Philemon 1:12-16 ▼

12 And I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart,

13 whom I wished to keep with me, that in your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel;

14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, that your goodness should not be as it were by compulsion, but of your own free will.

15 For perhaps he was for this reason parted from you for a while, that you should have him back forever,

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