The Request

Part 1: PAUL AND HIS WORLD
Chapter One RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY?
1. A World of Difference
(iii) The Request

So what is Paul asking for? Onesimus has come to him, has been converted, and is now being sent back to his master. What is Paul’s request?
Despite those who have suggested that Paul is unclear at the crucial point, I see his central request as straightforward and unambiguous. It comes at verse 17, which should be seen as effectively the start of a new paragraph: ‘So, anyway, if you reckon me a partner in your work, receive him as though he was me.’23 The main thing Paul is asking for is that, when Onesimus returns home, Philemon will regard him as if he were Paul himself: ‘if you regard me as a koin?nos, accept him (proslabou auton) as if he were me.’ That will follow directly from Philemon’s being prepared to see him as a brother in Christ (verse 16). It will have the effect, at the very least, in his not condemning Onesimus to any of the punishments which might have been expected – up to and including death by crucifixion. But Paul wants more than that. He wants Philemon to see him as a beloved brother...