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.

Paul knows that ‘you will do’ (poih/seij, v. 21) even more than Paul says in telling Philemon to welcome Onesimus as Paul himself (v. 17), by doing what Paul himself wants ‘to do’ (poih=sai, v. 14) with Philemon’s consent, as stated in the center and pivot of the chiasm, namely, to allow Onesimus to serve Paul in place of Philemon for the gospel (v. 13).

        That Philemon is at the same time to prepare a guest room for Paul (v. 22) strengthens Paul’s plea for Philemon’s hospitable ‘welcome’ of Onesimus as if he were Paul himself (v. 17). They will want to extend to Onesimus, who is coming ahead of Paul, the same hospitality Paul is requesting for himself. Furthermore, since Paul himself expects to come, Philemon need not send Onesimus back to Paul in prison. The gracious granting of Onesimus as a benevolent gift to Paul can appropriately take place in the house of Philemon as a further ‘refreshing’ of the holy ones (v. 7).

        Within the chiasm the o#ti clause in v. 22 of the B' unit, ‘for (o#ti) I am hoping that through your prayers I will be granted to you’, corresponds to the o#ti clause in v. 7 of the B unit, ‘For (o#ti) I have had much joy and encouragement in your love, because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed through you, brother’. Because the hearts of the holy ones ‘have been refreshed’ by God (divine passive) through (dia_) ‘you’ (v. 7), Philemon, Paul now hopes that through (dia_) ‘your’ prayers, that is, through the prayers of the assembly of the ‘refreshed’ holy ones at Philemon’s house (the plural pronoun u(mw=n), ‘I will be granted’ by God (divine passive) ‘to you’ (u(mi=n), that is, to the whole assembly (v. 22).

        Within the chiasm Paul’s hope that ‘through your prayers (proseuxw=n) I will be granted (xarisqh/somai) to you’ by God in v. 22 of the B' unit corresponds to Paul’s thanking (Eu)xaristw=) God every time he makes mention of Philemon in his prayers (proseuxw=n) in v. 4 of the B unit. Through their prayers for Paul to be granted to them, Philemon and the assembly at his house reciprocate and complement Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving for Philemon in response to the grace (xa/rij) of God (v. 3) that unites them all as Christians and fellow workers for the gospel. That through the prayers of all of them Paul ‘will be granted’ to them by the ‘grace’ of God under which they all stand further motivates Philemon, with the support and approval of the whole assembly praying for Paul, benevolently to grant Onesimus to Paul as the ‘good’ that he can do both for Paul and the holy ones (v. 6) not ‘as