A note from the desk of the Pastor:

“With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.”

Colossians 4:9

Good Morning Dearly Beloved,

The closing greetings of the Apostle Paul’s epistles are often overlooked as mere historical housekeeping. However, our study verse this week reveals an Apostle and Pastor who passionately lived the gospel he preached. As seen in the preceding verses, the Apostle chose Onesimus to join Tychicus in delivering the epistles to Colossae, Ephesus, and Philemon. The duty the Apostle assigned to Onesimus carried with it a demand on the churches that they live the grace, mercy, and forgiveness the Apostle teaches in the rest of the epistle.

The gritty reality of Onesimus’s past is highly relevant to the spiritual understanding of this verse. A significant portion of what we know about Onesimus is derived from the letter the Apostle wrote directly to Philemon. Philemon was a leader in the church at Colossae and had owned Onesimus as an enslaved person. Onesimus ran away from Philemon’s estate, likely stole from him in the process, and fled to Rome. He faced torture, branding, and even crucifixion if caught as a fugitive slave. The divine irony of the situation is that Onesimus’s desire to escape through the underbelly of Rome led him into the custody of Paul and the grip of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle tells Philemon that he had retained Onesimus so that he could minister to him in the bonds of the gospel. (Philemon 1:13) Our study verse this week makes it clear that Onesimus had been transformed and redefined from a “fugitive criminal” to a faithful and beloved brother of the Apostle. As such, the Apostle is going to return Onesimus to Philemon as required by law but with a request that he be freed from his enslaved status and forgiven of his debts. The Apostle handles the issues of legal/financial restitution privately in his letter to Philemon, but he protects Onesimus’s reputation publicly through the Colossians’ letter. The Apostle uses pastoral diplomacy to force the church (and Philemon) to accept Onesimus as a peer. After this letter, and in particular this verse, was read to the congregation, Philemon could not retaliate against Onesimus without openly defying the apostolic word before his own congregation.

When it comes to the responsibilities given to Tychicus and Onesimus, they are each given the same weight to carry. The Apostle levels the social hierarchies between a free, respected Gentile leader and a returning, legally compromised enslaved person. In the work of the gospel ministry and the New Testament church, these two are absolute peers. The Apostle making them equal is a literal, living embodiment of what he taught previously in Colossians 3:11 (where there is neither Greek nor Jew… bond nor free). The Apostle demonstrates to the churches at Colossae, Laodicea, and Ephesus that he was not merely preaching lofty ideals, but was actively living in accordance with the gospel.

The ultimate testimony of the church regarding the grace of Jesus Christ is to be a vibrant mosaic of unique individuals rather than a sterile institution of matching parts. The church must be able to take wildly distinct, broken pieces and fit them together into a unified, beautiful body (through the work of the Holy Spirit) that reflects the grace, mercy, and empathy of the gospel.

Our Prayers are with you daily,

Brother Jeremiah