ARCHIVES
DIVISION
Colossae District
| Name | ONESIMUS |
| Aliases | THE RUNAWAY SLAVE / PAUL'S CHILD IN CHAINS / ONCE USELESS, NOW USEFUL |
| Status | CONVERTED THROUGH PAUL / SENT BACK AS A BELOVED BROTHER |
| Birth | UNRECORDED | Marks & Identifiers | THE SLAVE WHOSE NAME MEANS USEFUL |
| Place of Birth | COLOSSAE (SERVANT OF PHILEMON) | Hair | UNRECORDED |
| Tribe | UNRECORDED | Eyes | UNRECORDED |
| Parentage | UNRECORDED | People | THE CHURCH AT COLOSSAE |
| Occupation | BONDSERVANT / BELIEVER | Species | HUMAN |
| Affiliation | THE HOUSEHOLD OF PHILEMON | Calling | THE RECONCILED SLAVE RECEIVED AS A BROTHER |
| Primary Mission | RETURN AND BE RECONCILED TO HIS MASTER | Known Signs | THE FLIGHT AND CONVERSION / THE LETTER OF APPEAL |
| Covenant Role | A LIVING PICTURE OF GRACE AND RECONCILIATION | Divine Access | INDIRECT / BEGOTTEN IN THE FAITH BY PAUL IN PRISON |
| Divine Encounter Level | INDIRECT | Apostolic Classification | THE RECONCILED SLAVE |
| Covenant Status | FAITHFUL WITNESS | Known Miracles | NONE RECORDED |
| Divine Commission | CONFIRMED | Threat Assessment | HIS PAST WRONG AGAINST PHILEMON |
| Mission Status | RESTORED / RECEIVED AS A BELOVED BROTHER | Archive Category | APOSTOLIC / RECONCILIATION |
What Paul said his name now meant: FORMERLY USELESS, NOW USEFUL
How Paul asked Philemon to receive him: AS YOU WOULD RECEIVE ME
The subject was a slave in the household of Philemon at Colossae, who had wronged his master, perhaps by theft, and run away, making his way at last to Rome.
There he came into contact with Paul, who was in prison, and through the apostle he was converted, becoming, as Paul said, his very heart, a child begotten in his chains.
Paul would have kept him for the help he gave, but chose to send him back to Philemon, that the reconciliation might be free and not forced, and wrote a tender letter of appeal.
He asked Philemon to receive the subject no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, a beloved brother, welcoming him as he would welcome Paul himself, and offering to repay whatever the subject owed.
The subject carried the letter home with Tychicus, and is called by Paul a faithful and beloved brother, one of their own from Colossae. His story stands as a small, living picture of how the gospel turns the useless into the useful and enemies into brothers.
EYES ONLYRestricted // Sacred Record
- The gospel makes the useless useful and the estranged into family.
- Grace received calls us to return and make right what we have wronged.
- In Christ, the deepest social divisions give way to brotherhood.
