The

Gospel Of Truth And Salvation

Peaceful Settlement

And

Reconciliation

Wrongly Called The Book Of Philemon

By

St Paul De Evangelist

Greetings

From:

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To:

1. Philemon our beloved friend and fellow minister of God;

2. The beloved Apphia;

3. Archippus;

4. And the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon's Love And Faith

I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the Saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the Saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

The Plea For Onesimus

Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you — being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now also an Apostle of Jesus Christ – I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.

I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.

For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no 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.

Philemon's Obedience Encouraged

If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay — not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in the Lord.

Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. But, meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you.

Farewell

Epaphras, my fellow ministers in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow labourers.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Necessary Explanations

Who Is Philemon?

St Paul: Philemon was a disciple. Later, he became an Apostle.

Meaning Of Philemon

The Head: Philemon means loving, affectionate, kiss; he who shows kindness.

Apphia

Apphia was the wife of Philemon.

Archippus

He had a different work, which he was doing. He was not among the ministers of God.

Onesimus

Apostle Paul: Son of man, his first name was, Ones.

But, he was later renamed, Onesimus. He was baptized, and his name was changed from Ones to Onesimus.

Ones means uselessness.

Onesimus means usefulness.

Date

St Paul: I wrote this, when Philemon was still a disciple, before he became an Apostle.

Why I Took Care Of Onesimus

Apostle Paul: When he was answering, Ones, he stole Philemon’s money and ran away. Just as the houseboy’s of this age, of the present and modern generations, do steal their master’s money and run away. He was behaving in certain characters that were not supposed, and he was very much disobedient.

Philemon did not know the cause of the boy’s problems. Philemon was following the footsteps of God, but the boy was totally different from Philemon. And Philemon did not know that the cause of the boy’s problems was the name, Ones.

The boy had the spirit of stubbornness. Driving him away from Philemon did not solve the problems. The spirit of stubbornness was in him, and he was going up and down, still moving about with it, living with it. The boy was answering the name, and the name was bringing bad luck to him.

Myself took over the boy, because I knew the solution to the problem, and in order to save the boy. The boy suffered while he was with me. Myself gave him various teachings, which he did not know before, and I gave him corrections, which Philemon had not the time to give the boy.

Reasons For Change Of Name

Apostle Paul:

1. The reason why I called him the name, Onesimus, in fullness, was because he suffered a lot, and he was a repented Christian.

2. He repented and became useful to his fellow human beings and also useful to God.

3. A person’s name follows the person – manifests in his life, works, characters and conducts.

How Solution Was Found

Apostle Paul: Son of man, myself did quiet time and meditation, to know the cause of the evil spirit. And the Angels told me to change his name.

The Purpose Of The Letter

St Paul: Son of man, I wrote to Philemon, to make peaceful settlement. Myself came to make good, to restore, to make peace and to make all things perfect. I wrote to make it possible for Onesimus to continue to stay under his senior, Philemon, because crisis is not from God, and for the word of God to spread.

Apostle Paul: When myself was sending him back to Philemon, I wrote the right name, called it, Onesimus; and I explained the meaning of Onesimus to Philemon, which is usefulness, so that when the boy returned to Philemon, people should not be looking at him somehow, by looking down on him. You know that there is a way people look at a boy, who stole his master’s money. You know there are kinds of bad words, which people shall be saying to him, and a kind of bad eye with which people shall be looking at him. That was why I wrote the letter to Philemon. The letter was about Onesimus. Myself touched, various places that should be explained – I explained several thing about the boy and his life.

The Contents Of The Letter

Apostle Paul: First, myself started with self-presentation, self-introduction, to Philemon, for the receivers to know who wrote the letter.

Second, myself told them the reason for the letter.

Three, I greeted them.

And I asked about various things, for themselves to know that distance is not a problem. Myself was with them in spirit. If they were progressing or retrogressing, myself knew. The people who have grown in spirit, can stay in any place, anytime they want. The Angels can make this very easy and possible. Elisha followed Gehazi to go out, and followed him to come back.

The Head: That was true.

The Contents Of Other Letters

Apostle Paul: All the various places where myself was ending letters to, myself was telling them about various things and bad behaviours, which they did not expect me to know about. Son of man, some of them were thinking, how did I knew?

A person in Greek was seeing what was happening in Jerusalem, calling various names, telling the people the various misconducts, which they were doing. To each person, I told what he did, delivered God’s messages to him, and warned the person. In addition, I told the person the punishments for his offence, if he fails to repent.

To another person, I told that he was doing very well.

And I said, “Let Jesus Christ bless you and keep you.

And let Him make all things to go well for you,

for you to remain steadfast.”

Lessons From This

St Paul: what lessons have the children of God to learn from this?

Son of man, it is worthwhile to make the lost sheep return to the sheepfold. A person who has fallen into temptation supposed to be helped. Likewise, a person who needs help should be given help. And the sinner who wants to get free from sin should be helped to come out of sin. Truly, truly and truly, God does not judge somebody because the person is a sinner, but because the person refuses to repent.

The Head: Thanks be to God.

Apostle Paul: It is not all things that people shall get by rebuke, by boxing (by force), or by quarrel. There are little things which are often overlooked, and which are sometimes solutions to certain cases and problems.

The Head: The children of God should learn to behave like St Paul De Evangelist, who did not spend his time complaining and baling, as many Christians wrongly do in the house of God. Also, he spent time in prayer, and in quiet time and meditation, to find the cause and solution to the problem.

This is a very important lesson to the children of God. They should not be in haste to reject, drive away or condemn any other child of God who is misbehaving. Always remember that it is the will of Satan to destroy all the children of God, but it is the will of God that none should perish. Therefore, help in correcting and saving all the children of God who have gone astray, because many of them do not know what they are doing, but are acting on the demonic impulses and manipulations. Learn to behave like the Hosts of Angels and Saints of Heaven, who condemn none, but are always busy working in various places and fighting battles in many ways, for the wellbeing and salvation of all the children of God.

What shall be your gain, if any child of God goes to hell fire?

Nothing. Besides, the kingdom of darkness will demonize such people, and make them turn round to attack you. Therefore, the children of God must show that they are wiser, by doing like Jesus Christ, by forgiving every other children of God and by helping in saving them from destruction. Copied from The Book Of Love by Mother Eve.