Philemon

Philemon has only one chapter, with twenty-five verses. It is brief, but there is much here. It is the life of Christ lived out among Paul; Philemon, a laborer in the ministry with Paul; a church at Colossae; and a slave, Onesimus, who was once an unbeliever and becomes a believer. It is the grace of God working in all of them, producing a testimony that is still echoing through history.

Onesimus was a slave, a servant of Philemon, who ran away. His escape was punishable by death under Roman law, and it is inferred that he also stole from Philemon. Like many runaways, he fled to Rome to hide under the cover of the empire. There he came across the Apostle Paul, who was in prison, and was saved. Paul, knowing that Onesimus had fled his friend Philemon, told him he must go back.

Paul sends him with this letter, by the hand of Tychicus, to Colossae, where Philemon lives. The letter is an intercession: Paul stands as mediator between Onesimus and Philemon, so that what was punishable by death would no longer be an issue between them, and they would be all the better for it in Jesus Christ.

Philemon is one of four letters Paul wrote during his first major imprisonment in Rome: Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, which are letters to churches, and Philemon, which is intimate and personal, like the pastoral letters to Timothy and Titus. There is no indication that Philemon was a pastor or a teacher at Colossae, but the letter belongs with them because of its personal character.

Philemon is the main recipient (v. 1), though Paul also names Apphia, Archippus, and the church in Philemon's house. Philemon is a prominent member of the church at Colossae, noted mostly because the church meets in his home.

Onesimus is in Rome as Paul writes, and will travel back to Colossae with Tychicus. Colossians 4:7-9 confirms this: Tychicus, "a beloved brother and a faithful minister," goes "with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you." So Onesimus, Tychicus, and Philemon are all Colossians. There is also a parallel: Onesimus, a slave, is now more free than he has ever been, not through escape, but because he is a believer in Christ, while Paul, who is not free, is in bonds.

The author is Paul, writing from his first Roman imprisonment, which Acts 28 describes. Paul "dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him," "preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:30-31). It was a house arrest guarded by soldiers, but visitors could come, and he expounded the gospel to them "from morning till evening" (v. 23). It is reasonable to think that Onesimus was one of those who came and believed, though we are not told the detail. The timing fits this imprisonment and none of the others. During it, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

The main theme is one's identity in Christ and action through faith working by love. Out of this come forgiveness and reconciliation. Paul commends Philemon for his love and faith (vv. 5-7), and then leads him by grace and the gospel, not command, to do something that is very difficult. A related theme is grace-based decision-making: if you want to know how to make decisions based upon the gospel, look at what Paul is persuading Philemon to do. A third is the church's relationship to slavery, which bears on social issues in our day.

Philemon was most likely saved through Paul's ministry, probably at Ephesus nearby, since Paul never went to Colossae. In verse 19, Paul says, "thou owest unto me even thine own self besides." He was probably wealthy: he had a home large enough for the church, and he owned a slave. He was also a gracious man who was impacted by the gospel and did not stop at believing it. He is known for his love and faith in Christ, which has produced every good thing in him, and every good thing comes from Jesus Christ.

The name Onesimus means "useful," a common name for a slave. He was an unbeliever when he escaped. Verse 15 shows this: Paul says he departed "for a season," that Philemon should receive him "not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." He fled to Rome and was saved through Paul's prison ministry: "my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds" (v. 10). Paul intercedes that, on his return, Onesimus would be received with forgiving arms.

Slavery was widespread in the Roman Empire, perhaps a third of the population, and it was an accepted part of life. Masters had complete authority over their slaves, to buy, sell, exchange, or punish them for any cause, much as a father did over his children. By the New Testament period, many masters had found that they got more production by not threatening their slaves, and treated them better.

The New Testament does not attack slavery. That is why scoffers say that God is for slavery. But the Bible does not suggest slavery; it works within its acceptance. And what it teaches undermines the status quo. It does not seek mere social reform by insurrection and rioting, which would confuse the gospel. Instead the gospel changes the hearts of both master and servant, so that slavery among Christians looks vastly different. Philemon is the best example: a man who could have killed his slave now embraces him.

1 Corinthians 7:20-21. Paul tells believers to abide in the calling in which they were called: "Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather." The goal of the gospel is not your freedom in this world but your freedom from the bondage of sin (Romans 6). If a slave's whole pursuit is freedom, he misses the call; if a free man does not use his freedom, he misses it too. God does not need to change your circumstances to accomplish His purpose. Paul evangelized when free and when in prison. To make the estate the goal is the health, wealth, and prosperity perspective, which is not biblical.

Ephesians 6:5-9. Servants are to obey "as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart," and masters are to do the same, "forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him." This is the undermining of slavery from within: act lovingly, graciously, and in a Christ-like way, so that the situation looks different from the world's.

Colossians 3:22-4:1. Philemon is not only a Colossian but a master at Colossae, and Onesimus a servant, so Paul writes to the whole church, and Philemon is the case example. "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven."

1 Timothy 6:1-11. Timothy was with Paul when he wrote Philemon. Believing servants are not to despise believing masters, "because they are brethren." Those who teach otherwise are "proud, knowing nothing," supposing "that gain is godliness." Masters often owned slaves for profit, and part of what Onesimus owed Philemon was the loss of labor and whatever he stole. Paul says, put it on my account; remember you were saved through my ministry. "Godliness with contentment is great gain," and the man of God is to flee the love of money and follow "righteousness, godliness, faith, love" (v. 11), the very things said of Philemon.

All this shows how the gospel undermined the norms of the day and produced the environment we read about in Philemon. Notice Paul's words in verse 16: "Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." This is radical. A servant left and stole; now he is to be forgiven, his debt forgiven, and he is no longer a servant. Paul then asks Philemon to "refresh my bowels in the Lord" (v. 20), as Philemon has refreshed the bowels of the saints. And he ends in verse 21: "Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say."

This is not twisting Philemon's arm. It is Christ working in Philemon, and Paul knows it. If you struggle with forgiveness and reconciliation, look to Philemon.

Philemon is an intimate letter, written during Paul's first major imprisonment in Rome, under hired house arrest. Philemon's servant Onesimus had run away, and probably stolen from his master, and fled to Rome, where runaway slaves hid under the cover of the empire. There, through Paul's ministry (Acts 28 shows that many came to hear him in his hired house), Onesimus was saved.

