I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus… 

(Philemon 10)

The apostle Paul writes while imprisoned; it is not certain whether in Caesarea or Rome. With him, as a companion for a time, was a slave belonging to Philemon, to whom the letter is written.  The letter is to be carried by the slave, Onesimus, along with another (the epistle known as Colossians) as Philemon is a overseer of the church Paul founded in Colossae.  In the personal note, Paul is asking that Philemon receive his slave with forgiveness:

… no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother – especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. (Ibid 19)

But to be clear, Paul does not ask for his freedom.  Onesimus is a slave and as Paul writes elsewhere, on becoming a Christian you should keep your worldly station.

Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.  (1 Corinthians 7:20-22)

Onesimus (Ὀνήσιμος) is a slave-name, oninemi means use or profit, in other words, Onesimus is a slave who is ‘useful’.  

Slavery was prevalent in the Roman Empire, and in the apostolic era anything between one in ten to one in five of the general populace were enslaved.  Indeed, it was little different outside the influence of Rome, for example, Germanic cultures were enriched by slavery.  Not only was slavery the norm, it was not considered aberrant.  Virtue virtus was valued highly in the Graeco-Roman culture and no-one suggested that keeping slaves was impugned one’s virtue; what did was being slave to circumstances, or more accurately, the resultant emotional turmoil.

This view was derived from Stoicism, a very popular philosophy that advocated an individual seek eudaimonia, a state of well-being having aligned oneself with the natural order, be it illness, disability even slavery.  Stoics also acknowledged ‘God’, a single deity in control, while asserting that the only freedom comes from realising that no-one but a deity is in control of anything other their response to the cards that is dealt them.

One such Stoic, Epictetus was himself a freed slave. He came from Heiropolis in Phrygia, not far from Colossae.  His manumission was gained circa 79BC.  He did not write treatise but his teachings were recorded by one of his students, including a summary known to most of the educated class the ‘Handbook’. This did not advocate abolition, as he assumed slavery would always endure, rather that members of the slave-owning privileged class free themselves from the tyranny of false notions and achieve ataraxia, a state of being untroubled.  No doubt, such a master would be more pleasant to work for but this was not Epictetus’ central aim; freedom meant rising above the life’s vicissitudes and making peace with it.

One story of Epictetus when still a slave records his stoical response to idea his being freed: ‘Why? Clearly I am not bound in any way!’

In the acceptance of slavery as the norm, Paul and Epictetus are broadly aligned.  It has troubled many modern Christians that Paul did not explicitly ask Philemon to manumit Onesimus, instead he says this:

I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.  I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. (Ibid 12-14)

He does add:

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother -especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. (Ibid 15-16)

But this should not be taken as a request for his freedom, rather his forgiveness.  For there is charge against Onesimus:

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.  (Ibid 17-18)

One wrong done Philemon then, is that Paul kept Onesimus from his duties.  

In common with the times, Paul did not see slavery as an evil; rather evil was not realising the true nature of human bondage:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)

When Jesus spoke on this, he made it clear that freedom of choice is the only freedom on offer:

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

The choice is then, serve God and his desires or one’s own.  The Stoics understood that gratifying yourself was another form of slavery.  Epictetus famously addressed his students who continued to allow themselves the illusion of control over their circumstances, ‘slave’.

In addressing Philemon, Paul calls himself a ‘prisoner’ (desimios) and while he languishes, it is not four walls that confine him for his jailer is not a Herod or Nero; he is a ‘prisoner of Christ Jesus’.  Saul of Tarsus was seized by Jesus on the road to Damascus and from being a freeman, a Roman citizen with all inherent rights; he like many captives, was immediately enslaved.  In other letters, he calls himself a slave (doulos) of Christ.

The spiritual reality that was and is resisted is that all humanity is born into servitude. The truth that Jesus says will free any that follow him, is that humankind was created to serve God.  The only choice Jesus offers (in this life) is to whether to submit to this. Unlike the Stoics whose concept of God was ill-defined, the God whom he would have all serve is one perfect in justice, grace and mercy.  His character is seen in himself, for Jesus says, ‘whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14:9).

In one other regard Paul and Epictetus align; in mortal life each has a decision to make.  However, unlike the Stoics who lacked ‘the truth’, Paul understands that the choice has eternal consequences, and in this prospect Onesimus is already the beneficiary.  His future is secure and the blessing unlimited, whatever Philemon chooses to do on his slave’s return.

Arguably, for modern world, accepting this truth is even more difficult than for Paul.  The idea that a Christian must be a slave of Christ is challenging, if not abhorrent – and many choose to speak euphemistically of being a servant, which sounds more palatable, but actually disguises the reality of the proprietorial condition.  In this, the concept that any are completely owned and at the disposal of another, even God, is rejected.  Added to which is the revulsion that enslavement is something that anyone would freely choose.  By illustration, the Law of Moses, while permitting slavery and setting limits on it, included the provision to allow slaves to bond themselves permanently to a kind master, which in a sense obligated the owner.

… if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free’, then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall be his slave for ever. (Exodus 21:5-6)

Paul knows Christ Jesus to be his master, and is duly brought to God for his enslavement to be made permanent.  This is redemption, the language of the slave-market. Jesus paid by his blood that humanity might be once more ready to attend upon God, as once did Adam before his rebellion, his own disastrous bid for freedom. Thus Onesimus has the same divine master as does his earthly owner, Philemon, and Paul appeals to both to walk in this knowledge, the truth that has redeemed them both from bondage to sin and death:

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 6:22-23)