Philemon 1:17
in Philemon 1So if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.
KJV
If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.
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This verse in Philemon 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verse"If therefore you have me as a partner, receive him as you would me." Philemon desired to have Paul as a partner, and believing in Christ, he truly wanted to make such progress as to become like Paul, so that he could share his chains with him. Let us consider how much praise Onesimus is given here, how much he is said to have profited: since he must be received in such a way as the Apostle, and so should desire his fellowship, as belonging to Paul.
This site's exposition
receive him as you would receive me
on Philemon 1:17-19
Paul puts himself in Onesimus's place: receive him as you would receive me, and if he owes you anything, charge it to my account. Verse 19 signs the pledge, I will repay it. Paul adds that you owe me your very self.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Paul argues that what he desires of Philemon is consistent with the shared faith and shared condition of believers. The injunction to receive Onesimus as if he were Paul does not mean Philemon should receive him as an apostle but "as you would personally receive …
"So if you consider me a partner". That is, if you think and wish the same things as I do. "welcome him as you would me". Wow, how great is the magnitude of those words! …
So if you consider me as a partner, receive him as you would receive me. He shows such concern for Onesimus that he says Philemon, whom he praises above, should consider him as his own companion if he welcomes him as he would welcome an …
No procedure is so apt to gain a hearing, as not to ask for everything at once. For see after how many praises, after how much preparation he hath introduced this great matter. After having said that he is "my son," that he is a partaker of the Gospel, that he is "my bowels," that thou receivest him back "as a brother," and "hold him as a brother," then he has added "as myself." And Paul was not ashamed to do this. For he who was not ashamed to be called the servant of the faithful, but confesses that he was such, much more would he not refuse this. But what he says is to this effect. If thou art of the same mind with me, if thou runnest upon the same terms, if thou considerest me a friend, receive him as myself.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Therefore, he says, If, therefore, you count me as a partner, welcome him. 1 John 1:7: 'But if we walk in the light as he also is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.' And he says as you would me because he …
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
That is, if you acknowledge that you are of one mind with me, then receive him as you would me. Who would not be put to shame by the apostle? Who would not desire to receive Paul?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Answer, Onesimus being now penitent, it was doubtless to encourage him, and to support him against the fears he might have in returning to a master whom he had so much abused and wronged, to keep him from sinking into despondency and dejection, and encourage him to his duty.
If thou count me therefore a partner,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If there count me therefore a partner - The word rendered “partner” (κοινωνὸς koinōnos, means “a partaker, a companion.” The idea in the word is that of having something in common (κοινὸς koinos) with any one - as common principles; common attachments; a common interest in an enterprise; common hopes.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
a partner--in the Christian fellowship of faith, hope, and love. receive him as myself--resuming "receive him that is mine own bowels."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
If thou count me therefore a partner - If thou dost consider me as a friend; if I have still the place of a friend in thy affection, receive him as myself; for, as I feel him as my own soul, in receiving him thou receivest me. There is a fine model of recommending a friend to the attention of a great man in the epistle of Horace to Claudius Nero, in behalf of his friend Septimius, Epistolar. lib. i., Ep. 9, which contains several strokes not unlike some of those in the Epistle to Philemon. It is written with much art; but is greatly exceeded by that of St. Paul. As it is very short I shall insert it: - Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intelligit unus, Quanti me facias; nam cum rogat, et prece cogit Scilicet, ut tibi se laudare, et tradere coner, Dignum mente domoque legentis honesta Neronis, Munere cum fungi propioris censet amici; Quid possim videt, ac novit me valdius ipso. Multa quidem dixi, cur excusatus abirem: Sed timui, mea ne finxisse minora putarer, Dissimulator opis propriae, mihi commodus uni. Sic ego, majoris fugiens opprobria culpae, Frontis ad urbanae descendi praemia. Quod si Depositum laudas, ob amici jussa, pudorem; Scribe tui gregis hunc, et fortem crede bonumque. “O Claudius Septimius alone knows what value thou hast for me; for he asks and earnestly entreats me to recommend him to thee, as a man worthy of the service and confidence of Nero, who is so correct a judge of merit. When he imagines that I possess the honor of being one of thy most intimate friends, he sees and knows me more particularly than I do myself. I said indeed many things to induce him to excuse me; but I feared lest I should be thought to dissemble my interest with thee, that I might reserve it all for my own advantage. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | |
| οὖν | oun | therefore | G3767 → | |
| με | me | me | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| ἔχεις | echeis | you consider | G2192 → | 707 times |
| κοινωνόν, | koinonon | a partner, | G2844 → | |
| προσλαβοῦ | proslabou | do yourself receive | G4355 → | |
| αὐτὸν | auton | him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ὡς | hos | as | G5613 → | 500 times |
| ἐμέ. | eme | me myself. | G1473 → | 839 times |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →
οὖνtherefore
ounG3767 →
μεme
meG3165 →1936 times
ἔχειςyou consider
echeisG2192 →707 times
κοινωνόν,a partner,
koinononG2844 →
προσλαβοῦdo yourself receive
proslabouG4355 →
αὐτὸνhim
autonG846 →5565 times
ὡςas
hosG5613 →500 times
ἐμέ.me myself.
emeG1473 →839 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
Matthew 10:40He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
it leads to
- John 13:20
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 9:48
And He said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes the One who sent Me. For whoever is the least among all of you,…
- Luke 10:16
Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
- Matthew 18:5
And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.
- John 20:21
Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”
- John 13:20
Through
Acts 16:15And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
it leads to
- Acts 11:14
He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’
- Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
- Acts 16:33
At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
- Acts 11:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Philemon
This page draws on 14 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); Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Philemon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Philemon; John Chrysostom, Homily on Philemon 3; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Martin Luther, Preface to the Epistle to Philemon; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, COMMENTARY ON PHILEMON; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Philemon; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Philemon and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Philemon.