On the Basis of Love
The introduction of Paul's letter to Philemon
I had the privilege of preaching from this passage on Sunday 15th March 2026 at All Souls Church, Eastbourne. You can read the sermon below or listen to it by clicking the image above. God bless!
Why are we doing this? This. Right now. Here. It’s lovely to see you all. But seriously. What’s the point? Why do Christians gather together in the first place? And what is it that keeps us gathering together?
When I moved into my flat I got a TV licensing letter. Have you ever got one of those? It’s when you move into a new place and they want to make sure you’re not watching TV illegally. It’s a terrifying letter to read. It screams at you in bold red letters:
“Official warning: we have opened an investigation… It is a criminal offence to watch or record programmes as they’re being shown on TV unless you have a TV Licence… If we don’t hear from you, our Enforcement Division will schedule a visit.”
Wow. Certainly gets the heart pounding. And that’s the point. It’s commanding you to do the right thing in the name of the law. Fair enough.
Well, tonight we’re looking at another letter urging someone to do the right thing. But it has a very different tone. It’s not cold and commanding. It’s personal. It’s relational. It’s appealing to something much greater.
Here’s the context. Paul is an Apostle, a man whose life has been turned upside down by an encounter with the risen Jesus. And he’s been called to share the good news.
Philemon is a Christian friend of Paul who lives in Colossae. And Philemon used to have a slave called Onesimus. But one day, Onesimus the slave ran away from Philemon, and into Paul. He became a Christian.
And here’s what’s crazy.
Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon with this letter. And he’s urging Philemon to receive Onesimus, not as a slave, but as a brother. Think about it. The runaway slave, returning to his former master, as family. Is that even possible?
How would Philemon feel about that? According to the culture of the time, Onesiumus could only be his enemy. A runaway slave. A traitor. The lowest of the low.
And how would Onesimus feel? It’s like, great, you’ve just become a Christian. Now go back and hang out with the person you ran away from. What?
Is any of this possible? And even if it is possible, why? What’s to be gained from living this way?
Well, in this short introduction to the letter, we get a beautiful vision for Christian fellowship. It’s extraordinary. And it’s only possible through a shared faith in Christ. If anything can bring Onesimus and Philemon together as brothers, it’s this.
Point 1: Faith in Christ Unites Us
Because first of all, a shared faith in Christ is the only thing that can truly unite us. Verse 1.
Philemon 1-3 (NIV)
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Paul is in prison for his Christian faith. And he’s sending the warmest of greetings. The family language is everywhere.
Verse 1. “Timothy our brother”, a close companion of Paul, he also sends his greetings. Paul calls Philemon a “dear friend”.
Verse 2. Paul extends this greeting, not just to Philemon himself, but to the other Christians around him. “Apphia our sister”. Perhaps she was Philemon’s wife, or an active member of his church.
There’s Archippus, who is also mentioned in Paul’s letter to the wider Colossian church. In Colossians 4:17, Paul says…
Colossians 4:17 (NIV)
Tell Archippus: “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.”
So Archippus is serving alongside Philemon in the Colossian church. And it’s a house church. Notice the end of verse 2: “the church that meets in your home”.
Many Christians at the time didn’t have a dedicated church building to worship in. So they often met in someone’s house.
And if Philemon was wealthy enough to have owned slaves, then he probably had quite a big house. And he opened it up to his Christian brothers and sisters. It’s where they gathered together.
So the family language is constant. Paul, Philemon, Timothy, Apphia, Archippus and the rest of the church, they are brothers and sisters. Not in a biological sense. But in a spiritual sense. Because they share the same Father in heaven. Verse 3.
Philemon 3 (NIV)
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s the glorious good news of the gospel. Jesus is the true and only eternal Son of God the Father. But in him, by grace, we can become sons and daughters of God the Father.
So Paul and Philemon and the others are brothers and sisters, because they’ve all been adopted into this one family of God.
It’s not something that they brought about by themselves. It’s not something that they could ever bring about by themselves. It is in Christ that they have received the very grace and peace of God himself. And they share it with one another.
So there’s family language. There’s also mission language. In verse 1, Philemon is called a “dear friend” but also a “fellow worker”. In verse 2 Archippus is described as a “fellow soldier”.
So these Christian brothers and sisters, they’re one family with one mission. They’re pulling in the same direction. They want the same thing. To grow in love for Jesus and to share Jesus with others.
That’s what excites them. That’s what motivates them. That’s what brings them together. Verse 4.
Philemon 4-5 (NIV)
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.
It’s beautifully simple. Philemon loves Jesus and that goes hand in hand with loving other people who love Jesus. And Paul gives thanks for it. This is Christian community.
Now, you might be thinking, if Philemon is so loving, what was he doing owning slaves? That doesn’t sound very loving.
That’s a good question. And we’ll get to that. But at this stage, Paul is pointing to the ways that Philemon is already loving the people in his church and saying, that’s good! Praise God for that.
And the challenge to Philemon will be; will you extend that love further? Will you extend that brotherly love in Christ, even to Onesimus? The runaway slave.
