Summary Of Paul's Letter

From Romans to Timothy, the Bible contains many letters written by the apostle Paul. Paul was a significant figure in early christianity who traveled the known-world, preached, and started new churches. As Paul went about his ministry, he kept in contact with many of the churches he helped initiate, and many of the people he came in contact with along his journey. While Paul’s letters are a significant to the new testament, and contain many valuable and relevant insights, in order to truly understand these letters it is important to analyze them and discover the purpose for the letters, and for whom the letters were written. Only then, can it be determined why the letter is significant and why it is in the Bible. One such letter, is the letter
In this letter, Paul uses love in order to prove his point. Paul starts the letter by pointing out how he has “...experienced much joy and encouragement from your love because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed by you, brother” (Philemon 1:7). Furthermore, Paul is constantly referring to Philemon as brother and mentions also how Onesimus is his heart, thus using love as a means to almost guilt trip Philemon to agreeing. Also, Paul says that “...if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me” (Philemon 1:17). Again, using the relationship that Paul has with Philemon in order to get Philemon to understand. Another tool that Paul uses is God and the gospel, and how he is a prisoner to the gospel. Paul mentions briefly his authority through Christ, and then continues to say he is a slave to the gospel. Then Paul asks Philemon to “Refresh (his) heart in Christ” (Philemon 1:20). Therefore, Paul is trying to get Philemon to see the view from a Christ like stand-point and how that would then be a beneficial way to handle the situation. Finally, Paul briefly rhetorically traps Philemon in a sense, when he says “but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary” (Philemon 1:14). It may not have been initially
To begin with, this letter could be in the Bible simply because scholars agreed that this letter is clearly written by Paul, and should therefore be connected with the other letters Paul wrote. Another potential reason, while not the most plausible one, is that this the only or one of the only letters that Paul wrote to only a single person, instead of a church. This could be an interesting point of speculation and could be symbolic or personal enough to be added into the Bible. However, the most plausible reason for this letter to be included in the Bible is the message that the letter is representing. Paul wrote to Philemon about forgiveness, and the entire is riddled with the theme of forgiveness and mercy, and even more so love and acceptance. Therefore, it is highly likely that, since these themes appear in numerous other places in the Bible- or at the very least the new testament- this letter was added to the Bible because it represented similar themes and therefore further emphasized the overarching purpose of the Bible as a