Philemon has a problem. Paul sent back his runaway slave, Onesimus, with an admonition that, since Onesimus is now a Christian, Philemon should treat him “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother.” Thus the problem: if Philemon accedes to Paul’s request in this one instance, all of his slaves will quickly figure out that becoming a Christian is the path to freedom. We don’t know how Philemon resolved this dilemma. From our point of view, the fact that slavery is not condemned by Paul, seems curious. The radical equality of Christians (“male and female, slave and free, Jew and Gentile”) is a given. Paul, and the Church after him, had to develop a fuller understanding of the demands of faith.
