Philemon 1:12

12 I am sending him back. ^[a] You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,

Philemon 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Philemon 1:12

Whom I have sent again
From Rome to Colosse, or to Philemon, wherever he was, along with this epistle:

thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels;
meaning his son, who, in a spiritual sense, came out of his bowels, to whom he stood in the relation of a spiritual father; so the Syriac version renders it, as my son, so receive him; see ( Genesis 15:4 ) ( 2 Samuel 16:11 ) and for whom he had a most strong affection, and tender regard; his bowels yearned for him, and he suggests by this expression, that should he reject him, it would give him the utmost pain and uneasiness; and he should be obliged to cry out as the Prophet Jeremy did, "my bowels, my bowels, I am pained at the very heart"; ( Jeremiah 4:19 ) wherefore he entreats him to receive him again into his house and family, into his service, and into his heart and affections, where the apostle had received him.

Philemon 1:12 In-Context

10 I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains,

11 who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me.

12 I am sending him back. You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,

13 whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel.

14 But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.

Footnotes

• [a] NU-Text reads back to you in person, that is, my own heart.