Under Roman law a master could put a runaway to death. Paul sends Onesimus back with this letter, beseeching Philemon to forgive him and to put any debt on Paul's account. Though the word forgive is never used, the appeal is unmistakable. The letter is brief, but it is doctrine at work, a model of how the gospel is applied.

Paul calls Philemon "dearly beloved" and "fellowlabourer." He is a man who labors with Paul in the ministry, and whom Paul knows well.

Apphia may well be Philemon's wife and Archippus his son, so that his whole household is in the work. Paul's charge to Archippus in Colossians 4:17 ("Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it") shows that Archippus had a ministry in Colossae. There is no indication that Philemon is the bishop of the church, but he has opened his home to the saints.

In these verses Paul lays the groundwork for his appeal by, in a godly way, commending Philemon. Before he asks anything of him, he commends his character in Christ. Notice what he says: "thy love," "thy faith," "every good thing which is in you." Here Christ is seen coming out of Philemon, and Paul commends him for his love toward the Lord Jesus.

Paul begins with thanksgiving. Every time he prays, he remembers Philemon and thanks God for him. Not every church received this from Paul; some needed correction in their conduct and thinking. Philemon is commended with the Philippians and the Thessalonians, not for who he is in himself, but for his faith in Christ and the outworking of it in his life. It is manifest, and Paul can name it.

Paul gives thanks both because he knows Philemon, who was saved under his ministry (v. 19; compare 1 Corinthians 4:15), and because of the report he hears, probably from Epaphras (Colossians 4:12). He hears two things, faith and love, directed toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints.

"All saints" is intentional. Laid over verses 8-21, it reads differently: the one who ran away and stole is now a saint, "a brother beloved" (vv. 15-16). Paul is confident that Philemon will do even more than he asks (v. 21). He is not addressing a hard heart, but one who loves Jesus Christ and is soft to heavenly things.

Faith. Paul means more than that Philemon is a believer. His is an ongoing faith. He is a learner who believes sound doctrine, and as he beholds Christ, he is changed inwardly, and it comes out in love. Faith is also obedience (Romans 6:17), not in his own strength but in the grace of Christ, so that though he is Onesimus' master, he is a servant of righteousness. Such faith "worketh by love" and uses liberty "by love" to "serve one another" (Galatians 5:6, 13).

Love. This is a love of the will, transformed by the gospel: a love of choice, not of mere emotion, which is obedience with emotion that follows. It is sacrificial and humble, and it is asked to overlap Philemon's earthly estate as master with his Christian estate as a brother. Philemon and Onesimus have believed the same gospel and received the same love (Romans 5:8) and the same forgiveness of sins. No forgiveness we offer will ever reach what Christ has forgiven us. So Philemon, as a believer, has the capacity to forgive: we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works" and are to be "forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 2:10; 4:32).

The communication of thy faith. The word is translated elsewhere fellowship, contribution, communion, and distribution. Each involves at least two parties, and the older English sense of "communicate" is to give. Paul means the outworking of Philemon's faith toward those around him: not just speaking it, but giving it. Philemon is a leader in this, and the saints at Colossae experience it.

Effectual. Something is happening, both in Philemon and in the church. As this has been true of his love for the saints, it will be no different in forgiving Onesimus.

The acknowledging. This is full, experiential knowledge, not head knowledge only. Philemon knows Christ already, but he will know Him greater in forgiving Onesimus, something learned not simply from the text but in the doing. It is hard because of what it cost Jesus Christ. The more we keep our minds on ourselves or the offense, the harder it becomes; the more we look at Christ and our own liability to fall, the easier. Christianity conquers by forgiveness, not by retribution or the carnal sword.

Every good thing. This does not come from Philemon himself. In the flesh, as Paul says in Romans 7, dwells no good thing. But now Jesus Christ is the deposit of every good thing, and the believer is not only in Christ, but Christ is in him, working out through faith. The good thing at work in Philemon here is forgiveness, restoration, and reconciliation. The church gets to experience what does not happen in the world.

This too is part of the every good thing working out of Philemon: Paul has joy and consolation in his love. The "bowels" are the affections. The saints are refreshed, their right affections and pursuit of godliness renewed by Philemon's faith in action. He keeps things going, and it produces not just joy and consolation, but great joy and consolation.

Verses 8-21 are the heart of the letter, Paul's intercession between Philemon and Onesimus. Onesimus had left Philemon and fled to Rome. There he came across the apostle, who was in a hired house, guarded but able to receive visitors (Acts 28), heard the gospel, and was saved. In view of the righteousness of the gospel, of love, and of forgiveness, both Paul and Onesimus know that he ought to go back. This is a letter of intercession: receive this man. Three times Paul uses the word receive (vv. 12, 15, 17). Forgiveness is not a word used in the epistle, but it is the major theme.

Paul is not flattering Philemon in verses 4-7. He is esteeming him and edifying him for the work of Christ in his life, and now he draws upon that work in his appeal. In this lesson we look at the nature of his beseeching, and at what forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration require.

Wherefore. Everything that follows rests on what Paul has just said of Philemon: his godly character, his faith and love toward the Lord and all the saints, the church in his house, his labor in the ministry, and the great joy and consolation Paul finds in his love. Because of that, Paul now makes his appeal.

Bold in Christ to enjoin. Paul appeals to his apostolic authority; he could command. To enjoin is to command, and it is translated that way nearly everywhere else (once, charge). The "yet" of verse 9 sets it against what he will do instead. In these three verses Paul refers to himself three times ("I," vv. 8, 9, 10) in connection with his authority. He could demand, but he will use his authority to beseech Philemon in love. The outcome might in one sense be the same, but the manner is very different. Paul does not take the place of a superior over a subject. He condescends to Philemon's estate, urging and constraining him in a good way.

That which is convenient. What he asks is suitable and proper, whether it comes by command or from love: fitting to Philemon's inner man, to the image of God in which he was made, and to his being in Christ. Contrast Romans 1:28, where God gave men over to a reprobate mind "to do those things which are not convenient." They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and so they dishonored their bodies (v. 24) and filled their lives with the things listed in verses 29-31. Philemon, no longer alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18), knows God and has received His forgiveness, and so he can do what he could not do before.

