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Philemon 14-16
New Catholic Bible
Philemon 14-16
New Catholic Bible
14 but I did not want to do anything without your knowledge, so that your good deed might be voluntary and not compelled.
15 Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever,[a] 16 no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave: as a brother. He is beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, both as a man[b] and in the Lord.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Philemon 1:15 Paul reasons that since he has found Christ, Onesimus is returning to Philemon as a beloved brother in Christ rather than as just a slave. Master and slave are now both brothers in Christ. Hence, for Philemon to treat Onesimus solely as a runaway slave would be entirely unfitting with his Christian witness.
- Philemon 1:16 As a man: literally “in the flesh.”
