--- title: "Philemon 1 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible" description: "Read Philemon 1 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archip" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1" --- [ Read](/kjv/philemon/1)[ Commentary](/study/philemon/1)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/philemon/1) Audio 1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy *our* brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to *our* beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, 5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; 6 That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. 8 Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, 9 Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech *thee*, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. 10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 11 Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: 12 Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels: 13 Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: 14 But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; 16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord? 17 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. 18 If he hath wronged thee, or oweth *thee* ought, put that on mine account; 19 I Paul have written *it* with mine own hand, I will repay *it*: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. 20 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord. 21 Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. 22 But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. 23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus; 24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers. 25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ *be* with your spirit. Amen. [Titus 3](/study/titus/3) [Hebrews 1](/study/hebrews/1) ## Commentary To verse 1 **Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ -**A prisoner at Rome in the cause of Jesus Christ; [Ephesians 3:1](/kjv/ephesians/3/1) note; [2 Timothy 1:8](/kjv/2-timothy/1/8) note. **And Timothy our brother -**Timothy, it seems, had come to him agreeably to his request; [2 Timothy 4:9](/kjv/2-timothy/4/9). Paul not unfrequently joins his name with his own in his epistles; [2 Corinthians 1:1](/kjv/2-corinthians/1/1); [Philippians 1:1](/kjv/philippians/1/1); [Col 1:1](/kjv/col/1/1); [1 Thessalonians 1:1](/kjv/1-thessalonians/1/1); [2 Thessalonians 1:1](/kjv/2-thessalonians/1/1). As Timothy was of that region of country, and as he had accompanied Paul in his travels, he was doubtless acquainted with Philemon. **Unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow-labourer -**See Introduction, Section 1. The word rendered “fellow-laborer” συνεργω sunergō, does not determine what office he held, if he held any, or in what respects he was a fellow-laborer with Paul. It means a co-worker, or helper, and doubtless here means that he was a helper or fellow-worker in the great cause to which Paul had devoted his life, but whether as a preacher, or deacon, or a private Christian, can not be ascertained. It is commonly, in the New Testament, applied to ministers of the gospel, though by no means exclusively, and in several instances it cannot be determined whether it denotes ministers of the gospel, or those who furthered the cause of religion, and cooperated with the apostle in some other way than preaching. See the following places, which are the only ones where it occurs in the New Testament; [Romans 16:3](/kjv/romans/16/3), [Romans 16:9](/kjv/romans/16/9),[Rom 16:21](/kjv/rom/16/21); [1 Corinthians 3:9](/kjv/1-corinthians/3/9); [2Co 1:24](/kjv/2co/1/24); [2 Corinthians 8:23](/kjv/2-corinthians/8/23); [Philippians 2:25](/kjv/philippians/2/25); [Philippians 4:3](/kjv/philippians/4/3); [Colossians 4:11](/kjv/colossians/4/11); [1 Thessalonians 3:2](/kjv/1-thessalonians/3/2); [Philemon 1:24](/kjv/philemon/1/24); [3 John 1:8](/kjv/3-john/1/8). ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1","name":"Philemon 1 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Philemon 1 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archip","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","name":"barnes notes on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon","name":"Philemon"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/philemon/1","name":"1"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```