Receiving and forgiving one another belongs to the kingdom of God's dear Son. It is a manifestation of God's character: to extend, especially among believers, what God has already extended to us. To refuse forgiveness to a fellow believer is to set up a higher tribunal than God Himself.

For love's sake. Think of law and love. Asked which is the great commandment, the Lord answered: love God, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). Then He said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." The law does not hold up these two commandments; they hold up the law. Man tries to love his neighbor by keeping "thou shalt not covet" in his own flesh, and he cannot. Under grace we are taught that love in the gospel, by how Christ loved us, and by the instructions that follow: the one anothers, and how to receive one another. Learn the love, and what hangs upon it is fulfilled.

So we fulfill the righteousness of the law by walking after the Spirit (Romans 8:4): not by keeping the law, but by keeping grace and the mind of Christ. Instead of coveting, I esteem my neighbor better than myself (Philippians 2:3-4). Instead of stealing, I go to work so that I may have to give to him that needeth (Ephesians 4:28). "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:8-10). That is what Paul beseeches Philemon to do, to love his neighbor, who was afar and now comes nigh.

Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner. This is the fourth ground of his appeal, and Paul is just real: have some sympathy on me, Philemon. I am old, and I am in prison for Christ's sake. He appeals to the kindred spirit between them, asking for a tender heart toward himself, and so toward Onesimus. He already bore the marks of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17), and how many more by now. A tender heart considers the weak, the low, and even the sinful state of another. Ephesians, also written from prison, says "be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:32). Be tenderhearted to me, Paul says, and forgive Onesimus.

The grounds of his beseeching are therefore four: the godly character of Philemon (vv. 4-7), Paul's authority, love's sake, and Paul's age and imprisonment.

My son Onesimus. Onesimus is not Paul's physical son, so this means he is a believer, begotten in Paul's bonds. Onesimus came to the apostle, heard the gospel, and was convicted of his sin. He understood that he deserved God's wrath, and that what he did to Philemon was one of many things that deserved it. He heard that Christ is the only means of salvation, that He died, was buried, and rose again, and he believed. He is forgiven just as much as Paul and as Philemon.

Can we receive someone, take them in, unless they are repentant? We can forgive one who does not know they sinned against us; we can be so ready to forgive that it is done in our own heart. But that does not restore the relationship; reconciliation is affected. When someone is repentant, however, to withhold forgiveness and reconciliation is contrary to the gospel, to Pauline doctrine, and to God. What was darkness and sin can now be redeemed and restored to a position it was not in before, one that reflects God and the gospel.

Repentance is a change of mind, but it is also contrition and sorrow; the mind and the heart go together. There is a legal repentance, sorrow merely from the fear of punishment, and there is godly repentance, sorrow because you sinned: you offended the justice of God, and toward another, you sinned against that person. Paul describes it among believers in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11. "Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation," and see what it wrought: carefulness, clearing of yourselves, indignation, fear, vehement desire, zeal, revenge. Toward sin we do not become careless. We try to clear ourselves of it, not to hide it, be puffed up about it, or chalk it up to nothing. The gospel is not imposed on the church as do whatever you want, you're forgiven; the gospel is the remedy for the practical dealing with sin. If the Corinthians could do it, so can we, not by our own strength but by being taught what Paul teaches.

Romans 2:4-5 puts it to the unbeliever: the goodness of God leadeth to repentance, while a hard and impenitent heart treasures up wrath. The opposite is a soft and penitent heart: "a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17). It starts with the word of sin, then the conviction of the Spirit and the owning of one's sin, and leads to the clearing of 2 Corinthians 7. This can happen in a moment.

Onesimus had this. He turned to God, received the remedy by faith, was begotten, regenerated (Titus 3:5), born of the Spirit (Galatians 4:29), and now possesses the Spirit, who bears witness that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16).

Unprofitable, now profitable. Onesimus was a common name for a servant, and it meant useful or profitable. He was not; he ran away. In Christ he redeems his name. Notice that Paul acts as the intercessor, and as we will see, as a substitute, a Christ-like figure between the two. Everything he asks of Philemon he attaches to himself: Onesimus is profitable "to thee and to me." He is a changed man.

Think what that took. What if Philemon took "all things are lawful unto me" (1 Corinthians 6:12) and not what follows it, and went to find the executioner? With the fear of the journey and an unknown future, Onesimus goes. He knows that if his brother Philemon does not forgive him, Jesus Christ has. He stands for what is right, to go back and face the one he left. He will become what Paul calls servants to be in Colossians 3:22-23, obedient "in singleness of heart, fearing God," doing it heartily as to the Lord: a profitable, peculiar servant.

Three times Paul says receive: "receive him, that is, mine own bowels" (v. 12); "that thou shouldest receive him for ever" (v. 15); "receive him as myself" (v. 17). It is a kind of Pauline sandwich: mine own bowels, forever, as myself. This is the view Paul has of Philemon and Onesimus's relationship, one that could have ended with Philemon taking up his rights and saying, look at my runaway servant; kill him. Now Philemon is asked to receive him.

Scripture does not declare that Philemon received him. But the Spirit of God would not put Philemon in the Word of God in a position of hanging, with all these wonderful things said of him and then no obedience. Paul anticipates that Philemon will receive Onesimus, and do even more than he says (v. 21).

To receive is to take in and accept. We receive from God: abundance of grace (Romans 5:17), the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1), the promise, the adoption of sons, the Spirit (Galatians), the Word. We are also to receive others in action, even when they are not in their best state.

In Romans 14:1, 3 Paul says to receive the one who is weak in the faith, and not to despise or judge over what one eats and another does not, "for God hath received him." God did not receive him on the basis of diet but of the gospel, and so neither do we. It comes to a crescendo in Romans 15:7: "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God." This is not about the gospel and the essentials. But in the doubtful disputations of Romans 14, many believers, even in the grace message, will not receive brothers and sisters, though the kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (v. 17), not meat and drink. In that context there is something better than being right: walking charitably together.

Mine own bowels. Why does Paul include this? Because in verse 7 Philemon is a refresher of the saints' bowels. If he does not receive Onesimus, he will not refresh Paul's.

Philemon was not there, and Onesimus was. Paul would keep him, for in Philemon's stead he ministered to the apostle in the bonds of the gospel. Yet Paul will not write a letter that says, that servant who left you is here with me, doing great things; just forgive him from afar, and so force Philemon to do it. He sends Onesimus back.

