Chuck Larsen

In that one chapter book of Philemon, Paul pleads with him to receive Onesimus back as a brother rather than as a slave. In his appeal to Philemon, he says in verse 12, “I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.” The word for “heart” is not the normal one. The Greek word “kardia” from which we get our English cardiology which is the medical specialty dealing with matters of the heart. This is the word that would be expected from our use of the term “in my heart” or “from my heart.” This kind of reference deals more with our emotions rather than our internal organs. But the Greek word Paul uses is “Splanchna.” It is a word that very specifically deals with the eternal organs of the body. In our English translations (most of them) the word “heart” comes from this Greek word throughout this short book. In verse 7, Paul says “the splanchna of the saints have been refreshed through you.” In verse 12, Paul refers to Onesimus as “his very splanchna.” Then after making his specific plea that Philemon receive Onesimus back as a brother, he says in verse 20 that his “splanchna” would be refreshed if Philemon would respond to his intercession on behalf of Onesimus.

“Splanchna” is a little more informative to me than the use of the word “heart.” In some ways using the “heart” as the seat of our emotions doesn’t communicate the depth that Paul is referring to here. He “broke my heart” is a powerful phrase, but that seems to be an ache of longing and something that is slower and less intense than what Paul intends by using the word “splanchna.” I’ve often criticized the King James Version for its archaic language, but the more I study the Greek of the New Testament, the more I like it. In all three of these passages it translates “splanchna” as “bowels.”

When we lived in Hawaii, we had 60 days at the Holiday Inn waiting for Navy housing to open up. We spent our days around the pool because our car hadn’t arrived by ship yet, and there wasn’t much else to do. The boys loved it. JD was 18 months and Chuck3 was about 2 and a half. We got JD a Styrofoam turtle with a baby seat in the middle in which you could strap the toddler in. He would spin around in that toy for hours in the pool. One time I looked up from my lunge chair and noticed that it was on the other side of the pool and that it was upside down. His little feet were kicking at the sky! Something happened inside me. The word “heart” doesn’t quite touch the feeling. My stomach “wrenched” in great instant agony and I dove into the pool in my dress white uniform, fought against the waist high water until I reached him and turned him over. His gasping and coughing and shaking brought the same wrenching inside of me. But when he took a clean, clear breath and started to cry, my “splanchna” relaxed, and were refreshed.

Philemon is a wonderful little, one chapter book in the Bible. It’s hard to find when you’re looking for it. The best way is to go to the larger book of Hebrews and just back up one page. There it is! It has a total of 25 verses. In Paul’s one chapter letter to a man named Philemon, probably residing in and part of the church family in Colossae, Paul frequently uses family references in identifying his addressees. He calls the men “brothers” four times. He refers to women as sisters twice. He calls God the Father three times and makes references to a church that meets in a home twice as well. In verse 10, Paul identifies himself as a spiritual father and the individual he lead to faith as his child. He writes, “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.”

Piecing together the timelines of Paul’s journeys from Acts and other comments in other Epistles, I believe the story of Paul and Philemon can be discerned. Paul planted the Church at Colossae and left it meeting in homes. The home it met in was Philemon’s. He was a wealthy man and slave owner. Through conversion, he became a spiritual child of the Apostle Paul. Several years later, one of his slaves, a man whose name means “useless” (Onesimus) apparently robbed Philemon and ran off to the big city to live a life of sin. Like the prodigal son, Onesimus soon runs out of money and ends up in a Roman prison. By this time, the Apostle Paul is also in Prison in Rome. There Paul leads Onesimus to faith. Runaway slaves were always returned to their owners in chains to be dealt with according to the owner’s wishes. Often that entailed execution! Having now become both men’s spiritual father, Paul writes this short letter to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus.

The most beautiful verse in this letter, which won it a place in the canon of Scripture, is verse 18. Paul pleads for Onesimus’ life to be spared because he’s now become useful. As a new believer his lifestyle has been reversed. But more importantly Paul seems to argue, because Philemon and Onesimus are now brothers in the faith. The bond that binds them together is Paul as their father, but also Christ as their mutual savior. He pleads with Philemon to receive his former slave who had deeply wronged him as a brother instead of a slave. In closing his plea to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, Paul adds, “And if he owes you anything, or has wronged you in any way, put that on my account.” All of us owe a debt we cannot pay. All of us have wronged others in many ways and have been wronged by others. From the cross Jesus says, “put that on my account.” Boice writes, “This is a pageant… Philemon is playing the part of God the Father. Paul is Jesus Christ. You and I are Onesimus. What have we done? We have wronged God. We have stolen from him that which is rightly his—honor, worship, glory, obedience—and we have run from him in order to sin our fill. There is no chance of our ever being able to make up that which we owe…Instead we come to Christ and find him interceding on our behalf. “Father,” he says, “this runaway slave has wronged you. He owes what he can never repay. But he believes in me. He has been changed. Therefore, I ask that you charge all that he has done to my account.” Can you see yourself in this story?