Philemon 1:14

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.

Philemon 1:14 Meaning and Commentary

Philemon 1:14

But without thy mind would I do nothing
Which shows great modesty and humility in the apostle, that though as such he had an authority, which he could have used, as well as had understanding and judgment how to have used it without consulting Philemon, or having his sense of this affair, yet chose to consult him: and it also shows the strict regard the apostle had to equity and justice, that he would do nothing with another man's servant without his consent; he would not seem to alienate, or engross another man's right and property, whatever power he might have, as an apostle, to have retained Onesimus as a minister to him.

That thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but
willingly;
that is, that his goodness in forgiving his servant, and renouncing all claim and property in him, and admitting him to continue in the service of the apostle, might not look like a forced thing; but that it might appear to be a voluntary action, when he should of himself return him, after he had been thus sent to him, and received by him.

Philemon 1:14 In-Context

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.

15 For perhaps it was for this reason he was parted from you for a time, that you might receive him back wholly and for ever yours;

16 no longer as a slave, but as something better than a slave--a brother peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to you, both as a servant and as a fellow Christian.