Concluding Colossians and Philemon
I once found these books to be some of the most difficult
and even offensive to me in the New Testament. This was because of my
misinterpretation of the texts as a justification of slavery and oppression. I
sensed dissonance with the themes of justice, grace, and holistic peace in the
rest of scripture, and struggled to reconcile them.
However, with a thoughtful consideration of the cultural
context and attitudes toward slavery at the time of these two sister book's
writing, they easily reveal themselves not as the pro-slavery text they may
first appear to be, but instead as a radical correspondence that challenges
hierarchy and authoritarianism in the face of oppression.
These are a few of the primary considerations that could
lead to this different interpretation.
The subject of the letters primarily addresses the
relationship between three people, or groups of people. Each book is named for
its recipients: Colossians is received by the church in Colossae. Philemon is
written to a man by that name. The Colossians wrestled with their faith in an
empire built on slavery, meeting as a community of former slaves and owners,
but now equals under the flag of the cross. Philemon is formerly a slave owner,
now a Christian and a minister in the church. He may share pastoral
responsibilities with a woman and another man who host the church in a house,
possibly the same church who receives the letter we call Colossians.
Paul writes both letters. Paul is also a Christian convert.
Once he was an agent of the state, enacting cruel and fatal corporal punishment
on Christians. Now Paul is a traveling church planter. In his travels he writes
letters like this one to the congregations and communities in his wake that
he's helped establish. Onesimus (whose name means "useful") is
formerly a slave of Philemon who came to become a Christ-follower through the
ministry of Paul. Whether he escaped or was for some reason banished from
Philemon's house is not known, though escape is more likely. Onesimus is
carrying both of these letters of Paul to his former slave-owner, and to a
church in which his former life was well known. He is mentioned in both
letters.
So, we must imagine these letters received from the hand of
a former slave, written by a former violent agent of the state, now a prisoner
of that same unjust empire. The social, cultural and political undertones to
such an exchange are electric.
These letters arise from the Greek world of the first
century. In this world, slavery is a common practice. Like any society that would
allow one human to own another, there is in the mainstream worldview a belief
that some people are morally inferior to others. As those who hold slaves today
may still believe, slaves in the Roman empire were believed to be mindless
automatons, intellectually and morally unable to make personal decisions.
Slaves had no dreams or hopes, and would be unable to live or take care of
themselves outside of constant surveillance and control. Slaves were property,
not friends, and certainly not family.
More has changed in the lives of these new Jesus followers
than their religious identity. Once a cruel agent of the state, Paul is now a
prisoner of that same empire, a political prisoner. In Colossians, Paul tells
them that Onesimus is a faithful brother to himself and his fellow ministers.
He says that he is sending him back as one of their own to encourage them with
a report on Paul's condition. This, and the similarity in the final greetings
of both confirm that Colossians and Philemon were written and sent together.
Onesimus was willingly returning to his hometown where once he was a slave and
possibly a criminal with two letters from Paul to Christians who knew him in
his former life. How was he likely to be received? Were there warrants out for
his arrest? What would be the relationship of this newly converted Onesimus to
his old associates?
In the light of all of this, the intentionally warm and
familial nature of Paul's writing about Onesimus comes into bold relief. In
Colossians, Paul makes no mention whatever of the former life of Onesimus. He
is only a brother, and a fellow citizen of Collosae. In Paul's letter to
Philemon, Onesimus is twice a son, a dear brother in the Lord. He is the
"very heart" of Paul, and "dear" as a man and brother to
both Paul and Philemon. This clearly runs completely counter to any perverted
notion that slaves could be mindless inhuman beings, incapable of morality or
relationship. In Christ, the relationships between these three have radically
changed.
In covenant Christian community, a former powerful agent of
the state can now be in chains, ministering as an equal alongside a former
slave who now lives without chains. In this new community, a free former slave
can return by his own free will to the one who once owned him as a brother and
an equal.
Philemon and Onesimus were separated as owner and property,
but reunited as family. How potent are the words in the fifteenth and sixteenth
verses, "he was separated from you for a little while was that you might
have him back for good— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a
dear brother." The return of Onesimus reflects the reconciliation and
redemption of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul continues, "He is very dear
to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord".
This speaks powerfully not only of the radical new reality in their
relationships, but a new legal reality as well. When Paul calls Onesimus a man,
he identifies him as a citizen. Only men are citizens in classical Rome,
therefore a woman was not a citizen, and a slave was not a man. Paul was the
same author who said in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians
3:28). With this statement in Philemon, Paul opposes the legal authority of the
empire, and invokes the authority of Christ that makes us all equal citizens of
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Finally, we consider the foundation of the appeal from an
apostolic church planter to a minister in a house church (possibly the
Colossian church) that he helped establish. Paul states explicitly in Philemon
verses eight and nine that he could pull rank and order Philemon to treat
Onesimus with love and dignity. But instead, Paul intentionally and frequently
implores Philemon on equal grounds as a brother and an equal. By his example,
Paul illustrates to Philemon the truth of their freedom and equality in Christ.
Twice Paul calls himself "a prisoner of Christ Jesus" before ever
making his request on behalf of Onesimus. Twice he says that Onesimus came to
be partnered with him while he was "in chains". Though he claims the
right to command Philemon, in verse fourteen he instead tells Philemon that he
will submit to his will. Consider the impact on Philemon of a man in chains
submitting his will to a former slave-owner.
Of Onesimus the former slave, Paul speaks only in the
highest terms. He is a brother and a citizen. More than this, he is a son. For
Onesimus, to receive the son of Paul would have been to receive Paul himself.
Paul has placed his own identity on Onesimus. Paul acts as a father when he
takes Onesimus' debt as well. In effect, a great trade has been made. Paul, a
father in the faith, has been lost to Philemon to the chains and jail in which
he will die. In his place, Philemon receives Onesimus as a free man and
brother, the one he once personally held prisoner. Paul will never personally
enjoy the guest room he requests in verse twenty-two, but in Onesimus he will
be restored to Philemon in answer to his prayers.
This is the radical reality of new life after the cross. We
are equals both in our skulduggery and our salvation. No matter how different
our lives may be, or how we may be separated by the false walls erected by the
racism or classism or sexism of empire, we are united in the love of the king
who washes our feet. We approach one another in humility and patience, putting
each other first. We forgive as we've been forgiven. We submit to the highest
authority of justice, truth, and love, and resist all rebels in the empire,
whatever authority they claim.
We fight together for the emancipation of every enslaved and
oppressed person in the world. We fight for the freedom from oppression for all
those who oppress others, for no one is more in news of love than one consumed
by power.
And his Kingdom will be manifest through the cracks of the
dead gray empire until the whole dead structure comes crumbling down.
All glory to the one true King.
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Now before faith
came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith
would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in
order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are
no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God,
through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are
Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:23-29
(ESVUK)
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Tomorrow – How Great Thou Art - Creation Care and Christian
Escapism
Starting Next Week (April 9-17ish) – Ephesians - Theology as
Poetry
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