The letter of Paul to Philemon is short, but contains a powerful message the has greatly influenced our interpretation. The letter is essentially a plea from Paul to Philemon in regards to his slave Onesimus. According to the annotations in our Bible, it seems that the most likely way the Onesimus and Paul meet is that Philemon sent Onesimus (his slave) to serve Paul while he was in prison. Although highly debatable when speaking specifically, Paul wrote this letter to appeal to Philemon by using “good deed” (v.14), which leads me to believe that he wants Philemon to make the right decision by freeing Onesimus from slavedom. This interpretation can be confirmed by the verse where Paul writes, “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave”. (verse 16) He later writes that he is “Confident of you obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do more than I say” (verse 21) Furthermore, this letter is public correspondence, by Paul making this letter not private he is also in a way pressuring Philemon to make the “correct” decision, while still giving him an “option”.

Based upon this short letter, it seems that Philemon is most likely high up in terms of social status. He owns a slave and the religious authority that he has must also be quite influential. This is because Paul made this letter public meaning that Philemon was well known and that way the letter would force Philemon to make a decision. If he was unknown the public aspect of the letter would be irrelevant.

Paul seems to know Philemon a little bit, enough to be able to persuade him through a letter. Paul addresses this letter to “Philemon, our dear friend and co-worker”. (verse 1) Throughout the letter Paul makes mention of how much he values Philemon and how, at the end of the day, Philemon will make the right decision and choose the “good deed”. Paul reinforces this idea multiple times in the letter in order to get his point across without being so abrupt and pushy.

If I were Philemon and was reading this letter, I would be honestly be annoyed. Paul is subtly forcing my hand by allowing the public to read it. I wouldn’t have much choice because in order to remain in good standing with the people I would have to listen to Paul because it would look bad if I went against his wishes since he is also very popular and influential. Again, this would irritate me, since I do not like being told what to do and in way Paul is doing that to Philemon, but just makes it seem like more of a suggestion. Paul’s plan to visit also puts more pressure on the subject. Knowing that Paul could be there in person would make it harder ignore the issue. Since Paul is very passive aggressive in the letter, I would be upset because of the way that Paul would put me on the spot, but in the end I would have to do the “good deed” and do so in a very diplomatic and thankful way towards Paul.