to send up or back · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
thou
σοιsoi
G4771
thou · personal pronoun — 2nd person dative singular
therefore
δέdé
G1161
but
receive
προσλαβοῦ.proslabou
G4355
to take to oneself · verb — second aorist middle imperative, 2nd person singular
him
αὐτόν,auton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
that
τοῦτοtoûto
G5124
that thing
is
ἐστίestí
G2076
he (she or it) is
own
ἐμόςemós
G1699
my
bowels
σπλάγχναsplagchna
G4698
an intestine (plural) · noun — accusative plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mark 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Luke 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his…
Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Jeremiah 31:20 Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are tr…
Matthew 18:21-35 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Deuteronomy 13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, ent…
2 Samuel 16:11 And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Philemon 1:8–end
We have here,
I. The main business of the epistle, which was to plead with Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, that he would receive him and be reconciled to him. Many arguments Paul urges for this purpose, Plm 1:8-21. The
1st Argument is taken from what was before noted, and is carried in the illative wherefore: "Seeing so much good is reported of thee and found in thee, especially thy love to all saints, now let me see it on a fresh and further occasion; refresh the bowels of Onesimus and mine also, in forgiving and receiving him, who is now a convert, and so a saint indeed, and meet for thy favour and love." Observe, A disposition to do good, together with past instances and expressions of it…
mine own bowels--as dear to me as my own heart [ALFORD]. Compare Plm 1:17, "as myself." The object of my most intense affection as that of a parent for a child.
Adam Clarke on Philemon 1:12
Whom I have sent again - The Christian religion never cancels any civil relations; a slave, on being converted, and becoming a free man of Christ, has no right to claim, on that ground, emancipation from the service of his master. Justice, therefore, required St. Paul to send back Onesimus to his master, and conscience obliged Onesimus to agree in the propriety of the measure; but love to the servant induced the apostle to write this conciliating letter to the master.
John Gill on 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 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 4:1…
The Church Fathers
And what he says: "But you accept him, that is, my heart," this is what I said a little earlier, that "heart" signifies the internal affection of the heart and the full willingness from the soul, when everything that is in us is received from the one asking. But otherwise, all children are the parents' hearts.
"whom I have sent back". To hand Onesimus over to the master, rather extinguished his anger. "to receive him as my very heart". What do I mean by "receive him"? Receiving this one, you will receive my own very "heart". Thus he says, I love him as one calls him his own "heart". And "receive" means to accept with love.
By this also he has quenched his anger, by delivering him up. For masters are then most enraged, when they are entreated for the absent, so that by this very act he mollified him the more. "Thou therefore receive him, that is mine own bowels." And again he has not given the bare name, but uses with it a word that might move him, which is more affectionate than son. He has said, "son," he has said, "I have begotten" him, so that it was probable he would love him much, because he begot him in his trials. For it is manifest that we are most inflamed with affection for those children, who have been born to us in dangers which we have escaped, as when the Scripture saith, "Woe, Barochabel!" and again when Rachel names Benjamin, "the son of my sorrow." (Gen. xxxv. 18.) "Thou therefore," he says, "receive him, that is mine own bowels." He shows the greatness of his affection. He has not said, Take him back, he has not said, Be not angry, but "receive him"; that is, he is worthy not only of pardon, but of honor. Why? Because he is become the son of Paul.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Forgiveness · OF ENEMIES — OF ENEMIES
Intercession · .Paul for Onesimus — .Paul for Onesimus
Master · SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS — SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Philemon 1:8-14
8. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
8. Quapropter multam in Christo fiduciam habens imperandi tibi quod decet.
9. Yet, for love's sake, I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
9. Propter caritatem magis rogo, quum talis sim, nempe Paulus senex; nunc vero etiam vinctus Iesu Christi.
10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
10. Rogo autem to pro filio meo, quem genui in vinculis meis, Onesimo,
11. Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
11. Qui aliquando tibi inutilis fuit, nunc a…
Onesimus means “useful.” • hasn’t been of much use (literally useless) . . . very useful: This might be a play on words (cp. 1:20). Onesimus was now serving others and proclaiming the Good News. At last he had become what his name means.
