Ah! I had missed the point that the letter is also addressed to the church that meets in Philemon’s house. Although it is a private letter, it can teach members of churches everywhere today. LOVE.
Here is the Amen or conclusion
to the Enduring World article.
Amen: The conclusion of the letter
can lead us to ask, “Why is the letter to Philemon in our Bibles?” In A.D. 110,
the bishop of Ephesus was named Onesimus, and it could have been this same man.
If Onesimus was in his late teens or early twenties when Paul wrote this
letter, he would then be about 70 years old in A.D.110 and that was not an
unreasonable age for a bishop in those days.
“Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, maketh mention of
Onesimus, as pastor of Ephesus, next after Timothy. The Roman Martyrologue
saith, that he was stoned to death at Rome, under Trajan the emperor.” (Trapp)
There is also some historical evidence that the letters of Paul
were first gathered as a group in the city of Ephesus. Perhaps Onesimus first
compiled the letters and wanted to make sure his letter – his charter
of freedom – was included.
I like the implications of
that. However, a Bible Dictionary says that it is unlikely, even fanciful.
Rather, that his prominence in the church led to the taking on of his name by
leaders in later years.
Oh! Again! Of course, Onesimus
carried the letter from Paul to Philemon. Scholars seem to say that Paul was
imprisoned in Rome at that time. Where was Philemon? One Google source tells me
that he was at Colossae, in the ancient Roman province of Asia (now in western
Turkey).
Joyce
Voysey
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