Wisdom Wednesday: Paul’s Teaching on Wisdom
Part 8–Paul Demonstrates Wisdom to Philemon
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.” (Philemon4-6) NASB 95
In the prior epistles of Paul, we have traced the development of his teaching on the splendor of God’s wisdom and the believers’ ability to apply His shared wisdom to live the Christian life. In those epistles. Paul taught principles and explained wise behavior. In the unique letter to Philemon, Paul now demonstrates wisdom by appealing to his brother in Christ to take action in godly living.
Philemon is an interesting letter, written by Paul while a prisoner in Rome, to a man named Philemon. We can infer a lot about this man from the text:
- Philemon likely lived in Colosse because the epistle to the Colossians and this letter both epistles mention Archippus, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke (cf. Phm 2, 23 and Col. 4:10, 12, 14, 17).
- Philemon was likely also a wealthy man with bondservants or slaves (v.16)
- He also must have had a large home to accommodate a house-church (v.2)
- He was a faithful believer with a solid testimony of love and faith as a follower of Jesus Christ (v. 4)
- And apparently, the man Onesimus, was formerly a slave of Philemon’s, and had perhaps departed and wronged Philemon in some way or even stolen things.
The word “wisdom” is not used in the entire letter, yet in Paul’s prayer for Philemon in verses 4-6, he reveals the same principles of wisdom he has shared before. Note in these verses that:
- He always thanks God for Philemon .. because..
- He has received reports of Philemon’s love and faith toward other believers.
- He also prays that the “fellowship” of his faith may become effective.
What does it mean that his “faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in [him]” ?
Paul was praying that Philemon’s faith would increase in power (Greek energēs translated “effective” refers to power) based on the knowledge of good things “in him”. As a believer, Philemon had the Holy Spirit and spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3) to give him the knowledge and ability to act with God’s wisdom- to know God’s will. In this case, Philemon needed wisdom to forgive!
The remaining section of this small letter explains Paul’s appeal to Philemon in verses 10-21. Paul’s appeal to act wisely was this (paraphrasing his plea):
- I am praying that our example of love and faith may grow as you apply spiritual knowledge that is in you by God’s Spirit. .. (vv. 4-6)
- So, I appeal to you for this young man, Onesimus, that I am sending back to you, (vv. 10-14)
- [Implied] He is now a believer ministering to me and I want to do what is right (vv. 13-15)
- I ask you accept him now not as a condemned slave returning, but as a new brother in Christ (v. 15-16)
- Accept him that same as you would me. Please charge any of his offenses to my account. (vv. 17-19)
- Encourage me by your kind response of forgiveness, because I am confident you will obey, forgive and restore this young man. (vv. 19-21)
Philemon needed the wisdom and the will to receive, forgive, and restore this believer to his household. I may have been a very difficult, but significant spiritual step to take. It was in Paul’s time of imprisonment that he wrote of this forgiveness to the Ephesian church, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:23)