Paul wants Philemon's benefit to be willing, not of necessity. Grace, love, and the Spirit are willing (2 Corinthians 9:7).

For ever. The thought is not of a temporary or partial reception. Perhaps he departed for a season so that Philemon could receive him for ever, as a profitable member of the body of Christ.

Philemon has love toward all saints (v. 5), and now his runaway servant is one of them: "a brother beloved." He is a brother to Paul, and how much more to Philemon, both in the flesh (as a servant) and in the Lord.

As myself. Receive him as if I came to you. How would you welcome me? Welcome him. How would you take care of me? Take care of him. How would you forgive me? Forgive him. Take him back, and not only take him back, but do not be bitter or filled with malice; restore him as you bring him in. He is repentant. He left with a name that meant useful, and he returns useful. That is gospel power.

Restitution. Forgiveness does not mean the debt does not exist. The cost to Philemon was real: the loss of a servant, perhaps the purchase of another, and now Onesimus's return. Some speculate that a replacement would have cost 500 denarii, 500 days' wages, and that Philemon would then have to care for both. There are ways to deal with it. Judicial restitution gives him what he deserves: death, or if he is kept alive, he is in debt and owes you and must work overtime. Grace restitution does not give him what he deserves. Substitutionary restitution has another take his place; this is Paul, who says, "put that on mine account." Here grace and substitution are combined.

Paul is sincere: if Onesimus owes anything, he will repay it. His emphasis is that the greater riches are in the receiving of a brother, not in the financial trouble it may cause. Paul functions as a substitute here, in the place of Jesus Christ, if you will. And Philemon, he trusts, will say, Paul, no, I've got this, and do more than he is asked.

We who follow the apostle Paul as he follows Christ must ask whether we follow him in this. It is easy to hold up the banner of Pauline dispensationalism and to love his words about the distinctions between the body of Christ and Israel. But when we get into his epistles and see life and relationships with one another rooted in the gospel, do we love that just as much? We should love it even more, because the dispensational truths are the means to the end, and this is the end: to be able to have this relationship. "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9).

There is great joy and consolation when we love one another like this and put on display, in a living manner, the very gospel we believe. When we sin against our brothers and sisters, we will not want to, and yet we will; and we will have a vehement desire against the very thing we did, and come with a broken heart and spirit and contrition. If they call us out, or we acknowledge it, there will be a perfect environment for both repentance and forgiveness, and a moving on in the relationship: not just maintaining the status quo because we have been enjoined to, but in love willingly receiving one another and doing more, as grace and charity abound.

Having walked through verses 8-21, we step back to look at forgiveness itself. The word is never used in the letter, yet it is the major theme. We will define forgiveness and then look at the God of forgiveness. The next lesson looks at how forgiveness works in our relationships, and then we bring both back to Philemon and Onesimus.

To give completely. Forgive comes from the Old English forgyfan. We tend to skip over the word give inside it, but it is there. The prefix for intensifies and completes the action of the verb: full release, finality, an action carried through to its end. To forgive is to give up, to remit. Forgiveness is the act of fully giving up a claim or debt. It is not partial and not tentative; it is decisive and total.

Usually, when you are offended, you expect the offender to give you something; that is justice. Forgiveness is a different component of justice. It is still just, because there is recognition of the debt and the offense. But now the offended, not the offender, is the one giving. He does not allow the debt to come in the way it deserves. It is sacrificial, and it is charity. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). It is one thing to love those who love me, and another to love when I am not loved; one thing to give when something has been given, and another to give when nothing has been given, and a whole other thing to forgive when I could seek retribution. In forgiving, in view of the gospel, we are in some sense most acting like God.

A pardon and a judgment. Webster's 1828 defines forgiveness as the pardon of an offender, by which he is considered and treated as not guilty. The offender is guilty, with no question about it; yet pardon is granted. So forgiveness is also a matter of judgment: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you" (Luke 6:37-38). Forgive stands in the middle, joined to giving on one side and judgment on the other, with a principle of sowing and reaping: what you give out is often what you get back. When someone is angry at me and I get angry back, it usually ends in more anger; when I can forgive in my heart, I can defuse some of it. And when I speak well of others, it comes back as unity and fellowship.

To judge is to hold up at least two things, compare them, and decide in view of what has taken place. In forgiveness there are at least two parties. The offender does the offending and hopefully repents (Lesson 2). The offendee receives the offense, and what is given them to do is the forgiving, rather than entering into anger, bitterness, wrath, and malice. In Philemon, Onesimus's departure and the debt he owes need to be forgiven, finally, and Paul calls for full restoration and restitution so that nothing stands in the way of their relationship.

Only God can forgive. David said he had sinned against God only (Psalm 51). It is because of who God is, His righteousness and holiness, that sin is sin, and that makes forgiveness what it is. "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him" (Daniel 9:9). It belongs to Him, and it is plural: not just the forgiveness of a sin, but of a multiplicity of them. We could have a worse God.

In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus said to the paralytic, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," which was not what they came for, and is greater than what He gave second. The scribes asked, "Who can forgive sins but God only?" They were right, and Jesus forgives sins, so He is God. Men can forgive one another relationally, but judicially, before God, only God can forgive what has been committed against Him. And He is just in doing it because the restitution is not what we can pay, but what Christ paid for us. When someone forgives, it seems that no payment is made, because it is all absorbed by the one forgiving. The question the New Testament answers, through progressive revelation, is how God is just when He forgives sin: payment is made, by its all being put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Plenteous. Psalm 103:3 says He "forgiveth all thine iniquities," and verses 8-13 say how: "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." He has not dealt with us after our sins; as high as heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions; as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear Him. You cannot exhaust His forgiveness. He never files bankruptcy on it. He forgives all of our sin, whether you measure it by how much or by how long. His forgiveness is forgivenesses.

Not a dispensational matter. Forgiveness is scattered throughout Scripture. The Lord's teaching on it in the Gospel accounts is often passed over in grace circles because they are under Israel's program. But God's justice never changes; if it did, He Himself would have to change. In places like Matthew 18 the Lord teaches the forgiveness of God in a form that only He, by what He does on the cross, can fulfill, and when the Spirit comes, He gives believers the power to do exactly what He taught. Paul's epistles state it in short terminology, in view of the gospel, but it is there in fundamental form in the Gospels.

