Romans 15:7

Exhortation to Mutual Acceptance

15:7 Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory.

Matthew 10:40-42

Rewards

10:40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. ¹  10:41 Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever ²  receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 10:42 And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, I tell you the truth, ³  he will never lose his reward.”

Matthew 25:40

25:40 And the king will answer them, ⁴  ‘I tell you the truth, ⁵  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ⁶  of mine, you did it for me.’

Philippians 2:29

2:29 So welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him,

Colossians 4:10

4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him).

Philemon 1:12

1:12 I have sent ⁷  him (who is my very heart) ⁸  back to you.

Philemon 1:17

1:17 Therefore if you regard me as a partner, accept him as you would me.

Philemon 1:2

1:2 to Apphia ⁹  our sister, ¹⁰  to Archippus our ¹¹  fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your house.

Philemon 1:10

1:10 I am appealing ¹²  to you concerning my child, whose spiritual father I have become ¹³  during my imprisonment, ¹⁴  that is, Onesimus,

Philemon 1:3

1:3 Grace and peace to you ¹⁵  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Philemon 1:5-10

1:5 because I hear ¹⁶  of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love ¹⁷  for all the saints. ¹⁸  1:6 I pray ¹⁹  that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing ²⁰  that belongs to you ²¹  in Christ. ²²  1:7 I ²³  have had great joy and encouragement because ²⁴  of your love, for the hearts ²⁵  of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

Paul’s Request for Onesimus

1:8 So, although I have quite a lot of confidence in Christ and could command you to do what is proper, 1:9 I would rather appeal ²⁶  to you on the basis of love – I, Paul, an old man ²⁷  and even now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus ²⁸  – 1:10 I am appealing ²⁹  to you concerning my child, whose spiritual father I have become ³⁰  during my imprisonment, ³¹  that is, Onesimus,

[10:40]  ¹ sn The one who sent me refers to God.

[10:41]  ² tn Grk “And whoever.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[10:42]  ³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[25:40]  ⁴ tn Grk “answering, the king will say to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[25:40]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[25:40]  ⁶ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). In this context Jesus is ultimately speaking of his “followers” (whether men or women, adults or children), but the familial connotation of “brothers and sisters” is also important to retain here.

[1:12]  ⁷ tc There are several variants at this point in the text, most of them involving the addition of προσλαβοῦ (proslabou, “receive, accept”) at various locations in the verse. But all such variants seem to be motivated by the harsh syntax of the verse without this verb. Without the verb, the meaning is that Onesimus is Paul’s “very heart,” though this is an awkward expression especially because of τουτ᾿ ἔστιν (tout’ estin, “this is, who is”) in the middle cluttering the construction. Nowhere else in the NT is σπλάγχνα (splancna, here translated “heart”) used in apposition to people. It is thus natural that scribes would want to fill out the text here, and they did so apparently with a verb that was ready at hand (borrowed from v. 17). With the verb the sentence is converted into an object-complement construction: “I have sent him back to you; accept him, that is, as my very heart.” But both the fact that some important witnesses (א* A F G 33 pc) lack the verb, and that its location floats in the various constructions that have it, suggest that the original text did not have προσλαβοῦ.

[1:12]  ⁸ tn That is, “who means a great deal to me”; Grk “whom I have sent to you, him, this one is my heart.”

[1:2]  ⁹ sn Apphia is thought to be the wife of Philemon.

[1:2]  ¹⁰ tc Most witnesses (D² Ψ Ï) here read τῇ ἀγαπητῇ (th agaphth, “beloved, dear”), a reading that appears to have been motivated by the masculine form of the same adjective in v. 1. Further, the earliest and best witnesses, along with a few others (א A D* F G I P 048 0278 33 81 104 1739 1881 pc), have ἀδελφῇ (adelfh, “sister”). Thus on internal and external grounds, ἀδελφῇ is the strongly preferred reading.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Though the term “our” does not appear in the Greek text it is inserted to bring out the sense of the passage.

[1:10]  ¹² tn Or “I am encouraging…”

[1:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “my child whom I have begotten.” The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied before “father” in the translation to clarify for the modern reader that Paul did not literally father a child during his imprisonment. Paul’s point is that he was instrumental in Onesimus’ conversion while in prison.

[1:10]  ¹⁴ sn During my imprisonment. Apparently Onesimus became a believer under Paul’s shepherding while he [Paul] was a prisoner in Rome.

[1:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek present participle ἀκούων (akouwn, “hearing”) is an adverbial participle of cause relating to εὐχαριστῶ (eucaristw, “I give thanks”).

