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.

it consists in allowing Onesimus to serve Paul as Philemon’s representative in the work of advancing the gospel (v. 13)⁴⁷.

        Having expressed what he wants from Philemon, namely, for Onesimus to serve Paul in the work of the gospel (v. 13), Paul begins to explain why he wants it, namely, because it would be a good deed of Philemon’s love in response to the grace of God (v. 14). Paul respectfully resolved to do nothing without the consent of his partner and fellow worker Philemon, so that Philemon’s good might not be ‘as under compulsion’ (v. 14), which would be the case if Paul had merely retained Onesimus for himself (v. 13) and commanded Philemon to release him for service with Paul (v. 8). Rather, Paul wants Philemon’s good to be done ‘under benevolence’ (v. 14), that is, freely, voluntarily, in accord with his love for the holy ones (vv. 5-7) in response to God’s freely given grace (v. 3)⁴⁸.

        In referring to all of the previous units, this E unit brings the rhetorical thrust of the first half of the chiasm to a climax: Philemon’s good of allowing Onesimus to serve with Paul must be done from benevolence for Onesimus as Paul’s very ‘heart’, so that Onesimus can be useful to both Philemon and Paul (D unit). Philemon’s good must not be under the compulsion of Paul’s command, but on account of his benevolent love for the old man and prisoner Paul and his ‘child’ Onesimus (C unit). Philemon’s benevolent ‘good’ is a further ‘good’ (v. 6) that he as a partner of Paul can do from his faithful love for all the holy ones (B unit). The benevolence of Philemon’s good would appropriately accord with the freely given grace of God that has made Philemon a fellow worker of Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus (A unit).

        As its central and pivotal point, the E unit (v. 14) not only climaxes the first half of the chiasm but serves as the transition and dominant motivation for the completion of Paul’s argument in the