Philemon 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹  a prisoner of Christ Jesus, ²  and Timothy our ³  brother, to Philemon, our dear friend ⁴  and colaborer,

Philemon 1:7

1:7 I ⁵  have had great joy and encouragement because ⁶  of your love, for the hearts ⁷  of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Philemon 1:20

1:20 Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. ⁸ 

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² sn The phrase a prisoner of Christ Jesus implies that Paul was being held prisoner because of his testimony for Christ Jesus. Paul’s imprisonment was due to his service to Christ, in the same manner as John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony (Rev 1:9).

[1:1]  ³ tn “our” is not present in the Greek text, but was supplied to bring out the sense in English.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “dear.” The adjective is functioning as a substantive; i.e., “dear one” or “dear friend.”

[1:7]  ⁵ tn Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn The Greek preposition ἐπί (epi) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn The word translated “hearts” here is σπλάγχνα (splancna). Literally the term refers to one’s “inward parts,” but it is commonly used figuratively for “heart” as the seat of the emotions. See BDAG 938 s.v. σπλάγχνον 2 (cf. Col 3:12, Phil 2:1).

[1:20]  ⁹ sn Refresh my heart in Christ. Paul desired that Philemon refresh his heart in the same way that he [Philemon] had refreshed the hearts of other believers (cf. Phlm 7), that is, by forgiving and accepting Onesimus. In this way the presence and character of Jesus Christ would be vividly seen in Philemon’s attitude toward his runaway slave.