[1:5]  ¹⁷ sn Your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. In accord with Paul, John also advocates this combination of “faith in Christ and love for the saints.” The believers’ invisible faith becomes visible in the demonstration of love for others. This, of course, is not only desired, but commanded (1 John 3:23). Although Paul’s comment here may appear as a stock expression to the casual reader, praising Philemon for his track record of faithfulness to Christ demonstrated in love for the saints is actually integral to the author’s argument in this short but pithy letter. Paul will soon ask Philemon to demonstrate this love toward Onesimus, his runaway slave.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn The Greek is somewhat awkward here. It appears as though the text reads “…the love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.” In other Pauline letters the emphasis seems to be “faith in Christ Jesus and love for all of the saints.” Some ancient mss have altered the wording to produce a smoother reading; scribes changed the wording to resemble the more readable versions in Eph 1:15 and Col 1:4, “your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints.”

[1:6]  ¹⁹ tn The term ὅπως ({opw") refers back to the idea of prayer (μνείαν σου ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου, mneian sou poioumeno" epi twn proseucwn mou) in 1:4. See BDAG 718 s.v. 2.b; P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 279. The indicative “I pray that” was supplied in the English in order to make this connection clear.

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “everything good.”

[1:6]  ²¹ tc ‡ ὑμῖν (Jumin, “you”) is found in many valuable witnesses (Ì⁶¹ א F G P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sy co). The witnesses for ἡμῖν (Jhmin, “us”) are not as strong (A C D Ψ 048^vid Ï), but nevertheless represent a broad base. Internally, ἡμῖν could be favored because of second person pronouns surrounding it, making it the harder reading. On the other hand, the last second person plural pronoun was in v. 3, and the next one will not show up until v. 22, a fact which tends to counter the internal argument on behalf of ἡμῖν. Although a decision is difficult, with the internal evidence being capable of favoring either reading, our preference is based on the external evidence; ὑμῖν is thus slightly preferred.

[1:6]  ²² tn Grk “that the fellowship of your faith might become effective in the knowledge of everything good that is in us in Christ.” There are numerous difficulties with the translation and interpretation of this verse: (1) What is the meaning of ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως σου (Jh koinwnia th" pistew" sou, “the fellowship of your faith”)? Several suggestions are noted: (a) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “monetary support” and τῆς πίστεως as a genitive of source, the phrase could refer to Philemon’s financial giving which he has done according to his faith; (b) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “sharing” or “communicating” and the genitive τῆς πίστεως as an objective genitive, then the meaning would be “sharing the faith” as a reference to evangelistic activity; (c) taking κοινωνία in a distributive sense referring to fellowship with other believers, and τῆς πίστεως as a reference to the common trust all Christians have in Jesus, then the meaning is Christian fellowship centered on faith in Jesus; (d) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “participation” and the genitive τῆς πίστεως as a reference to the thing participated in, the meaning would then be Philemon’s “participation in the faith”; (2) what is the meaning of ἐνεργής (energh"; Does it mean “active” or “effective”?) and ἐπιγνώσει (epignwsei; Does it refer to simply understanding? Or “experiencing” as well?); (3) what is the meaning of the phrase παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ (panto" agaqou)? and (4) what is the force of εἰς Χριστόν (ei" Criston)? It is difficult to arrive at an interpretation that deals adequately with all these questions, but given the fact that Paul stresses what Philemon has done for the brothers (cf. the γάρ [gar] in v. 7), it seems that his concern in v. 6 is on Philemon’s fellowship with other believers and how he has worked hard to refresh them. In this interpretation: (1) the phrase ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως σου is taken to refer to fellowship with other believers; (2) ἐνεργής is taken to mean “effective” (i.e., more effective) and ἐπιγνώσει involves both understanding and experience; (3) the phrase παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ refers to every spiritual blessing and (4) εἰς Χριστόν carries a locative idea meaning “in Christ.” The result is that Paul prays for Philemon that he will be equipped to encourage and love the saints more as he himself is brought to a place of deeper understanding of every spiritual blessing he has in Christ; out of the overflow of his own life, he will minister to others.

[1:7]  ²³ tn Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.

[1:7]  ²⁴ tn The Greek preposition ἐπί (epi) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”

[1:7]  ²⁵ 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).

[1:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “encourage.”

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV, TEV), reading πρεσβευτής for πρεσβύτης (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BDAG 863 s.v. πρεσβύτης). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”

[1:10]  ²⁹ tn Or “I am encouraging…”

[1:10]  ³⁰ tn Grk “my child whom I have begotten.” The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied before “father” in the translation to clarify for the modern reader that Paul did not literally father a child during his imprisonment. Paul’s point is that he was instrumental in Onesimus’ conversion while in prison.

[1:10]  ³¹ sn During my imprisonment. Apparently Onesimus became a believer under Paul’s shepherding while he [Paul] was a prisoner in Rome.