Philemon 1:12
in Philemon 1I am sending back to you him who is my very heart.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart:
KJV
Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:
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This verse in Philemon 1
Commentary
12 notes on this verseAnd 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.
This site's exposition
I appeal to you for my child Onesimus
on Philemon 1:10-12
In the Greek the name Onesimus comes last, after my child, whose father I became while I was in chains. The name means profitable. Paul plays on it: he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
This site's exposition
I am sending back to you
Paul sends Onesimus back in person with this letter. Chrysostom observes that a master grows angriest when someone appeals for a slave who is absent, so sending him back softens Philemon. Adam Clarke holds that Paul was bound to send him back, and love sent his heart with him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"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 …
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 Medieval Church2 voices
That is, receive him with love, or rather not him, but my very heart, for so much do I love him and carry him in my soul.
Then when he says, I am sending him back to you, he makes his request. First, he makes it, then he answers a question: I had wanted to keep him here. And so he says, and do you welcome him as though he were my …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Receive him, that is, my own bowels - Whom I love as my own soul. Such is the natural affection of a father in Christ toward his spiritual children.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Whom I have sent again,....
Philemon, a Phrygian, might perhaps be naturally of a rough and difficult temper, and thence need no little pains in touching all the springs that might move him to forgiveness and reconciliation; but rather should we strive to be like God, who is slow to anger, ready to forgive, and abundant in pardons.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Whom I have sent again - That is, to Philemon. This was, doubtless, at his own request, for: (1) There is not the slightest evidence that he compelled him, or even urged him to go. The language is just such as would have been used on the supposition either that he requested him to go and bear a letter to Colosse, or that Onesimus desired to go, and that Paul sent him agreeably to his request; compare Php 2:25. “Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother, and companion in labor,” etc.; Col 4:7-8. “All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord: whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate,” etc. But Epaphroditus and Tychicus were not sent against their own will - nor is there any more reason to think that Onesimus was; see the introduction, Section 2. See (4) Below. (2) Paul had no power to send Onesimus back to his master unless he chose to go. He had no civil authority; he had no guard to accompany him; he could entrust him to no sheriff to convey him from place to place, and he had no means of controlling him, if he chose to go to any other place than Colosse. He could indeed have sent him away from himself; he could have told him to go to Colossae, but his power ended there. Onesimus then could have gone where he pleased. But there is no evidence that Paul even told him to go to Colossae against his own inclination, or that he would have sent him away at all unless he had himself requested it. (3) There may have been many reasons why Onesimus desired to return to Colosse, and no one can prove that he did not express that desire to Paul, and that his “sending” him was not in consequence of such a request. […]
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὃν | hon | whom | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἀνέπεμψά | anepempsa | I have sent back | G375 → | |
| σοι | soi | to you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| αὐτόν, | auton | in person — | G846 → | 5565 times |
| τοῦτ᾽ | tout᾽ | who | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἔστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| τὰ | ta | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐμὰ | ema | my | G1473 → | 839 times |
| σπλάγχνα | splagchna | very heart — | G4698 → | 11 times |
ὃνwhom
honG3739 →1405 times
ἀνέπεμψάI have sent back
anepempsaG375 →
σοιto you
soiG4771 →2973 times
αὐτόν,in person —
autonG846 →5565 times
τοῦτ᾽who
tout᾽G3778 →1381 times
ἔστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
τὰ<the>
taG3588 →19766 times
ἐμὰmy
emaG1473 →839 times
σπλάγχναvery heart —
splagchnaG4698 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:32Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
it leads to
- Matthew 6:14–15
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Colossians 3:12–13
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- Mark 11:25
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
- 1 Peter 3:8–9
Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.
- 2 Corinthians 2:10
If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake,
- Matthew 6:14–15
Through
Mark 11:25And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
it leads to
- Colossians 3:13
Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- Colossians 3:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Philemon
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Philemon; John Chrysostom, Homily on Philemon 2; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, COMMENTARY ON PHILEMON; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Philemon and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Philemon.