Philemon 1:12

12 I am sending him back to you, though in so doing I send part of myself.

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 entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I have become while in my chains--I mean Onesimus.

11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now--true to his name--he is of great use to you and to me.

12 I am sending him back to you, though in so doing I send part of myself.

13 It was my wish to keep him at my side for him to attend to my wants, as your representative, during my imprisonment for the Good News.

14 Only I wished to do nothing without your consent, so that his kind action of yours might not be done under pressure, but might be a voluntary one.