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Onesimus goes home
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
Onesimus must have been quite a guy. He showed up on Paul’s doorstep as a runaway slave who had apparently stolen some of his master’s goods. In ancient Rome around AD 60, this was a capital offence, and Onesimus could have been crucified. Yet he sought out Paul, who was under house arrest at the time.
Paul was never the same after his encounter with this slave, and it was then that he most probably wrote his letter to Philemon, the slave’s master.
Paul’s communication to Philemon is a short document that is considered one of the most remarkable letters in the Bible. This letter reveals a major transformation in Paul’s views about slavery and presents seminal ideas in the budding Christian concept of democracy.
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