{"schemaVersion":"1.0.0","resourceType":"pauline-resource","id":"study-philemon","locale":"en","category":"study","title":"Philemon: a guided study","description":"Four short readings on an enslaved person, Christian kinship, and a costly appeal for welcome.","canonicalUrl":"https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/study-philemon","version":"2026-09-21","capabilities":{"static":true,"interactive":false,"offline":false,"embed":true,"print":true},"usage":"Choose SVG for a scalable graphic, PNG for slides or messages, PDF for printing, or HTML for an interactive experience.","assets":[{"id":"preview.svg","format":"svg","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/preview.svg","contentType":"image/svg+xml","bytes":118155,"sha256":"e5538d171654a9f482093ee00eba31a96b78c9d6996f0a64fe1c285548504978","width":1200,"height":2295},{"id":"fonts-license.txt","format":"text","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/fonts-license.txt","contentType":"text/plain","bytes":4491,"sha256":"40991bfa02ac620aae16dc527f3c47765a25e43f270d4c301ee6ab663a8d9015"},{"id":"guide.md","format":"markdown","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/guide.md","contentType":"text/markdown","bytes":4167,"sha256":"936b56e70c335c2e07bd9e184e678ee3fd3a08f72ba0161a25869616d39a939f"},{"id":"citation.txt","format":"text","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/citation.txt","contentType":"text/plain","bytes":126,"sha256":"cac375ba98f449e461d45f31957bafa772f5f3636ccae0e51b4eac52aee18a96"},{"id":"citation.bib","format":"bibtex","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/citation.bib","contentType":"application/x-bibtex","bytes":267,"sha256":"52cc04c4f024a948dff6f6e4a72bb479ba0417d41062847f1787b60c87004e51"},{"id":"citation.ris","format":"ris","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/citation.ris","contentType":"application/x-research-info-systems","bytes":174,"sha256":"cffbd548fb7eecfe1c534bac7d717e45862b5ceda0a2f43129078ede16a0a9d5"},{"id":"preview.png","format":"png","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/preview.png","contentType":"image/png","bytes":468179,"sha256":"00aeabbbd6d6ff697669cc48877eb22313e47b4b9c3da67e6f9fbca99f9a2499","width":1200,"height":2295},{"id":"study-a4.pdf","format":"pdf","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/study-a4.pdf","contentType":"application/pdf","bytes":43111,"sha256":"02e2487efe9ebf33971b1ffc17446e673014605b60903e5f3f40df786df88ef5","variant":"A4"},{"id":"study-letter.pdf","format":"pdf","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/study-letter.pdf","contentType":"application/pdf","bytes":43044,"sha256":"3c3a80796364ebe31654f356a927a7bfd43f8357f87a57f1cc2754e88e67bf31","variant":"US Letter"},{"id":"bundle.zip","format":"zip","url":"https://paulineletters.com/resources/en/study-philemon/bundle.zip","contentType":"application/zip","bytes":598193,"sha256":"46dbec7f3b847d2d88b47c8944887a996064b572a04cdafc06cc96f96cbe92d5"}],"accessibility":{"alt":"Philemon: a guided study. Four short readings on an enslaved person, Christian kinship, and a costly appeal for welcome.","explanation":"Philemon is Paul’s appeal concerning Onesimus, an enslaved man whom Paul has come to regard as a beloved brother. Addressed within a wider circle, the letter asks Philemon to receive Onesimus in the light of their shared relationship in Christ. Its persuasion makes reconciliation costly and concrete. Read it with attention to unequal power and to the limits of what the surviving text tells us."},"question":"What does receiving Onesimus as a brother require of Philemon?","answer":"Philemon is Paul’s appeal concerning Onesimus, an enslaved man whom Paul has come to regard as a beloved brother. Addressed within a wider circle, the letter asks Philemon to receive Onesimus in the light of their shared relationship in Christ. Its persuasion makes reconciliation costly and concrete. Read it with attention to unequal power and to the limits of what the surviving text tells us.","references":["Philemon 1:1–7","Philemon 1:8–16","Philemon 1:17–21","Philemon 1:22–25"],"sources":[{"id":"primary","title":"Philemon","citation":"Philemon; primary biblical text. Reading references only; no Bible text is reproduced in this resource.","url":"https://ebible.org/eng-web/PHM.htm"},{"id":"brown","title":"An Introduction to the New Testament","citation":"Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (Doubleday, 1997), chapter 21. Background and scholarly discussion; not an endorsement of every interpretation in this study."