Will you welcome him, no longer as a slave, but as a brother? That’s where Paul is heading. But he begins the letter with encouragement, praising God for the good work that has already begun through Philemon.
So faith in Christ unites us. And that’s something Philemon is already experiencing. What about us?
Imagine a village high in the mountains one night in the middle of winter. It’s freezing cold, it’s pitch black. All the people are locked away in their own homes watching Netflix. But then, there’s a power cut. And everyone begins to panic.
One man in the village has a good supply of firewood. So he builds a bonfire in his back garden. And he invites the entire village to come around and enjoy its light and warmth. So one by one the villagers arrive and take their seats around his fire.
And as the wind howls and the snow falls, they move closer to the fire. Not too close, hopefully. But as they move closer to the fire, they also move closer to one another. They start to talk and share stories and break bread. For the first time, they’re a real community.
And so this rag-tag group of villagers, with wildly different backgrounds and struggles, were they planning to spend an evening together? Did they want to spend an evening together? No, not at first.
But they all wanted to come to the fire. And when the fire brought them together, they then discovered that actually, they did want to spend the evening together.
The fire is the reason they came together in the first place. And it’s what’s keeping them together. It’s what they unite around. And for Christians, Jesus is like that fire. He burns fiercely with a blazing love.
And as we each draw closer to him, we also draw closer to one another.
Everyone wants unity, right? Ask anyone on the street “is unity a good thing?” They’d probably say “yes”. But here’s the thing. Unity for the sake of unity is actually impossible to maintain. We need to unite around something. And the world offers a lot of options. Nations. Political movements. Activist groups. Sexual identities. Fandoms. These are all attempts to unite people around something. But they all fall short. They all go wrong. Why?
Human beings have a lot in common but we’re also very different. There are so many things that could divide us, and a lot of the time, those things do divide us. That’s how the world works.
So what’s different about Christian unity? Because that can go wrong too, right? Yeah, it can. But Christian unity is possible. And it has proved itself to be remarkably effective over the past 2000 years. And here’s why.
As Christians, our unity depends, not on our abilities, but on Christ. Our faith isn’t something we muster from within ourselves, by our own strength. No, faith is receiving Christ and what he has done for us. Receiving him as our Lord and Saviour. Receiving his free gift of grace.
And if we do that together, then we are brought together. That’s a different kind of unity. That’s supernatural unity. Faith in Christ unites us.
Point 2: Faith in Christ grows us
So in Christianity, you come to Jesus as you are. But you don’t stay as you are. It changes you. And that’s the next point. Faith in Christ grows us. Verse 6.
Philemon 6 (NIV)
I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.
Now, this is a difficult verse to translate from the Greek. There’s a question of whether it’s talking about Philemon himself and his personal growth, or the growth of the people he’s ministering to.
Most commentators agree that it’s probably talking about Philemon himself, because this is a very intimate, personal letter. And given that Paul is about to make a difficult request, it makes sense that he would appeal to Philemon’s personal growth as a Christian.
In any case, Philemon’s faith is producing good fruit in his life. That’s verse 6. And this good fruit blesses the people around him. Verse 7.
Philemon 7 (NIV)
Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
There is this shared participation in the joy of Christ. Paul is encouraged, even from afar and in prison, by the flourishing of Philemon and the people he’s ministering to.
Imagine an apple orchard. The apple orchard is healthy when two things happen. First, each apple tree puts down deep roots into the soil. To be nourished. That’s vital. Each tree needs to be rooted.
But the trees are stronger together than they are alone. I only discovered this recently but trees actually share nutrients with each other via networks of fungi in the soil.
So if one apple tree gets sick, the others will actually help it out by sending more nutrients to it. Pretty cool. So each tree is rooted in the soil and connected to the other trees. And together, they produce good fruit.
In a similar way, Philemon himself is rooted in Christ. He’s been saved from his sins. His life is being transformed. He’s hosting a house church. He’s a new person. He’s producing good fruit.
And he is also blessing and being blessed by the Christians around him. Together, they are producing good fruit.
Serving one another. Proclaiming Christ to one another. Overflowing with that love out into the world. Sharing Jesus with people who don’t know him yet. These are good works. These are meaningful works.
It’s a mission that has the approval and oversight of God himself.
And that’s a simple lesson for us. In order to grow, we need to be connected! We need to be rooted in Christ and his word, personally.
But we also need to be part of his body, the church. Christianity is not a solo sport. We’re in this together.
So it is a shared faith in Christ that can truly unite us. And from that place of unity, we can truly grow and flourish. Producing good works.
But where is Paul going with this? He has in mind one particular good work for Philemon to do. He wants Philemon to forgive Onesimus.
So what’s with the lovely introduction? Is it simply a way to butter Philemon up? Is it a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down? You know, is Paul going to turn from Mr Nice Guy to Mr Scary Guy?
Well, no. Because this introduction isn’t small talk. It’s not just some pleasantries to get out of the way before the command. No, this introduction couldn’t be more serious.
Of course Paul is pointing to their shared faith in Christ. Because only that will enable Philemon to follow through on Paul’s request.