Delights in mercy, chooses not to remember. "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity... he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18). He casts our sins into the depths of the sea (v. 19), where man cannot go, so they cannot be stirred up again. "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Isaiah 43:25). "I will not" is an act of His will: being God, He can remember, but He chooses not to. This is embodied in the New Covenant: "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34).

Ready to forgive. "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee" (Psalm 86:5). Forgiveness does have a condition, and God is no universalist. When Christ died, the payment for all sins was made, but its application is given when there is belief in the gospel, including the acknowledgment of the bad news: a penitent heart, a broken and contrite spirit (Romans 2:4-5). Yet He is ready. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He has made provision for the forgiveness of all sins and wants us to receive it by believing the gospel.

It causes fear. "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared" (Psalm 130:3-4). We usually think of fear as turning away, but fear toward the Lord is reverence, the significance and magnitude of His character and actions enthralling the soul. If God marked iniquities, no one could stand. This is why Romans 8 is so significant for the believer who stands under grace and yet faces an accuser: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (v. 33), and Christ intercedes at the right hand of God. Even as a believer who sins over and over, God no longer marks my iniquities, because they have been absorbed and paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ. When I understand the holiness of God, and that my sin offends His eternal righteousness, and that in Christ it has all been dealt with, it causes a fear not to move away from God, but toward Him. So David, after numbering the people, chose to fall into the hand of the LORD rather than the hand of man, for with God there is mercy (2 Samuel 24:14).

It flows from mercy and grace. In Exodus 34:6-7 God shows Moses His glory, only the back side, and proclaims His name: "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." (The verse goes on to say that He will by no means clear the guilty.) These are three of the major words for sin: sin itself, in contrast to God; iniquity, God's hatred for that sin; and transgression, the breaking of a commandment. Those who sinned called upon the name of the Lord, trusting Him as the forgiving God. We would all be doomed if He were not a merciful, gracious God. Our God is a God of life, mercy, grace, and love; it is what initiates in Him to create in the first place, and to have a plan in place to provide redemption even before man sinned.

We have looked at the God of forgiveness. Now we turn to what forgiveness looks like in our relationships, in connection with how God forgives. Our forgiveness should be forward, frequent, full, and fit.

God is "ready to forgive" (Psalm 86:5). If God is this way toward us, we should be this way toward others. God is ready, though the condition of contrition and calling upon Him remains. Likewise, even if someone does not acknowledge their offense, we, learning from God, should be ready to forgive. (Being ready is not the same as being reconciled; that waits on repentance.)

We see this in the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24). The son says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him." The inference is that the father was looking for his son to return. He had thought about his son's sin, he loved him, and he was ready. Instead of making him grovel, he "had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." That is reconciliation: the contrition of the son, and the father not cold and distant but running. (Some say a running father would have been an embarrassment; if so, he despised the shame because of his compassion.) And look at how much more: the best robe, a ring, shoes, the fatted calf. All that was lost is replenished.

God "spared not his own Son" (Romans 8:32); He did not spare His readiness to forgive, and neither should we. God "commended his love toward us" (Romans 5:8); we should commend our readiness to forgive to others. We are to "make not provision for the flesh" (Romans 13:14); we should make provision for forgiveness. When someone has difficulty recognizing their iniquity, do we make it harder by sparing our forgiveness and not providing for it? Paul knows that Philemon is ready: "knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say" (v. 21).

How often? "Until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21-22). Luke 17:3-4 adds "in a day": "if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." Notice the condition: "if he repent." You can be ready to forgive, but if someone does not acknowledge their sin, the relationship is not fully restored. There needs to be contrition.

Can a limit be put on forgiveness when there is repentance? No. It is one of the most tragic things in Christianity when one sins, and the one offended will not forgive despite repentance and contrition. That is to spurn the gospel and the Spirit of God, and to forget one's salvation. The one withholding forgiveness may now be sinning against his brother or sister. The original offense is not taken away, but there is repentance, and you cannot ask for more. If, day after day, week after week, year after year, you are still not satisfied because they have not paid you enough, that is a lack of forgiveness, a justified hard-heartedness, and it might be worse than what was done to you. Forgiveness takes out the bitterness, wrath, anger, malice, and evil speaking in the heart, so that there can be reconciliation and restoration.

And if it happens seven times in a day, seven being the number of completion, the implication is that it can happen a lot. Our usual judgment is, if he does it again, he was not really repentant. That is not what the text infers. Maybe he is really struggling, and I still struggle with sin, and God forgives me every single time. After an argument with someone close to us, we usually forgive in one wholesale lump all the bad thoughts, cold shoulders, and spiteful actions of that day. Those things are supposed to be swallowed up in forgiveness.

How much? Matthew 18:23-35. This teaching was revolutionary, especially against the Pharisees, who thought they needed no forgiveness and called others "publicans and sinners." A servant owes a king 10,000 talents, a debt he could never pay in his lifetime. (Do not let it be "$10,000," something that could eventually be paid off.) The lord, moved with compassion, forgives him the debt; he does not even make him pay it. That servant then finds a fellow servant who owes a hundred pence, a small and payable amount, takes him by the throat, and has him cast into prison. He is given the very response he gave the king, and refuses it.

Full forgiveness is the payment of the entire debt. After the cross it is plain: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:7). Part of it is the New Covenant provision, "I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). Do we actively choose not to remember the sin of those we have forgiven? It is difficult, perhaps, but less and less difficult when you behold Jesus Christ. You are not alone in it; He knows better than you how difficult it is. There ought to be nothing too difficult to forgive.

In Pauline terms: if you have been forgiven by God for Christ's sake, every sin from the greatest to the least, and yet you do not forgive your brethren, that does not please God. What is not of Him will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ, and you will suffer loss. This is not the loss of salvation, but there will be consequence for the bitterness and reserve of heart in view of the forgiveness you have received. That is sobering.

How can we forgive frequently, forwardly, and fully? Because we have been made fit. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:31-32). The word even is mathematical: one equals the other. The strength to put off and put on comes from something you do not originally do by nature, but something that has been done to you. As much as God has forgiven you, you can forgive others. If you think you have been forgiven little, you will only forgive little; but no one has been forgiven little. The one forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:36-50).

Colossians 3:12-14 gives the same motivation, now centered on Christ: "even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." When you forgive and have this charity, there is a bond. There is not division, separation, or space. Forgiveness maintains relationship, with reconciliation and restoration. This is how the local church is supposed to live with one another.

