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Philemon 1

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📖 Philemon introduction

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1Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, ✦ 2to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: ✦ 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ✦ 4I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, ✦ 5hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, ✦ 6that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. ✦ 7For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. ✦ 8Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, ✦ 9yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you—being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ— ✦ 10I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, ✦ 11who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. ✦ 12I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, ✦ 13whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. ✦ 14But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. ✦ 15For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, ✦ 16no longer as a slave but more than a slave—a beloved brother, especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. ✦ 17If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. ✦ 18But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. ✦ 19I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. ✦ 20Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord. ✦ 21Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ✦ 22But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. ✦ 23Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, ✦ 24as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. ✦ 25The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Phlm 1 ·12Col 4 ·8Phil 1 ·7Phil 2 ·62 Cor 7 ·5Col 1 ·51 Th 2 ·51 Cor 16 ·4

Christ at the center

The plea to receive a runaway slave as a beloved brother, charging his debt to Paul's account, is a living picture of how Christ receives us and pays what we owe.

How Philemon 1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

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