If it is Christ alone who makes unity possible, if it is Christ alone who makes fruitfulness possible, then it is Christ alone who makes reconciliation possible. And that’s the third point.
Point 3: Faith in Christ reconciles us
Verses 8 and 9 reveal why Paul began the letter this way.
Philemon 8-9 (NIV)
8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love…
Paul and Philemon are Christians. That makes them brothers. They share a brotherly love. And now, Onesimus has also become a Christian.
And that means Onesimus is now a brother to all other Christians, including Philemon. It’s the nature of the case.
It’s true whatever Philemon makes of it. Onesimus is now his brother. The question is simple. Will Philemon recognise that? Will he receive Onesimus, no longer as a slave, but as the brother in Christ that he truly is?
It’s time I address that elephant in the room. Slavery. Because you might be thinking, yes, this letter was probably very radical for its time. But why doesn’t Paul explicitly condemn the practice of slavery?
Why doesn’t he encourage Christians to campaign for the abolition of the slave trade in the Roman Empire?
Well, this is a big question. But I’ll say a few things. At the start of the Bible, there is no slavery in the garden of Eden.
And at the end of the Bible there is no slavery in the new heavens and the new Earth.
So slavery is not part of God’s ideal design.
But in this temporary, fallen state of the world, slavery has been a reality. It has been a universal practice in societies around the world and down through history.
Does God care? Yes. Because God himself enters into this broken reality. And on the cross, God the Son dies the death of a slave in order to set us free from the deepest slavery of all. Our slavery to sin.
And it was Paul’s calling to proclaim this Jesus. And Paul wasn’t pro slavery. In 1 Timothy 8:10, he condemns the practice of slave-trading.
So why didn’t he campaign for its abolition? Well, at that point, slavery was so baked into society that it would have been impractical for Christians to try and get it banned. It would have gotten them into a political fight. A fight which they almost certainly would have lost.
Instead, Paul nurtured a grassroots movement of people loving Jesus and sharing Jesus. And this revolution of love spread like yeast working through dough. Such that by the Middle Ages, slavery was largely abolished.
Centuries later, it came back in an especially brutal way. The Transatlantic slave trade. And sadly, there were self-professed Christians who owned and abused slaves. Some even tried to use the Bible to justify it. And that is a terrible stain on the church.
But the people who abolished THAT slave trade were Christians who took the Bible very seriously. Paul’s words, God’s words, were sword in the hands of the abolitionists.
We might find parts of the Bible uncomfortable. But it’s hard to imagine how slavery could ever have been abolished without the Bible. Because it is the Bible that taught us that all human beings are equal, made in the image of God, with immeasurable value and dignity. And this little letter to Philemon is especially radical.
It’s the only letter of Paul’s that begins with the words ‘Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus’. Paul the Apostle is identifying with Onesimus, the runaway slave. He’s saying to Philemon, ‘look, if you call me a brother, and I’m in chains, then you need to call Onesimus a brother too.’
So from what we’ve seen so far, what will enable this reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus? It is the faith in Jesus that they now share.
Returning to my bonfire illustration. The fire is lit. The villagers gather around it for light and warmth. Imagine that among them are two men. Let’s call them George and David. They had a big falling out. They haven’t spoken for months. They’ve been keeping themselves to themselves. But when the power goes down, they both separately make their way to the bonfire.
And suddenly, they find themselves sitting next to each other. Two sworn enemies, sitting by the fire. To say it’s awkward at first is an understatement. It’s excruciating.
But eventually, they start to talk. And then they start to laugh. And over the course of the night, their grudges melt away and their friendship is restored.
Were they planning to spend an evening together? No. It’s the last thing they wanted. But the fire brought them together. And now, they are glad to be spending the evening together.
In the same way, our reconciliation with one another is enabled by our reconciliation with Jesus. The one who burns with a blazing love in our midst.
Jesus died the death of a slave to be connected to each of us. And if we know that forgiveness for all the things we’ve done, will we not be reconciled to each other?
Paul knows this isn’t easy. It would have been a big deal for Onesimus to return to Philemon’s household and become part of their house church.
Imagine that. The slave who used to be working in Philemon’s back garden during the Bible studies. The slave who ran away. He returns, not to continue the gardening, but to join in with the Bible studies.
That would have been a massive deal. It might have been excruciating at first. But it’s possible on the basis of a shared faith in Christ.
Conclusion
So. Do you long for unity? Actual lasting unity between people of all backgrounds? It’s only possible in Jesus.
Do you long for goodness? To participate in a mission that truly brings flourishing? It’s only possible in Jesus.
Are you struggling to forgive someone? With Jesus, forgiving others becomes possible. Because we realise how much he has forgiven us. And then, we can start to release other people from the hurt we feel towards them. And guess what? That actually releases us, too.
There are complexities to that, sure. But in Romans 12:18 Paul says:
Romans 12:18 (NIV)
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Christ really does enable us to live differently. Together. Let us encourage one another to do the right thing on that basis. That’s Christian fellowship.
The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this…
Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ.
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1939)
Let’s pray.