Philemon 1:16

No longer as a servant (ouketi w doulon). "No longer as a slave." So it has to be here. So it should be always. Paul sends Onesimus, the converted runaway slave, back to his legal master, but shows that he expects Philemon the Christian to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ, not as a slave. But more than a servant (all uper doulon). "But beyond a slave." A brother beloved (adelpon agaphton). A brother in Christ. How much rather to thee (poswi de mallon soi). "By how much more to thee," because of Philemon's legal ownership of this now Christian slave. "In the flesh Philemon had the brother for a slave; in the Lord he had the slave for a brother" (Meyer).