Philemon 1:9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech you, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. We are accustomed to think of Paul the persecutor, the Christian, the missionary, the apostle, the inspired scribe, the sufferer for Christ. Here another and unexpected epithet pictures him to us as "Paul the aged." The word is from his own pen. Perhaps now he is learning for the first time that his days of mature vigour are past. Manifold labours, perils, trials, have broken him in premature age. I. PAUL WEARS OLD AGE AS A CROWN (see Proverbs 16:31). There is a pleasant story told of Frederick the Great. At a parade of the guard in the King's apartments at Berlin, Frederick's quick eye picked out among the splendid crowd the brave old Ziethen, who, though turned eighty-five years, had come to pay his duty to his monarch. Greeting the veteran with a cry of joy, the King called for a chair. Objections were in vain. "Sit down, good father," said the King. "I will have it so, or I must instantly leave the room." The old soldier yielded, and Frederick the Great continued standing before him, the centre of the illustrious circle that had gathered around, and so "honoured the face of the old man." The aged Christian has his peculiar infirmities, but he also has his peculiar joys. To the aged saint come the fullest revelations of God, the most comfortable words of Christ, the sweetest visitations of the Spirit. II. PAUL'S OLD AGE HAD ITS DUTIES AND LABOURS. He does not excuse himself from duty on the ground of age. He will do what he can for Onesimus. He writes for him with a delicacy, a tact, a tenderness, an urgency, such as he himself never surpassed. The aged Christian is still a unit in the host of society, still kindred to some and neighbour and friend to others. And still, however much may be lost, duty remains — duty to himself, to others, and in all to God. Life is lengthened that it may labour for Christ. And is not the old the best workman? The young may attract more attention, but it is the experienced hand that does the most and best. III. PAUL USED HIS AGE AS A PLEA OF LOVE. Where we may command, it is wise to request. Love wins love. Gentleness calls out gentleness. IV. PAUL IS "PAUL THE AGED" NO MORE. He has escaped, through death, from all earthly prisons, and is op pressed by old age no longer. He is "with Christ, which is far better." (G. T. Coster.) Parallel Verses KJV: Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. |
    |