Philemon 1:1-16 ▼

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and fellow-worker,

2 and to Apphia, the sister, and to Archippus, our fellow-soldier, and to the assembly in your house:

3 grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I give thanks to my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,

5 hearing of your love and the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints;

6 that the fellowship of your faith may become effectual, in the knowledge of every good thing in you, for Christ.

7 For I had much joy and consolation on account of your love, because the tender affections of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

8 Wherefore, though having much boldness in Christ to enjoin upon you that which is becoming,

9 yet for love's sake I rather exhort, being such a one as Paul an aged man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus:

10 I beseech you for my child, whom I begat in my bonds, Onesimus,

11 who at one time was unprofitable to you, but now profitable to you and to me;

12 whom I sent back to you, in his own person, that is, my very heart;

13 whom I was disposed to keep with me, that in your stead he might minister to me in the bonds of the Gospel;

14 but, without your consent, I was willing to do nothing; that your beneficence might not be by necessity, but by choice.

15 For, perhaps, he departed for a season for this reason, that you might have him back forever;

16 no longer as a slave, but above a slave, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord!