Filemón 1:16

16 ya no como a esclavo, sino como algo mejor: como a un hermano querido, muy especial para mí, pero mucho más para ti, como persona y como hermano en el Señor.

Filemón 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Philemon 1:16

Not now as a servant
That is, not only as a servant, for a servant he was, and was to be received as such; his call by grace had not dissolved the civil relation that was between him and his master, though it had added to it something that was above it, and greater than it:

but above a servant;
in a higher condition, as the Arabic version renders it, than a servant; not barely considered in that relation, but as being in one much preferable to it:

a brother beloved, specially to me;
a brother in Christ, and to be beloved on that account, as he was especially by the apostle, who had been the instrument of his conversion; see ( Colossians 4:9 ) .

But how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord?
both in a natural and civil sense, as being of the same nation and country, and as being part of his family, his servant, and now become an useful and profitable one; and, in a spiritual sense, being in the Lord, belonging to the Lord Jesus, to that family which is named of him, being a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the household of God, and therefore must be doubly dear to him.

Filemón 1:16 In-Context

14 Sin embargo, no he querido hacer nada sin tu consentimiento, para que tu favor no sea por obligación sino espontáneo.

15 Tal vez por eso Onésimo se alejó de ti por algún tiempo, para que ahora lo recibas para siempre,

16 ya no como a esclavo, sino como algo mejor: como a un hermano querido, muy especial para mí, pero mucho más para ti, como persona y como hermano en el Señor.

17 De modo que, si me tienes por compañero, recíbelo como a mí mismo.

18 Si te ha perjudicado o te debe algo, cárgalo a mi cuenta.