Letter To Philemon Summary

Thanks for the response. Yes, Philemon is a hard book to read. When I look at slavery in the New Testament (NT) and that of American slavery, NT slavery was a class system. Slaves in the NT were treated with decency. Smith states, “Harrill argues that Onesimus was an apprenticed slave. He identifies Paul's letter to Philemon as a "letter of recommendation" wherein Paul recommends Onesimus as an apprentice in gospel ministry.” Slaves in NT time were gathered as spoil after winning a victory or battle. Wallace shows us, “Roman slaves were either taken as the spoils of war or were such because they sold themselves into slavery (known as "bond-servant"). They were often well-educated.”

In comparison to American slavery. The slaves, captured, brought