Philemon
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Philemon is the shortest letter Paul ever wrote, and perhaps the most personal. It is addressed to a believer named Philemon, most likely someone Paul met or influenced during his missionary work out of Ephesus. Philemon is a prominent, wealthy man living in Colossae, and the person named right after him, Apphia, is probably his wife. That is nearly all we know about him. We are told even less about Onesimus, Philemon’s bondservant, who at some point ran away, most likely after taking something that was not his, breaking whatever relationship the two had. Somehow Onesimus lands in the very…