The book of Philemon brings all of this into sharp focus. Paul does not write as a judge issuing commands, but as a brother appealing on the basis of grace, reminding Philemon that forgiveness is not merely an idea to affirm but the gospel lived out.

Forward. Paul urges Philemon not to look backward at Onesimus as a runaway servant but forward, ready to receive him as a brother in Christ. Frequent. Here the issue is not so much the sins Onesimus will commit as the ones already committed, so what could have been frequent forgiveness is now one lump sum. If need be, Philemon will choose to forgive over and over. Paul patiently reasons, persuades, and appeals; forgiveness is not reluctant but persistent. Full. Paul does not ask Philemon to forgive in part while the debt stays on the table (the passive-aggressive you owe me that keeps coming up). He offers to take the cost himself: "put that on mine account." Fit. It flows from who Philemon is in Christ, from the every good thing in him. Forgiveness fits the believer because it reflects the grace he has already received.

Forgiveness is not weakness but worship; not loss but giving; not bondage but freedom. For the Christian it should not be optional; it is the evidence that the gospel has taken root. The question is not whether forgiveness is hard; it is. The question is whether we trust God enough to forgive as we have been forgiven. Whatever has been done to you can never compare to what you and I have done to Jesus Christ, because He is Jesus Christ and we are not. If you lie to a neighbor, it may affect the relationship; if you lie on the stand, it is the same sin done to a greater authority, and the sin is worse. So when we forgive, we get to put on display, in a small way, the gospel that saved us. And if it does not get the intended result? Is it worth it? Yes, because He is worthy. Didn't He die on the cross even for those who would not believe in Him?

This lesson wraps up the epistle. Onesimus, a runaway servant, left Philemon without his consent and ended up in Rome, where he heard the gospel during Paul's first major imprisonment. Paul instructs him to go back, and he carries the very letter he will put into his master's hands: a letter of intercession for Philemon to forgive. The word forgiveness is not used; receive is, three times, and Paul has confidence that Philemon will do even more than he is told. Philemon's character was not naturally his; every good thing in him was in Christ Jesus, and it was worked out in the church at Colossae in his house.

In 2 Corinthians 7:12 Paul names two parties: "his cause that had done the wrong" and "his cause that suffered wrong." Philemon suffered the wrong; Onesimus did it. But now, in view of Philemon's believing the gospel and having a renewed mind, the onus of obedience falls on him: to receive Onesimus and forgive him, willingly (v. 14) and forever (v. 15). If both are brothers in the Lord, they will dwell together for all eternity, and any earthly, temporary obstacle can be overcome. Six things in the final verses stand out as reasons for Philemon to forgive, though Paul does not number them.

Philemon was most likely put out by the purchase of Onesimus, the need of another servant, and perhaps something Onesimus took. Paul is not being facetious: the Philippians and the churches of Macedonia had given abundantly to him, and he will use those funds toward restoration and reconciliation. Paul is a pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, who did the same for Paul, for Philemon, and for Onesimus.

"Thou owest unto me even thine own self." As he often does, Paul contrasts the carnal with the spiritual. In 2 Corinthians 6:10 he is "as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Poor in money (sometimes he was abased, sometimes he abounded: Philippians 4), but making many rich with spiritual riches (compare 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, and Romans 15:26-27, where the Gentiles are debtors in spiritual things and owe in carnal things). Paul begot Philemon through the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:14-15). The riches of his eternal life weigh more than whatever money Philemon has been put out. You possess all things; do not let temporal earthly riches get in the way of forgiveness, reconciliation, and reception. Paul is not demanding; he is leading.

Philemon owed a sin debt before the Lord that was ultimately paid by the Lord Jesus Christ, through His ambassador Paul. Compare 2 Corinthians 2:9-11: "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us." Lack of forgiveness is an entry for Satan, and Christ has already forgiven Onesimus what he did to Philemon. For Onesimus it is humbling: he did the wrong, and it seems he gets all the benefit. But part of reconciliation is godly sorrow, wanting to "revenge" his disobedience by being obedient (2 Corinthians 7:11), and so he goes back.

In verse 7 Philemon refreshed the bowels of the saints, and Onesimus is now one of them. Now Paul makes it personal: refresh my bowels. He has said he will take any debt, but Philemon owes him a greater one, and he asks, in view of how he gave him the gospel: receive Onesimus. The same longing is in Philippians 2:1-5, from the same Roman imprisonment: "if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded... Look not every man on his own things." This is done in the strength of Christ's grace, and the mind comes from Christ Jesus: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

A practical point for the local church: many leave because they were offended. It is difficult when the one who sinned does not recognize how hurtful it was. But there is another side. We still have the flesh, and we will offend one another; what we have in Christ can still refresh, and it is not beyond restoration. If the church needs a dose, because of schisms and divisions over sin and hurt, go back to Philemon. If he does not receive Onesimus, Paul's bowels will not be refreshed, nor the saints'.

The hardest thing, when we are hurt, is that the flesh grabs the offense and exacts a justice that is not actually just: a payment that can never be paid. There is a sincere apology and a desire to change, and yet the person cannot leave it. They stir it up, and it must be paid over and over, usually out of fear and insecurity: if you do this to me again, you do not love me. But the love of Christ should fill us in the first place, so that we can give love to someone who cannot give it to us. All eyes are on Philemon: will he satisfy those who say go get him, or lead them by receiving Onesimus and saying, this is what Christ has done for us?

Paul's confidence comes from verse 6 and the report of Philemon's faith toward God and love toward the saints. Fundamentally, Philemon can obey God, and that should never be overlooked: in Christ Jesus, under grace, by the gospel, led, taught, and strengthened by the Spirit, he can do what Paul, and ultimately the Lord, is calling him to. God instructs us as believers, and generally put, commands us, to forgive (Ephesians 4:31-32), though it can also come by beseeching.

Tenderhearted. Philemon's heart is not hardened but tender, so he sees how difficult this might be for Onesimus. When the flesh says, what about me? Paul has already answered: I'll pay it. There are no real obstacles but the flesh. The obedience is, "forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Forgive, comfort, confirm love. In 2 Corinthians 2:5-8, the man who repented after being put out is to be forgiven, comforted, "lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow," and the church is to "confirm your love toward him." If the church does not forgive, Satan has an advantage, for forgiveness in Christ is the very ground of the local church. When someone has sinned against you and has a repentant heart, forgive them, comfort them, and confirm your love. A simple way to do that is to say, It's done. We are moving on, bringing joy in the Lord.

