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Philemon / Question
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Philemon
Paul says Onesimus “was indeed useless to you, but now he is useful to you and to me.” He also asks Philemon to receive him as “a beloved brother,” describing a new relational status in the letter’s appeal (Philemon 1:11; Philemon 1:16).
11who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me;
12I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
13whom I wanted to keep with me, that in your behalf he might minister to me in the bonds of the gospel.
14But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
15For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever,
16no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, specially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.