ARGUMENTUM.
Philemoni familiares litteras facit pro Onesimo servo ejus, scribens ei ab urbe Roma de carcere per suprascriptum Onesimum.
THE ARGUMENT.
He makes a familiar letter to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus his slave, writing to him from the city of Rome, out of prison, by the aforesaid Onesimus.
CAPUT UNICUM.
VERS. 1.-- Paulus vinctus. Non dicit, Apostolus: quod est nomen dignitatis, sed vinctus, quod est nomen humilitatis: quia non imperat, sed orat. Est enim hic intercessio pro Onesimo: ideo quae humilitatis sunt commemorat incipiens ab injuria sua, ut dignitatem Epistolae suae faceret. Sicut enim peccati 641Ccausa vinciri opprobrium est, sic econtra pro Christo custodiae vincula sustinere, maxima gloria est. Eo ergo tempore in custodia erat. Ideo ait se vinctum.
VERS. 5.-- Quam habes. Quia enim in Christum credebat et eum diligebat; sanctis credebat et eos diligebat, et ita per opera fidei et charitatis Christo serviebat et sanctis.
VERS. 6.-- Ut communicatio. Quasi dicat: Fidem habes et charitatem in Christo et in sanctis, ita ut communicatio fidei tuae evidens fiat, id est, ut fides tua communicans fidei nostrae; vel, quod aliis ex fide tua communicas evidens sit. Et hoc, In agnitione omnis. Id est, ita evidens sit, hoc merito cognoscatur omne bonum esse in te per Christum, id est omnium 641Dbonorum sufficientia. Ut ita: Memor sum tui, et gratias ago in orationibus habitis de hoc, ut communicatio fidei tuae, id est operatio fidei qua servis Christo et sanctis, evidens fiat in agnitione quae est. In Christo Jesu. Id est, cum cognitione boni aeterni, ut illud exspectetur in praemium. Hoc enim orat Apostolus, ut operatio ejus cum cognitione fiat bonitatis, id est, ut tali mente operetur, ut in futurum inde exspectet praemium Jesum Christum, non autem retributionem temporalium.
VERS. 7.-- Viscera sanctorum. Id est filii sanctorum charissimi, vel, erga te propensus sanctorum affectus quievit in te, scilicet consolante, et refrigeratus est, quia bonum te per omnia invenerunt.
VERS. 10.-- Obsecro te. Magnum est non de humili, 642Bsed de sublimi, si se inclinat et obsecrat. Senex. Seni magis aetatis similitudine debet obsequi.
VERS. 11.-- Qui tibi aliquando, etc. (CHRYS.) Vide quam prudenter ipsius, scilicet Onesimi, delictum confitetur, ut eo ipso exstinguat iracundiam Domini, non ait: Nunc tibi utilis erit, ne ille non crederet, sed personam quoque introduxit suam, ut ex hoc ille dignius sperare meliora potuisset. Si enim Paulo futurus est utilis, qui tantam virtutis et perfectionis diligentiam exigit, quanto amplius Domino.
VERS. 12.-- Ut mea viscera, etc. Onesimum profugum 642Crecurrentem ad divinum auxilium cum esset in custodia Apostolus baptizavit, videns in illo utilitatis spem: quem sic commendat, ut suum animum in illo significet recipi.
VERS. 15.-- Forsitan enim. Ideo dicit forsitan, quia humana sunt dubia, et potuit alia esse causa, quare sic Deus disposuerit.
VERS. 16.-- Maxime mihi. Mihi magistro tuo: frater Onesimus, offenso proprio domino, confugit ad Apostolum ad hoc ut, oblitteratis peccatis, utilis reverteretur, in tantum, ut non solum domino suo aequalis fieret meritis, sed ipsi magistro frater. Et ne Philemon (quia dominus) contra servum inflaretur, humiliat eum dicens: Fratrem et in carne, quia ex uno Adam omnes, et in Domino per fidem.
642DVERS. 18.-- Hoc mihi imputa. Nunc excusationem omnem convellit, cum sibi imputandum esse dicit, si vel laesit, vel debet aliquid.
Ita frater ego te fruar in Domino. Id est, gaudebo de te in regno Dei, si feceris quod rogo. Et quid sit illud, subdit: Refice viscera, etc.
Confidens in obedientia. Provocat eum sic blandiendo, ut non amplius faciat, quam postulatur ab eo. Solet enim fieri, ut qui de se videt bene sentiri, meliorem se praebeat.
