Philemon 1:4-7

II. Paul's thanks for Philemon; Philemon 1:4-7.

4. I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers,

a.

As in many of his epistles Paul starts the section right after his greeting with an expression of his thankfulness. Compare Romans 1:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Philippians 1:3; and other epistles by Paul.

b.

Paul's thankfulness was sincere. He was not hypocritically polishing the apples to make Philemon more receptive to his request. It is almost impossible to express thanks convincingly unless you really feel thankful.

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5. hearing of thy love, and of the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints;

a.

Paul may have heard of Philemon's faith and love from Epaphras, whom he describes as one of you, and who was visiting with Paul at the time he wrote the epistle to the Colossians and to Philemon. Colossians 4:12.

b.

We naturally would think that the faith of Philemon would be directed toward the Lord Jesus, and his love toward all the saints (though we love Christ also). However, the order in which faith and love are named is opposite to that in which the most obvious recipients of the faith and love are listed. We do not know the reason for this order of listing (called a chiastic construction), if any reason actually exists.

c.

Can your Christian friends say of you that they have heard of your love and faith? Or do they hear of your spitefulness and skepticism?

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6. that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ.

a.

This verse gives Paul's objective in his prayers for Philemon. He desires that the fellowship (A.V. communication) of his faith may become effectual.

b.

The word effectual means active or at work. The word fellowship, or communication, means participation, sharing, or the share which one has in anything. Thus Paul was praying that the share or portion which Philemon had of faith might be put to work and become active. Faith which is not active is not worth much. Compare Galatians 5:6.

Numerous commentators understand the word fellowship here to refer to the act of sharing the faith, rather than to the share which one has in the faith. Both meanings come out at about the same point.

c.

Paul furthermore plays that the activity of Philemon's faith may be done in the knowledge (A.V. acknowledging) of every good thing which is in you unto Christ.

The Greek word for knowledge in this verse means precise, accurate, and full knowledge. Thus faith is not simply to be active in just any business, but in that which is based on the full knowledge of the truth. Compare Philippians 1:9.

d.

The last words of this verse indicate that all of this desired activity is unto Christ (K.J.V., in Christ Jesus), that is, for Christ's sake. The service of Christ must be the ultimate motivation and goal of our activities.

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7. For I had much joy and comfort in thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother.

a.

This verse continues and enlarges upon the theme of thankfulness started in Philemon 1:4. In this verse Paul says that his joy and comfort came became he had heard how Philemon had refreshed the hearts of the saints.

b.

The word heart refers to center of emotion and feeling. In Biblical times people regarded the bowels as the center of emotion, and thus the King James Bible renders the word literally as bowels. Actually it makes just as much sense to speak of the bowels (the nobler bowels, the liver, lungs, etc. rather than the entrails) as the seat of feeling as to speak of the heart as the center of feeling.

c.

The word comfort in this verse is paraklesis, which means both comfort and exhortation. Thus Philemon's graciousness was both a comfort to Paul and an exhortation to him to finer Christian living.