philemon, for the grace bestowed upon him, thereafter mentioned; [See comments on Romans 1:8] making other saints, Romans 1:9, the apostle was a man much in prayer, frequent at the throne of grace; and he prayed not for himself only, but for all the saints, for all the churches and ministers of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hearing of thy love and faith,.... Those two spring from the free favour and love of God, and are the pure gifts of his grace; and therefore thanks are to be given for them to God; nor are they to be ascribed to the power and will of man; they are the fruits of the Spirit of God; and are the principal ingredients in sanctification, which is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That the communication of thy faith,.... The grace of faith itself cannot be communicated from one to another; a believing parent cannot communicate it to his children, nor a master to his servants, nor a minister to his hearers; but an account of it, of its actings and exercises, of the joy of it, and of the peace a soul is filled with through...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For we have great joy and consolation in thy love,.... In the expressions and acts of it to the poor saints; for which reason the apostle gives thanks for it before; and it is a pleasure and comfort to an ingenuous mind, though it is not in his power to do good to the poor saints himself, to see that others have both abilities, and a heart to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ,.... Or use much freedom of speech in the name of Christ, as an ambassador of his, and great authority as his apostle, which was given him for edification: to enjoin thee that which is convenient; which became him as a believer in Christ, and a minister of the Gospel; which was his duty, and was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee,.... Either for the sake of the great love which the apostle bore to Philemon, being, as he calls him, his dearly beloved, he took this method; or because of Philemon's great love to all the saints before mentioned, he was encouraged to proceed in this manner, hoping on that account to have success; or it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,.... Now he comes to the request itself, and mentions by name the person on whose account he makes it, and whom he calls his son; not merely because of his affection to him, but because he really was his spiritual father; he had been the happy instrument of his conversion, and he was his son according to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which in time past was to thee unprofitable,.... Yea, injurious and hurtful; one that was an eye servant, that loitered away his time, and set an ill example to fellow servants; and not only so, but embezzled his master's goods, and robbed him, and run away from him. So every man, in his state of unregeneracy, is an unprofitable man, Romans 3:12...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whom I have sent again,.... From Rome to Colosse, or to Philemon, wherever he was, along with this epistle: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels; meaning his son, who, in a spiritual sense, came out of his bowels, to whom he stood in the relation of a spiritual father; so the Syriac version renders it, as my son, so receive him;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whom I would have retained with me,.... At Rome, where the apostle was a prisoner: that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the Gospel; the apostle was in bonds, not for any crime, for any immorality he had been guilty of, but for the sake of the Gospel, for professing and preaching that; for this he was an ambassador in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But without thy mind would I do nothing,.... Which shows great modesty and humility in the apostle, that though as such he had an authority, which he could have used, as well as had understanding and judgment how to have used it without consulting Philemon, or having his sense of this affair, yet chose to consult him: and it also shows the strict...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For perhaps he therefore departed for a season,.... The apostle in this clause seems to soften this business of Onesimus in running away from his master; he calls it not a running away, but a departure, an absence from him, and that but for a little while; and suggests that the hand of God might be in it; that there was an overruling providence...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Not now as a servant,.... That is, not only as a servant, for a servant he was, and was to be received as such; his call by grace had not dissolved the civil relation that was between him and his master, though it had added to it something that was above it, and greater than it: but above a servant; in a higher condition, as the Arabic version...