Philemon 1:17 If you count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. The apostle here directly puts his request, "If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself" He regards Philemon as a partner in faith and love and life. It is a recurrence to an old argument, "If there be any fellowship of the Spirit... fulfill ye my joy." I. THE FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS. It subsists in the fellowship with the Father and the Son, and derives all its force therefrom. (1 John 1:3.) That fellowship implies that all saints have a common Father (Ephesians 4:6), a common elder Brother (Hebrews 2:11), a common inheritance (Ephesians 2:19; Revelation 1:9), a common grace (Philippians 1:7), a common suffering (1 Corinthians 12:26; Hebrews 10:33, 34). The Holy Spirit is the Author and the Power of this fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:13), as love is the "bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14). Thus believers become of "one heart and one soul." II. THE PLEA FOUNDED UPON THIS FELLOWSHIP. "Receive him as myself." 1. It is a genuine plea; for the apostle elsewhere says, "If there be any fellowship of the Spirit ... look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:4). "Love seeketh not her own." 2. Onesimus was now a partner as well as the apostle. Therefore, as the old Puritan says, "Love me, love my partner: one partner receives another, even for a partner's sake." If Philemon loves Christ in the apostle, why not in Onesimus? "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). We are to love Christ in the meanest of his servants. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.WEB: If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. |
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