1:19
I, Paul, have written this with my own hand. I will repay it, not to mention that you owe me your very self." What he says is this: "Whatever Onesimus may have wronged you, I will repay. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will not remind you that you owe me your very self. But I say this as speaking to a stranger. Moreover, if I should regain my right due to the message of Christ, which I have preached to you, and you have become a Christian, you owe yourself to me. So if you are mine, and all your possessions are mine: Onesimus also, who is yours, is mine. Therefore, I could use him as my own; but I leave it to your will, so that you may have a reward by forgiving.
1:20
"So, brother, I might enjoy you in the Lord." The Latin language does not clarify the Greek word 'proprietatem'. What he says, "yes, brother, yes" is something like the adverb of flattery. But we interpreters sound more flowing and diluted as "so, brother," something else more than what is written. For as Anna's Hebrew word frequently translated by the seventy interpreters as "oh yes", indicates a prayerful attitude in their own language. Hence sometimes Symmachus translated Anna as "I pray," that is, "I beseech." We also suffer the same strength in the Greek language that Greeks sustain in the Hebrew language. What he says, "I might enjoy you in the Lord," is understood as something far more than it is thought. The Apostle enjoys nothing but that which has many virtues and sings in itself, and everything that is called Christ for a variety of reasons: namely, wisdom, justice, self-restraint, gentleness, temperance, chastity: Philemon invokes these to abound in them, so that he himself may be fulfilled in enjoying them. And lest you think that fruition is said, in which we often delight in the presence of our own, he added, "in the Lord:" so that from the fact that the name of the Lord is added, it is understood that there is another enjoyment, by which one enjoys without the Lord.
"Renew my being in Christ." Thus just as Philemon wanted to enjoy him in the Lord, so he wants his own being Onesimus, whom also previously he called by the same name, to be renewed through Philemon, and it is said ambiguously: whether it is Onesimus' being in Christ that is of Paul, or whether it must be said that Onesimus' being is to be renewed through Philemon in Christ. If you wish to understand the former, correctly you will say that Onesimus is of Paul's being in Christ whom he begot in Christ's chains. If the latter applies: Onesimus is to be renewed in Christ through Philemon, as he is trained by his teachings in Christ.
1:21
"Confident in your obedience, I have written to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say." Whoever presumes of him whom he is about to ask, prejudices himself in a certain manner, that it may not be lawful for him to deny what he is asked. Moreover, if he who asks knows that he will be asked for more than he has asked, he seeks smaller things, that he may have the voluntary compliance of the person asked, and a greater reward in return. But if Philemon does these things according to the precept of man: how much more will he do them for the love of God? Therefore, he is justly praised by the voice of the Apostle, because he anticipated his commands by his actions and could say, "Let the voluntary offerings of my mouth be pleasing to you, Lord" (Ps. 119:108), doing more than the precept required, he conquers those who only did what was commanded and are ordered to say, "We are useless servants because we have done what we were obliged to do" (Lk. 17:10). Virginity is also awarded a greater prize for this reason: because the precept of the Lord does not have it and it extends beyond what was ordered.
1:22
"But at the same time prepare a lodging for me." I do not think that the Apostle was so rich, and occupied with such great burdens, that he needed a prepared lodging, and that he would not be content with a single cell, a house of small size for his body's limited capacity, but rather to do what he was asked while he was being waited for by Philemon. However, if someone thinks that he was given a command to prepare a lodging for himself, not in a discretionary manner, but truly, the Apostle had to prepare a lodging more than Paul. He was about to go to a new city, to preach the Crucifix, and to impart unheard-of dogmas, knowing that many would come to him; and it was necessary first, that the house be in a celebrated place of the city, to which he could easily be convened. Then, that it be empty of all importunity: that it be spacious, so that it could hold many listeners: not near places of spectacle, not in an unseemly and detestable neighborhood; finally, that it be located on a level site rather than in a cenacle. For which reason, I believe he even stayed in Rome for two years (( "Al." biennio)). And the dwelling place, as I think, was not small, to which the crowds of Jews flowed every day.
For I hope that I will be given to you through your prayers. The Son pleads to the Father, and God grants indulgence, and a brother is often saved by the prayer of his brother. But the Apostle is granted by the prayers of the whole Church, for the benefit of those who are going to hear him. And this gift is said not so much to be on him to whom it is given who is prepared from martyrdom to martyrdom, as on those to whom the Apostle is sent. But that Paul was frequently in prison and was freed from chains, he himself says in another place: "In prisons frequently" (2 Cor. 11), from which sometimes, with the help of the Lord, and frequently even his persecutors finding nothing worthy of death in him, he was let go. For there had not yet been decrees of the Senate against the name of Christian; nor had Nero's sword as yet grown red with Christian blood. But, for the novelty of the new name, either through the envy of wicked men, or the zeal of people eager to destroy their ancient customs, they were sent to prison and again released in a frenzy of popular excitement, which soon subsided. And this is how we say it to be, Acts of the Apostles testify, in which Felix also speaks to Agrippa: that Paul could have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar (Acts 25). And because he found no reason except for some questions about his own religion, and a certain Jesus, whom Paul preached as alive. From this we observe that, and similarly from other judges, they could have been released, the Lord causing a new preaching to be spread throughout the whole world.
