In this summer study, we read through Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. This letter gives us a very practical example of the outworking of the Gospel. As background for this study, I have used N.T. Wright’s Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. This study covers one week and should be read in conjunction with the study on Colossians.
(Summer 2013)
Philemon, pt.1
Within this letter, Paul shows the practical application of the gospel teaching to a situation that would normally result in Onesimus’s death or severe physical punishment.
Philemon, pt.2
In Paul’s invocation of other people in his greeting and benediction, we are reminded that our life in Christ is never an individual endeavor, but that we are always part of a community when we are speaking or when being addressed.