Philemon background

Philemon

Author: Paul
See Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; Book 3, Chapter 25, Verse 2.

Date: 62-64 A.D. (1)

Language: Greek

Place: Rome

Purpose: To inform a friend to love his slave Onesimus, who is his brother in Christ.
Professor Tafoya stated that he thinks that Paul is stating that the Onesimus should be freed, and that freedom is what Paul was willing to pay for.

What kind of letter?: Letter re: a special occasion.


Reflection: Dr. Keener - "A few philosophers said that slaves were equals as people, but they never suggested that masters should free their slaves"(2).
"So powerful was this precedent that many early U.S. slaveholders did not want their slaves to be exposed to Christianity, for fear that they would be compelled to free them; only in time was a distorted enough form of the Christian message available for use in sustaining slavery..."(3).
Hunter Irvine
(1) Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1993).
(2) Ibid. 643.
(3) Ibid. 643.