1:23-24
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. As we mentioned earlier, the letter to the Colossians was written at the same time and through the same person as the letter to Philemon, and the names of those who send greetings are mentioned in both letters. In fact, in the letter to the Colossians, it is written: "Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas, and Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ" (Colossians 4:10, 12). And a little later: "Luke the beloved physician greets you, and Demas; greet Archippus, who is in the Lord. See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord" (Colossians 4:14, 17); and: "Remember my chains" (Colossians 4:18). But if someone does not consider the writings to be equally authorized, because a few names that are not mentioned here are written to the Colossians, let them know that not all are friends to everyone or are known; and that it is one thing to write a private letter to one individual, and another to write a public letter to the entire Church. "Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you," he says. As for who Epaphras, Paul's fellow prisoner, is, we have received such a story: They say that the parents of the apostle Paul were from the region of Gyscalis in Judea; and when the whole province was laid waste by the Roman forces, and the Jews were dispersed throughout the world, they were sent to the city of Tharsus in Cilicia; and young Paul followed his parents' condition. And so it can be said that what he testifies about himself is true: "They are Hebrews, so am I. They are Israelites, so am I. They are descendants of Abraham, so am I" (2 Cor. 11:22). And elsewhere: "A Hebrew of Hebrews" (Philip. 3:5): and other things that indicate him as a Jew rather than from Tarsus. If this is so, we can suspect that Epaphras was captured at the same time as Paul, and when he was released placed with his parents in the city of Colossae in Asia, he later received Christ's words. Hence to the Colossians, as we have said above, is written: "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you" (Col. 4:12). If this is so, then Aristarchus, who is said to have been his fellow prisoner in the same Epistle, will be interpreted in the same way, unless perhaps something hidden and sacred, as some think, is shown in the word captivity ("Al." shows) that those who were captured and bound were brought ( "Al." led) into this valley of tears. And if neither [interpretation] is accepted, from what has been added here 'in Christ Jesus,' we can suspect that they endured the same bonds for Christ as Paul did at Rome; and just as a prisoner of Christ [referring to Paul], so also to one caught [in the bonds of Christ]. Or certainly because he is noble himself among the apostles, like Andronicus and Julia, about whom it is written to the Romans: 'Greet Andronicus and Julia, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles, and who were in Christ before me' (Romans 16:7). This is about Epaphras. Furthermore, when writing to Philemon about his Gospel and its constraints, he lists Mark, whom I believe to be the founder of the Gospel, and Aristarchus, whom we previously mentioned, and Demas, about whom he complains elsewhere: "Demas has abandoned me, because he loves the present age, and he went to Thessalonica." And Luke the physician, who, abandoning the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles for the Churches, has been turned from a fisherman of fish to a fisherman of men by the Apostles (Matth. 4): so of the physician of bodies, he has been changed to a physician of souls, of whom it is also said elsewhere: "I have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel through all the churches" (2 Cor. 8:18): every time his book is read in the churches, his medicine is unfailing.
1:25
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." As the people of Israel are numbered according to their tribes (Num. 1:2) from the better part of the head of man, so indeed in the whole man, and in every part of the saints, there is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But from the greater and better part, that is, from the spirit, it is said by synecdoche for the whole man: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." Since grace is in the spirit, it makes the whole man spiritual; that the flesh also serves the spirit, and the soul is not overcome by the flesh, and is brought together in the substance of the spirit, so that it clings to the Lord; for whoever clings to the Lord is one spirit (2 Cor. 6). "Paul, admirable," is interpreted according to the Jews ('Al.' Hebrews). Timothy, a benefactor. Philemon, wonderfully gifted," or "mouth of bread," from the mouth, not the bone. "Apphia, continent," or "freedom. Archippus, length of work. Onesimus, responsive. Epaphras, fruitful," and "seeing," or "growing. Mark, sublime in command. Aristarchus, a mountain of greater work. Demas, silent. Luke, rising himself." If you wish to understand these names according to their meaning, it is not difficult to write wonderfully and benevolently to him for whom all faults are granted and whose mouth is open to heavenly bread. Then for the continent, the free, and the length of the work: that they never cease from holy labors. But to write for he who will answer by his own testimony, and also for him, (whom the letter) is specifically dedicated to, greetings (from the) growing abundance. And (for) him who has (been) made (through) sublime commands, and also (for) him, who has risen up through great works to the mountain, even (for) him who has set a guard upon his mouth, and a fortified gate upon his lips: who perhaps was silent for this reason, because he had left the Apostle for a little while. And finally, (for) him, who rising up daily by himself, grows and has a progress: while the world is filled with his Gospel, and increases as often as it is heard and read, it builds up.