For my one of my classes, we have to write a paper on some aspect of Roman culture in the midst of Bible times. From my reading for the class, the topic of slavery in the NT has really stood out, especially in Paul’s letter to Philemon. What a strange little letter! The apostle Paul is writing in the midst of a Roman prison to his wealthy friend Philemon who lives several thousand miles away in the town of Colosse.

Evidently Paul has met a mutual aquaintance, one of Philemon’s slaves named Onesimus. Onesimus evidently had stolen some of Philemon’s property and ran away from Philemon. While on the run, Onesimus happened to run into Paul and Paul led him to Christ. Interestly enough, Paul encourages Onesimus to return to his master Philemon. The problem here was that this move could cost Onesimus his life. It wasn’t out of the normal for the Romans to crucify runaway slaves. So Paul writes Philemon this letter urging him to forgive Onesimus.

In the letter, Paul makes this radical statement to Philemon, “If Onesimus has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.” This is exactly what Christ has done for us. This shows that when we truly experience the grace of God found in Christ Jesus, we become gracious people. Paul is offering to lay down his life for Onesimus, a man that many in his culture would have thought to be just a worthless slave.

By dying on the cross for us, Jesus has charged our sins to his account. That’s utterly amazing. Having experienced the grace of God, who is God calling us to show grace to?

—Daniel