Pauline (he would write ‘ Pauline’) Epistles constitutes a strong proof of identity of authorship between them. Objectors like the writer mentioned are, of course, exceptional; as Jiilicher says, ‘‘ the ali but universal judgment is that Philemon belongs to the least doubtful part of the Apostle’s work” (Intr. to the N. T. p. 127).
The Place of writing and the Date of the Epistle are mutually determining ; St. Paul was in prison when he wrote it, therefore the Epistle must have come either from Czsarea (Acts xxiv.-xxvi.), or from Rome (Acts xxviii. 30) ; the time of these two imprisonments was A.D. 58-63 ; the vast majority of writers are agreed that the group of Epistles to the Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians and to Philemon were written from Rome (see, for the reasons for this view, Lightfoot’s Philippians, pp. 30 ff.); this would narrow the date of our Epistle down to somewhere between Α.Ρ. 60-63. As to the question whether Philemon was written early or late within this period, this depends upon the answer to the question as to whether the Epistle to the Philippians should be placed early in the Roman captivity and the three other Epistles later, or vice versa, for it is generally allowed that the Epistle to the Philippians stands alone, the other three were written and despatched at or about the same time. For a full discussion of these questions reference must be made to Lightfoot’s Philippians, pp. 30-46; here it will have to suffice to say that the most probable year for the date of Philemon is Α.Ρ. 62.
§ II. Occasion and Contents.—Although the Epistle is not the only one of St. Paul’s addressed to an individual which,has come down to us, it is the only one of a, mainly, private character ; for although in the opening salutation Apphia, Archippus and the Church in Philemon’s house are addressed as well as Philemon himself, nevertheless the contents of the Epistle deal with a personal matter. The nearest parallel in the N.T. is 3 John, addressed to ‘‘ Gaius the beloved’’. The Epistle is an appeal made by St. Paul to Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave, Onesimus. Philemon was a citizen of Colosse (cf. Col. iv. 17, Philem. 2, 10-12, and see Col. iv. 9); the Word was most likely preached here during the period which St. Paul spent at Ephesus, from which centre his influence extended widely (see Acts xix. 26, 1 Cor. xvi. 19); Philemon was among the converts made by St. Paul himself (see Philem. 19), and he evidently became a zealous worker, since St. Paul applies the title συνεργός to him; that he was loving and hospitable is clear from wv. 5-7.
Onesimus, the immediate cause of the Epistle, who had run away from his master, also became a convert of St. Paul’s (ver. 10); from ver. 18 it would almost seem as though he had committed a theft ;