Background: Most scholars believe that Onesimus is a slave that has run away from his master. He has either run away to escape to freedom, or he has run away to beg Paul to ask his master to be lenient on him because of some offense. Either way, what we understand is that after Onesimus ran away, he becomes a full fledged follower of God and in Paul's eyes this changes the situation. So Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon to make things right and expects Philemon to treat him graciously.
7 - Paul starts out by reminding Philemon that Christians are not meant to be alone. We do not fly solo. We are a prat of a greater body than ourselves...we are a part of a body of love and accountability. This is important for us to understand because Paul is about to ask Philemon to do something that is unheard of in this time...show mercy to a runaway slave.
8-9 - Paul has a right to demand obedience from Philemon as an apostle, but instead he chooses to use a gracious appeal. Good lesson for those in leadership.
11 - The word useless in this passage is basically synonymous with Christ-less. He is saying, when Onesimus left you he was not a Christians...now he is a changed man...now he is a man of Christ, which changes everything.
17 - We see the runaway slave become the apostolic representative for Paul - wow! What a beautiful picture of the grace and life change that Jesus offers.
End - Onesimus goes back to his master to pay his debts like any man of God wants to do. Paul expects that Philemon will treat Onesimus with the respect that is due to a fellow brother in Christ, and hopes that Onesimus will be able to return to help him in his old age. We have no idea how the story ends, but it is safe to say that it ended well since it made it into the bible! I don;t think the early church fathers would have included a letter from Paul that was completely ignore!
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