The famed commentator R. C. H. Lenski once described Philemon as “Paul’s loveliest epistle.” Bengel wrote that this brief letter “far surpasses all the wisdom of the world.”
After spending considerable time working our way through this little letter, I can understand why.
Philemon is only twenty-five verses long, yet it contains a profound picture of the gospel at work in real life. It is a story about a runaway, renegade slave named Onesimus, a Christian master and faithful churchman named Philemon, and an aging and imprisoned apostle named Paul who finds himself standing in the middle of a broken relationship and a very messy situation.
But more than that, Philemon is a story about grace.
Paul's letter begins with grace and peace in verse 3, and it ends with grace in verse 25:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
What a fitting way to conclude this remarkable letter!
Paul's final words are a final plea for daily grace. And, dear friend, this is no small thing.
We Need Grace (so much more than we often realize it)
Like Philemon and the ordinary believers who gathered with him at Colossae, we desperately need God's daily grace.
Paul's final prayer is addressed to Philemon, but the word “your” is plural. His prayer reaches beyond the primary recipient of the letter and extends to the entire Christian community.
It reaches us as well.
We are debtors of God's grace.
There is not a single heartbeat or breath that does not ultimately depend upon the sustaining grace of God. Jesus Christ is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Apart from His providential grace, we would not take another breath or ever cross the finish line.
And for the Christian, God's grace is not merely necessary at conversion.
There is no justification apart from redeeming grace.
There is no progressive sanctification apart from sanctifying grace.
There is no final glorification apart from future grace.
The Christian life begins with grace, continues by grace, and ends in grace. From A-Z the Christian life is truly all of grace.
The apostle Paul understood this personally. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he wrote:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain.”
Paul labored tirelessly for Christ, but he was careful to give the credit where it belonged: “Yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
That is the testimony of every faithful Christian. Like John Newton every Christian ought to humbly confess, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am”
Whatever usefulness we have in the kingdom of God is ultimately the result of God's grace.
Grace Brings Peace
One of the overarching themes of Philemon is this: Grace from God through the Lord Jesus Christ ought to bring peace with God and with one another ( note also Colossians 3:12-16)