More than I say. What might Philemon do beyond what Paul says? Here we speculate, so do not take it for gospel. Possibly a celebration, as with the prodigal son. And one that is more verifiable from the text: Philemon will receive Onesimus not only in the servant office he held when he left, but in ministry. Onesimus not only got saved; he ministered to Paul in his bonds (v. 13), and Philemon will cultivate that.

Prepare me a lodging implies that Paul is coming. He hopes to be released, and his plan, it seems, has changed from Romans 15 (Spain); he will go back to churches, and Colossae is one. He will find out whether Philemon really forgave Onesimus. Philemon is accountable to spiritual authority. Notice too, "through your prayers." Picture Philemon at night, praying for Paul's release, knowing that it means a visit.

In the local church there is often a rejection of accountability, usually because of the flesh: someone saying the opposite of what we want to hear. It is hard, and so good for us. There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. And we will give an account before the judgment seat of Christ for what the Lord has instructed us to believe and do. He has prepared us a lodging, and we will see Him.

Five men, precious to Paul and Philemon alike: Epaphras, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and Lucas. There is fellowship, "fellows in a ship," in God's dear Son (1 Corinthians 1:9); a communion, a common union; a like-mindedness (Philippians 2). So Philemon should not act independently of this fellowship. In the one anothers of relationship are also the one anothers of correction and of restoring one who is in a fault, often not practiced or taken as serious matters, and yet so prevalent here. If there is no restoration, it may produce schism: instead of being knit and compacted together in view of the Head, a body disjointed from the head, practically speaking.

How will all that Paul describes, instructs, and beseeches get done? "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Be in your inner man, to be able to do all these things. It is not of Philemon and of himself, but "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:1).

We are left in the lurch as to whether Philemon forgave Onesimus. But the Spirit of God would not put this epistle in Scripture if Philemon had rejected him. It is there as proof that this is what happened. Paul was released; instead of Spain, he perhaps went to Colossae, to the church in Philemon's house, and saw the fruition of the letter in the lives of Philemon and Onesimus. History tells us that sometime later a man named Onesimus became pastor of the church at Ephesus. That is speculation, not asserted as fact, but how amazing it would be: the ministry begun with Paul, continued with Philemon, and then branched out.

Two accounts closed the lesson. In the first, a woman's daughters were killed by a drunk driver. Years later, speaking against drunk driving, she realized the bitterness she carried toward him, thought of the gospel, and chose to forgive. He came to faith, as far as is known; she asked that his sentence be shortened, and the two now speak together about forgiveness. Matthew West wrote his song "Forgiveness" from her letter. Though she was not in prison, bitterness had held her in one, and she too was set free.

In the second, Mitsuo Fuchida led the air attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, searching for a principle on which peace could work, he heard about Peggy Covell, a young American whose missionary parents had been executed by the Japanese in the Philippines, and who chose to forgive and serve Japanese prisoners in an American camp. He then read a pamphlet by Jacob DeShazer, a Doolittle raider held 40 months in a Japanese prison, who was saved there and returned to Japan to share the gospel. Fuchida read the New Testament, and believed as he read Luke 23, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." He later wrote From Pearl Harbor to Golgotha.

Forgiveness is first for the local church, but it does not stay there. If God is ready to forgive, we ought to be ready as well, and to put on display what the world knows nothing of, not overcome by evil but overcoming evil with good (Romans 12:21).

One of the things heard most in counseling is, I don't know how to apply the Word of God to my life. If we only view it that way, there will be obstacles, because there is a lot of foundation and background to applying the Word of God to your life. Philemon is a wonderful text for seeing how, through the gospel, by the Spirit working through the Word, the mind and heart produce a judgment that deals with spiritual things in a godly way.

The more biblical term for decision is judgment. A judgment involves discernment: at least two things in view, dark and light, sin and righteousness, earthly and heavenly, carnal and spiritual, or all good but how much good to do in view of Jesus Christ. You weigh, contemplate, think, and hopefully pray and meditate on God's Word. You think about who God is, retain Him in your knowledge, and let what the Spirit has said in His Word be the light on the situation. The aim is not necessarily the absolute best judgment, but a godly one, one that echoes Jesus Christ, one that is of Christ coming out of you.

Paul gives a pattern. First there has to be groundwork. He is not asking Philemon to do something of the flesh, but of the Spirit, and so the resource must be of the Spirit. He starts there (vv. 4-6): love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints, and every good thing in him is in Christ Jesus. He does not say, muster up the strength to forgive this guy. He does not use fleshly constraint, and he will not even command. He says that every good thing in you is because of Jesus Christ, and from that reservoir, that treasury, I am calling this out of you.

The judgment Philemon makes is directly in line with the reservoir, upstream. What is asked is downstream activity from what he has in Christ. He has forgiveness; he has been received by the Lord; now he is called to receive another. In his worst situation toward the Lord Jesus, he deserved condemnation, and Christ received and forgave him. Toward Onesimus he is in a Christ-like opportunity, yet he is not Christ, so the gap to forgive is much smaller than the gap Christ crossed.

Then comes the beseeching: what Paul asks is "convenient," fit and suitable to one in Christ (v. 8), and it is an activity, first of all a spiritual one. The grace of God in him gives the power, strength, and wisdom to be the vessel of its employment toward Onesimus. Then a whole host of reasons: he is profitable (v. 11); my own bowels (v. 12); ministered in thy stead (v. 13); willingly (v. 14); departed for a season, to be received forever (v. 15); a brother beloved (v. 16); as myself (v. 17); put it on my account (vv. 18-19); prepare me a lodging (v. 22). These are the left and right hand for Philemon to look at what he possesses, what he is called to, and why. Then obedience: "having confidence in thy obedience" (v. 21). I will receive him, willingly, because I know who I am in Jesus Christ.

If a new believer says, there are so many things in my life that I know are not the will of God, we first point to the reservoir: this is who you are in Jesus Christ. Even if you fail and do not make the right judgments, you are secure in Him. You have received the forgiveness of all your sins, past, present, and future. You have been made dead to sin and alive unto God. You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:10), and how you got there was not of yourself, not by flesh, wisdom, works, tradition, or religion. The same is true of your walk. There will be responsibility and obedience, but they are not derived from yourself.

