Search the encyclopedia

Search the Bible

16 articles found for “Philemon”

• Epistle to Philemon

  The Epistle to Philemon is the eighteenth book of the New Testament, a short letter of one chapter and twenty-five verses in which the apostle Paul, writing from prison, asks Philemon to receive his slave Onesimus as a brother.

• Philemon and Onesimus

  Philemon, the recipient of Paul's Epistle to Philemon, was a Christian in whose house a church met. Onesimus, his slave, became a Christian through Paul.

• Philemon 1:6

  Philemon 1:6 records Paul's prayer that the "communication" (fellowship) of Philemon's faith may work powerfully, bringing him to the knowledge of every good thing and leading him to Christ. Because the original Greek is highly compressed, the verse is known for its varied translations and interpretations.

• Philemon 1

  Philemon 1 is the entire Epistle to Philemon, a book of a single chapter. It is a short letter in which the imprisoned Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus not as a servant but as a beloved brother.

• Epaphras

  Epaphras was a coworker of Paul who appears in the New Testament letters of Colossians and Philemon. He is recorded as having preached the gospel to the church at Colossae and as continually laboring in prayer on its behalf.

• Demas

  Demas is a New Testament figure, a coworker of the apostle Paul named in Colossians and Philemon, who is recorded in 2 Timothy as having forsaken Paul, "having loved this present world," and departed for Thessalonica.

• Archippus

  Archippus was an early church worker named in the New Testament letters to the Colossians and to Philemon. Paul called him a "fellowsoldier" and urged him to fulfill "the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord."

• Apphia

  Apphia was a woman believer in the early church who is named as a "sister" in the greeting of Paul's Epistle to Philemon (Philemon 1:2). This is her only appearance in the Bible.

• Prison Epistles

  The Prison Epistles is the collective name for Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, the four letters in which the apostle Paul indicates that he is writing while in confinement.

• Colossae

  Colossae was a city in the region of Phrygia in Asia Minor, in what is today southwestern Türkiye. Paul sent the Epistle to the Colossians to the church there, and Philemon and Onesimus are also regarded as associated with this church.

• Luke

  Luke was a first-century coworker of Paul who is called "the beloved physician" in the Pauline epistles. Church tradition regards him as the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.

• Epistles

  The Epistles are the twenty-one books of the New Testament, from Romans through Jude, that were written in letter form. They are commonly divided into the Pauline Epistles, Hebrews, and the General Epistles, and within the Pauline Epistles the Prison Epistles and the Pastoral Epistles are often distinguished.

• Pauline Epistles

  The Pauline Epistles are the thirteen letters in the New Testament traditionally attributed to the apostle Paul. Written to early Christian communities and to Paul's coworkers, they have had a major influence on Protestant doctrine and worship.

• Philippians

  Philippians is the eleventh book of the New Testament, a letter the apostle Paul sent while imprisoned to the church at Philippi in Macedonia. It consists of four chapters, and because its exhortation to "rejoice" recurs throughout, it is also called the "Epistle of Joy."

• Colossians

  Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from the apostle Paul to the church at Colossae in Asia Minor, emphasizing that Christ is preeminent over all things and sufficient for salvation.

• Ephesians

  Ephesians is the tenth book of the New Testament. Traditionally held to be a letter from the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus, it addresses the salvation accomplished in Christ and the unity of the church. It is one of the Prison Epistles.