In the Christian calendar today, St. Philemon is one of the saints to be celebrated. Tradition holds that Philemon was martyred in the city of Colossae in the first century – stoned to death with his wife, Apphia, by an anti-Christian mob. St. Paul’s letter to Philemon, which sits in the New Testament, was extremely brief but constituted something revolutionary – a complete undermining of the slavery industry at the time. It upheld a value of life that was unheard of; one that transcended social class and its embedded divisions.

Paul’s letter concerned Onesimus, a slave from the household of Philemon. Onesimus had run away and linked up with Paul. In the context of the time, Onesimus could have been killed for such an action as he was considered as nothing more than a chattel under the ownership of his master, Philemon. He was considered no greater than a piece of furniture.

This understanding of the slave as the bottom of the social ladder to be used by those above however they saw fit was part of the social fabric of the society at the time. It held things together and helped keep the empire functioning. Punishing Onesimus severely would have been required in order to maintain the very fabric of the culture. So what Paul did challenged the running of society itself.

Paul established the letter in a very challenging manner, not as something to simply be read by Philemon himself, but also by his wife, another colleague and all the believers that met in Philemon’s home. So Philemon couldn’t simply ignore the request coming from one of the founders of the Church, he was publicly accountable for whatever his response would be.

Paul walked a careful line. He didn’t simply ask for Philemon to allow Onesimus to go free, he took the challenge further and using the full force of his reputation he called upon Philemon’s good character, to welcome him back as a brother, as no less than Paul himself.

At the heart of Paul’s letter is an understanding that all people are created in the image of God. All are equal in status in the Kingdom of God. He followed the Jesus who gave honour to those who were socially marginalised. This was the challenge of Jesus being played out in the context of slave and master. Here Paul was saying that when it came to Philemon and Onesimus, there was to be no ‘slave’ and ‘master’ but only brothers, equal in stature and it was to be forgiveness that would lay the foundation for that social shift.

It would be easy to underestimate the weight and gravity of that letter in today’s world, but it should never be taken for granted. In one, short, simple letter, Paul challenged a whole culture and society and stripped the rungs away from a social ladder that wrongly marginalised the few and subjugated the many. That letter was/is masterful and today we celebrate it and the person who received it.