The first judgment is Romans 8:5: "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." Am I minding the things of the Spirit or of the flesh? Two are in view: one is you, and the other is not you but is in you and leads you (v. 14). He is the Spirit who teaches us (1 Corinthians 2), and we are called to walk after Him: to learn what is taught, and then to be obedient to do it. We also have patterns and habits from before we believed, and even as Christians we can develop fleshly lusts and carnality. Do I know what the things of the flesh are, and the things of the Spirit? From God's Word, which the Spirit teaches me, I make the judgment that I want to walk after the Spirit.

Where Romans 8 leaves off, Romans 12 picks up. Objectively, the Spirit teaches the will of God, the same for all of us in Christ. Subjectively, it is worked out uniquely by you, in your situation, environment, and job, and among the people you know. It should echo what is upstream.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice" (v. 1). Unlike Romans 1, where men dishonored their bodies, we present ours with sacrifice and denial of self, as Christ did, not for Himself but for others. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind" (v. 2). We were made complete in Christ the moment we believed. Compare natural conception: at that moment everything needful for life and development is there, yet there is still a process of growth and maturity. So believers are identified as babes, as carnal, and as spiritual; this is growing up, not sinless perfection. That is the transforming. Being a living sacrifice happens first in the inner man, in the mind. The flesh is the old ways, the old thinking, judgments made by lusts, pride, or earthly gain. The things of the Spirit renew the mind.

The purpose is "that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." The Spirit renews our mind by teaching us the will of God, and He does so right away: in verse 3, not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought; in verse 9, "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Down through the chapter He gives judgments, to deny one thing and to live another, as in Titus 2:11-14: the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, with reasons given. Know what the flesh is, and the best way to know it is what the Spirit says about it in the Word. Bathe your mind in that, because the world wants you to bathe it in its thoughts, ideals, philosophy, and deceit.

One of the most consistent things the Spirit teaches in the will of God is love, and when you love, you are making a judgment. Paul prays that "your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment" (Philippians 1:9). This is not a characteristic of themselves, brought with them into Christianity. It is now theirs, but first and foremost it is the love of Jesus Christ. It is not ignorant or foolish. You learn that love in the renewed mind, examine it in your mind's eye and in the midst of your heart, see it in your unique situation, and apply it.

In Romans 13:8-10 we owe this love to every man. Love always has a debt to pay, not because it is a burden, but because it sees the need of someone else and wants to meet it. We see the abounding in Philemon: I know you will do more than I say.

God has given you the place to be the dam. Will you shut it up, or reject the life of it toward others? He wants you willingly to open the dam, to yield to the Spirit and let flow what is placed within you. At first, because we are insecure, self-sufficient, and prideful, it may only be a trickle. He wants us to dispense unreservedly toward others what He has unreservedly dispensed to us. There are legitimate buts and what ifs toward every person, and He did not allow those to get in the way; He commended His love toward us in spite of them all. He does not look for that which is good. He looks for that which is of need. And Israel was told, when you have houses you did not build and food you did not plant, do not forget Me (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). We must remember all that He has given us.

The Word sets forth some judgments, but there are billions more to make across a lifetime, with the same people and many others. We are called to take what the Spirit has taught and match it to the situation. Love is always appropriate; what is appropriate here? Take a case: evil is done to you. We are really good at identifying that, and justly so. But the flesh wants to recompense evil for it, and the Spirit says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men" (v. 17): honest to who you are in Christ, honest to the reservoir upstream. "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (v. 19). If I recompense, I forsake what the Spirit teaches, and I take a place that belongs only to God. His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering lead to repentance (Romans 2:4), and you get to enter into that.

Others can counsel, give wisdom, and point to Scriptures, but the judgment has to come from you. What a privilege, to recognize the evil done to you and, with your Father, make a judgment that is consistent with His judgment toward you. The specific example: "if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head" (v. 20). He is your enemy, hungry, and you want to do something evil to him. But you owe him love. Some say the coals intensify judgment. A softening seems more likely: coals heaped in the forge soften the metal (the hardness, the evil against you); it is the quenching that makes it hard again. Keep the coals on. The reason is verse 21: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient" (1 Corinthians 6:12). Even if something is lawful, it may not be the best judgment, and I am not looking only to do what I can do. In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul had the power to be taken care of by the churches, and forsook it, because it was more expedient, a loving sacrifice, to share the gospel without hindrance. It is like what he says to Philemon: I could enjoin you, which is lawful, but I would rather you do it another way.

In 1 Corinthians 10:23-33, if a pagan invites you to a feast and you want to go, go; it is lawful, and you may eat in the knowledge that the idol is nothing. But if someone says, "This is offered in sacrifice unto idols," do not eat. The meat is the same; the judgment changes. Now, not eating gives glory to God, edifies the other person, and may lead that individual to Christ, rather than simply utilizing your liberty. So we do not judge simply by what we can do: I could do this; I have done this to this person already. You can; it is lawful. But is it expedient? Does it edify others? That is the realm of approving things that are excellent.

There are a lot of judgments in this letter. Onesimus has a judgment to go back, and he goes. Paul has a judgment to send him, though in one sense he does not want to, for Onesimus was so profitable to him in his chains. Philemon has a judgment to receive him, and he will do more than Paul says. It is all motivated by the gospel, by the reservoir, and by all the reasons Paul gives, including prepare me a lodging, with godly accountability coming.

Take what the Spirit has taught you and match it to your situation. Is evil being done to me? Is good? Is gossip happening? Is it a matter of priority? Is it lawful, or is it expedient? Does it edify? Is this just pursuing myself? Do I need to enter into the mind of Christ and be a servant to others? Consider it in prayer. When people say, I just don't know what to pray, ask: How am I living my life? By the seat of my pants? Am I trusting in the Lord, or leaning on my own understanding? Do I acknowledge Him in all my ways (Proverbs 3:5-6)? When I do, that reservoir directs my paths. He lights up the path through His Word and says, go, and then abound even more.

Without Christ, any judgment we make is of no profit. In Christ Jesus, led by the Spirit and of the Spirit, it is to His honor and glory and to our great privilege.