Philemon 1:15

Philemon 1:15. For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season. This more literal rendering brings out the force of the apostle's words more fully. St. Paul sees in the whole event something more than chance, something guided by God for good. He says not therefore ‘he ran away,' but as though it had been by some other power than his own ‘he was parted from thee.' At the same time also, with the tenderness of a loving advocate, he by this word seems to lighten somewhat the gravity of the offence, and to represent Onesimus as more worthy of forgiveness. And in like manner the rest of the language is strongly in contrast with the clause which follows: ‘ for a season' is rendered literally (Galatians 2:5) ‘for an hour,' and the idea of the shortness of the separation is prominent in the words here.

that thou shouldest have him for ever. The thought is not merely (as Authorised Version) of taking him back again, but of having, holding, and enjoying. A fresh and stronger bond should be established. Onesimus should no longer be the chattel for which so much money had been paid, and from whom a due return was sought, but should be invested with a new interest as a brother in Christ, a partaker of the same grace with his master. And the word rendered ‘for ever' is found in that sense nowhere else in the New Testament. It is the word so often rendered eternal and everlasting, and we may almost feel sure that the apostle was guided in his choice of it by the thought that now the interest felt by the master in his servant would be no mere temporal bond, but one which would stretch away into the world to come. Just so does St. Paul write of the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 1:14), ‘Ye are our glorying in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.'