John Paul Heil, «The Chiastic Structure and Meaning of Paul’s Letter to Philemon», Vol. 82 (2001) 178-206

This article proposes a new chiastic structure for Paul’s letter to Philemon based on rigorous criteria and methodology. The center and pivot of the chiasm, ‘but without your consent I resolved to do nothing, so that your good might not be as under compulsion but rather under benevolence’ (v. 14), is a key to explicating the letter’s supposedly unclear purpose. Paul wants Philemon to give his former slave Onesimus back to Paul as a beloved brother and fellow worker for the gospel of Jesus Christ, because of Philemon’s response to the grace of God evident in his faithful love for the holy ones as a beloved brother and fellow worker of Paul.

        Timothy ‘the brother’ (v. 1) is a co-sender together with Paul of the letter. The audience presumably knows that Timothy is a preeminent fellow worker of Paul in the preaching of the gospel, and thus a figurative rather than literal brother ¹⁴. The simple designation, ‘the’ (not ‘my’, ‘your’, or ‘our’) brother, has the rhetorical effect of connoting Timothy’s independence as a fraternal fellow worker, who shares with both Paul and the audience a responsibility for furthering the gospel¹⁵. Although Paul is the primary author, the addition of Timothy as a co-sender adds his authority, while indicating that this is not a purely private and personal but rather a public and communal letter concerning the advancement of the gospel.

        That Philemon is addressed first and with a double designation as both ‘our beloved one and fellow worker’ (v. 1) indicates that he is the primary recipient of the letter¹⁶. As one ‘beloved’ by both Paul and Timothy and as their ‘fellow worker’¹⁷, Philemon is addressed as one who shares an independent but mutual responsibility for promoting the gospel¹⁸.