VERS. 22.-- Simul autem. Ut sollicitiorem eum faciat, et ad obediendum promptiorem, venturum se ad illum significat: quia vel hoc potest eum movere ad veniam. Solent enim absentes contemni.
THE ONLY CHAPTER.
VERS. 1.-- Paul a prisoner. He does not say, An apostle: which is a name of dignity, but a prisoner, which is a name of humility: because he does not command, but entreats. For here there is an intercession on behalf of Onesimus: therefore he calls to mind the things which belong to humility, beginning from his own injury, so that he might give dignity to his own Epistle. For as to be bound 641Cby reason of sin is a reproach, so on the contrary to endure the bonds of custody for Christ is the greatest glory. At that time, therefore, he was in custody. Therefore he says that he is a prisoner.
VERS. 5.-- Which thou hast. For because he believed in Christ and loved him; he believed the saints and loved them, and thus through the works of faith and charity he served Christ and the saints.
VERS. 6.-- That the communication. As if he should say: Thou hast faith and charity in Christ and in the saints, so that the communication of thy faith may be made evident, that is, that thy faith be communicating with our faith; or, that what thou communicatest to others out of thy faith may be evident. And this, In the acknowledgment of all. That is, let it be so evident, let all good hereby be deservedly known to be in thee through Christ, that is, the sufficiency of all 641Dgood things. As thus: I am mindful of thee, and I give thanks in the prayers held concerning this, that the communication of thy faith, that is, the working of faith by which thou servest Christ and the saints, may be made evident in the acknowledgment which is. In Christ Jesus. [Vulg. in agnitione omnis operis boni, quod est in vobis in Christo Iesu, "of every good work which is in you in Christ Jesus"] That is, with the knowledge of the eternal good, that it may be looked for as a reward. For this the Apostle prays, that that man's working may be done with the knowledge of goodness, that is, that he may work with such a mind that from it he may look for Jesus Christ as a reward in the time to come, and not the recompense of temporal things.
VERS. 7.-- The bowels of the saints. That is, the most beloved sons of the saints, or, the affection of the saints, inclined toward thee, has rested in thee, thee namely consoling, and has been refreshed, because they have found thee good in all things.
VERS. 10.-- I beseech thee. It is a great thing, not in the case of a lowly man, 642Bbut of an exalted one, if he bows himself and beseeches. An old man. One ought the more to comply with an old man, by the likeness of age.
VERS. 11.-- Who was once to thee, etc. (CHRYS.) See how prudently he confesses the fault of that very man, namely of Onesimus, that by that very thing he may extinguish the master's anger; he does not say: Now he will be useful to thee, lest that man should not believe it, but he brought in his own person as well, that from this that man might be able the more worthily to hope for better things. For if he is going to be useful to Paul, who exacts so great a diligence of virtue and of perfection, how much more to his master.
VERS. 12.-- As my own bowels, etc. The Apostle, while he was in custody, baptized Onesimus, a fugitive 642Crunning back to the divine help, seeing in him the hope of usefulness: whom he so commends that he signifies that his own soul is received in him.
VERS. 15.-- For perhaps. He therefore says perhaps, because human things are doubtful, and there could have been another cause why God so disposed it.
VERS. 16.-- Most of all to me. To me, thy teacher: the brother Onesimus, his own master having been offended, fled for refuge to the Apostle to this end, that, his sins being blotted out, he might return useful, so far that he might be made not only equal in merits to his own master, but a brother to the teacher himself. And lest Philemon (because he is master) should be puffed up against the slave, he humbles him, saying: A brother also in the flesh, because all are from one Adam, and in the Lord through faith.
642DVERS. 18.-- Impute this to me. Now he tears away every excuse, when he says that it must be imputed to himself, if he has either done harm or owes anything.
So brother may I enjoy thee in the Lord. That is, I shall rejoice over thee in the kingdom of God, if thou shalt do what I ask. And what that is, he subjoins: Refresh the bowels, etc.
Trusting in obedience. He provokes him by coaxing him thus, so that he may not do more than is asked of him [non amplius; read amplius, "that he may do more than is asked"]. For it is wont to happen that he who sees himself well thought of shows himself the better.
VERS. 22.-- But at the same time. That he may make him more solicitous, and readier to obey, he signifies that he will come to him: because even this can move him to pardon. For the absent are wont to be despised.