Philemon 1:18-20

1:18 Now if he has defrauded you of anything or owes you anything, charge what he owes ¹  to me. 1:19 I, Paul, have written ²  this letter ³  with my own hand: ⁴  I will repay it. I could also mention that you owe ⁵  me your very self. 1:20 Yes, brother, let me have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. ⁶ 

[1:18]  ¹ tn Grk “charge it to me.”

[1:19]  ² tn Grk “I wrote” Here ἔγραψα (egraya) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.

[1:19]  ³ tn The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to clarify the meaning.

[1:19]  ⁴ sn With my own hand. Paul may have considered this letter so delicate that he wrote the letter himself as opposed to using an amanuensis or secretary.

[1:19]  ⁵ sn The statement you owe me your very self means that Paul was responsible for some sort of blessing in the life of Philemon; though a monetary idea may be in mind, it is perhaps better to understand Paul as referring to the spiritual truth (i.e., the gospel) he had taught Philemon.

[1:20]  ⁶ 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.