}],"sessions":[{"id":"household","title":"A personal appeal within a community","references":["Philemon 1:1–7"],"explanation":"Paul’s greeting includes Apphia, Archippus, and the church meeting in the house. Thanksgiving for Philemon’s love prepares an appeal that has communal significance even though it addresses him personally. The relationships named at the opening remind us that private decisions about power can shape the life of a whole community.","question":"How does the circle of recipients affect the way you hear a seemingly private letter?"},{"id":"onesimus","title":"See Onesimus as a brother","references":["Philemon 1:8–16"],"explanation":"Paul appeals through love and describes Onesimus as dear to him. His request places Christian kinship against the reduction of a person to their social status. Notice the limits of the account: Onesimus’s own voice is not preserved, and the passage does not tell us every circumstance behind his separation from Philemon.","question":"What changes when the person being discussed must be received as a beloved brother?"},{"id":"cost","title":"Make welcome concrete","references":["Philemon 1:17–21"],"explanation":"Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus as he would receive Paul and offers to bear a possible debt. His wording does not prove that a theft occurred. Reconciliation involves material responsibility and changed treatment, not only warm language. The text’s pressure on Philemon should be examined alongside its unequal social setting.","question":"What concrete costs and responsibilities does Paul take on to make his appeal effective?"},{"id":"future","title":"An open ending and continuing responsibility","references":["Philemon 1:22–25"],"explanation":"The request for lodging and the coworkers’ greetings locate the appeal in an ongoing network. No surviving reply here records what Philemon actually did, and the letter does not explicitly order emancipation. Discuss what its appeal would require without inventing an ending or treating the absence of an abolition command as approval of slavery.","question":"What can you responsibly say the letter asks, and what remains unknown about the outcome?"}],"qualifications":[{"heading":"Read the letter in its setting","paragraphs":["Paul writes as a prisoner; the prison city is unnamed, with Rome and other settings discussed. Direct Pauline authorship is widely accepted. Onesimus’s name also appears in Colossians, linking the letters in traditional reconstruction. The common story that he was a runaway who stole from Philemon is an inference, not an explicit account: Paul refers conditionally to wrongdoing or debt without explaining how Onesimus reached him."],"references":["Philemon 1:1–7","Philemon 1:10–19","Philemon 1:22–25"],"sourceIds":["primary","brown"]},{"heading":"Follow the argument","paragraphs":["The letter moves from thanks for Philemon’s love to an appeal for Onesimus, an offer to bear a possible debt, and closing expectations and greetings. It does not explicitly command legal emancipation, and interpreters debate whether Paul’s appeal implies it. That limitation should be acknowledged alongside its powerful challenge to treating a fellow believer merely as property. Christian kinship must not be used to conceal coercion or to romanticize ancient slavery."],"references":["Philemon 1:8–21"],"sourceIds":["primary"]}],"license":{"content":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","exclusions":"Original resource content and artwork: CC BY 4.0. Bible text and third-party materials are excluded.","attribution":"PaulineLetters.com"},"citation":{"text":"Pauline Letters. “Philemon: a guided study.” Updated 2026-09-21. https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/study-philemon","markdown":"[Philemon: a guided study](https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/study-philemon) — Pauline Letters (2026-09-21).","html":"Philemon: a guided study — Pauline Letters (2026-09-21).","bibtex":"@online{paulineletters-study-philemon,\n author = {{Pauline Letters}},\n title = {Philemon: a guided study},\n date = {2026-09-21},\n url = {https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/study-philemon}\n}\n","ris":"TY - ELEC\nTI - Philemon: a guided study\nAU - Pauline Letters\nDA - 2026/09/21\nUR - https://paulineletters.com/explore/resources/study-philemon\nER -\n"},"embed":"
\"Philemon:
Philemon: a guided study — Pauline Letters · CC BY 4.0
"}