UNROLL
A single folded and sealed letter resting on a low wooden table in a quiet house courtyard at morning, a small clay lamp burnt out beside it.

The Book of

Philemon Intro

One short letter, one runaway, and a welcome home.

Before chapter 1≈ 2 min1 chapters

Images are artistic interpretations.

How it’s built

The shape of Paul’s appeal

Greeting1–3 · to a church in ahomeThanks forPhilemon4–7 · his faith andloveThe appeal8–16 · love, notordersCharge it to me17–19 · Paul willrepayConfidence20–22 · you will doeven moreGreetings23–25 · Mark, Luke andfriends

Whiteboard

Twenty-five verses, one request: welcome Onesimus home as a brother, and put any debt on Paul’s account.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Who wrote it

Paul

Apostle, now aged and in chains

  • Paul writes as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, with Timothy beside him.Philemon 1:1
  • He signs part of it in his own hand, promising to repay any debt.Philemon 1:19
  • Traditionally written from Rome around AD 60–62, while Paul waited under guard.Acts 28:30
  • Sent to Colossae with the letter to the Colossians, carried by Tychicus and Onesimus.Colossians 4:9

Where it was written

RomeEphesusColossae

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

From Rome to Colossae

Written in chains, traditionally in Rome. Carried east by sea to Ephesus, then inland past Laodicea to Philemon’s house in Colossae.

Big themes

Four threads to follow

Meet the cast

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Watch for

For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for good—no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother.

Philemon 1:15–16

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