translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PHM

label: NET translator note

text: Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.


text: “our” is not present in the Greek text, but was supplied to bring out the sense in English.


text: Grk “dear.” The adjective is functioning as a substantive; i.e., “dear one” or “dear friend.”


text: Ψ Ï ) here read τῇ ἀγαπητῇ ( th agaphth , “beloved, dear”), a reading that appears to have been motivated by the masculine form of the same adjective in v. 1 . Further, the earliest and best witnesses, along with a few others ( א A D* F G I P 048 0278 33 81 104 1739 1881 pc ), have ἀδελφῇ ( adelfh , “sister”). Thus on internal and external grounds, ἀδελφῇ is the strongly preferred reading.


text: Though the term “our” does not appear in the Greek text it is inserted to bring out the sense of the passage.


text: Grk “Grace to you and peace.”


text: Grk “making remembrance (or “mention”) of you in my prayers.”


text: The Greek present participle ἀκούων ( akouwn , “hearing”) is an adverbial participle of cause relating to εὐχαριστῶ ( eucaristw , “I give thanks”).


text: The Greek is somewhat awkward here. It appears as though the text reads “…the love and faith which you have for the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.” In other Pauline letters the emphasis seems to be “faith in Christ Jesus and love for all of the saints.” Some ancient mss have altered the wording to produce a smoother reading; scribes changed the wording to resemble the more readable versions in Eph 1:15 and Col 1:4 , “your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have to all the saints.”


text: The term ὅπως ( {opw" ) refers back to the idea of prayer ( μνείαν σου ποιούμενος ἐπὶ τῶν προσευχῶν μου , mneian sou poioumeno" epi twn proseucwn mou ) in 1:4 . See BDAG 718 s.v. 2 .b; P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 279. The indicative “I pray that” was supplied in the English in order to make this connection clear.


text: Grk “everything good.”


text: Ï ), but nevertheless represent a broad base. Internally, ἡμῖν could be favored because of second person pronouns surrounding it, making it the harder reading. On the other hand, the last second person plural pronoun was in v. 3 , and the next one will not show up until v. 22 , a fact which tends to counter the internal argument on behalf of ἡμῖν . Although a decision is difficult, with the internal evidence being capable of favoring either reading, our preference is based on the external evidence; ὑμῖν is thus slightly preferred.


text: Grk “that the fellowship of your faith might become effective in the knowledge of everything good that is in us in Christ.” There are numerous difficulties with the translation and interpretation of this verse: (1) What is the meaning of ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως σου ( Jh koinwnia th" pistew" sou , “the fellowship of your faith”)? Several suggestions are noted: (a) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “monetary support” and τῆς πίστεως as a genitive of source, the phrase could refer to Philemon’s financial giving which he has done according to his faith; (b) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “sharing” or “communicating” and the genitive τῆς πίστεως as an objective genitive, then the meaning would be “sharing the faith” as a reference to evangelistic activity; (c) taking κοινωνία in a distributive sense referring to fellowship with other believers, and τῆς πίστεως as a reference to the common trust all Christians have in Jesus, then the meaning is Christian fellowship centered on faith in Jesus; (d) taking κοινωνία as a reference to “participation” and the genitive τῆς πίστεως as a reference to the thing participated in, the meaning would then be Philemon’s “participation in the faith”; (2) what is the meaning of ἐνεργής ( energh" ; Does it mean “active” or “effective”?) and ἐπιγνώσει ( epignwsei ; Does it refer to simply understanding? Or “experiencing” as well?); (3) what is the meaning of the phrase παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ( panto" agaqou )? and (4) what is the force of εἰς Χριστόν ( ei" Criston )? It is difficult to arrive at an interpretation that deals adequately with all these questions, but given the fact that Paul stresses what Philemon has done for the brothers (cf. the γάρ [ gar ] in v. 7 ), it seems that his concern in v. 6 is on Philemon’s fellowship with other believers and how he has worked hard to refresh them. In this interpretation: (1) the phrase ἡ κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως σου is taken to refer to fellowship with other believers; (2) ἐνεργής is taken to mean “effective” (i.e., more effective) and ἐπιγνώσει involves both understanding and experience; (3) the phrase παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ refers to every spiritual blessing and (4) εἰς Χριστόν carries a locative idea meaning “in Christ.” The result is that Paul prays for Philemon that he will be equipped to encourage and love the saints more as he himself is brought to a place of deeper understanding of every spiritual blessing he has in Christ; out of the overflow of his own life, he will minister to others.


text: Here γάρ ( gar ) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and contemporary English style.


text: The Greek preposition ἐπί ( epi ) is understood here in a causal sense, i.e., “because.”


text: The word translated “hearts” here is σπλάγχνα ( splancna ). Literally the term refers to one’s “inward parts,” but it is commonly used figuratively for “heart” as the seat of the emotions. See BDAG 938 s.v. σπλάγχνον 2 (cf. Col 3:12 , Phil 2:1 ).


text: Or “encourage.”


text: Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV, TEV), reading πρεσβευτής for πρεσβύτης (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BDAG 863 s.v. πρεσβύτης ). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.


text: Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”


text: Or “I am encouraging…”


text: Grk “my child whom I have begotten.” The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied before “father” in the translation to clarify for the modern reader that Paul did not literally father a child during his imprisonment. Paul’s point is that he was instrumental in Onesimus’ conversion while in prison.


text: places the καί in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.


label: NET textual note

text: There are several variants at this point in the text, most of them involving the addition of προσλαβοῦ ( proslabou , “receive, accept”) at various locations in the verse. But all such variants seem to be motivated by the harsh syntax of the verse without this verb. Without the verb, the meaning is that Onesimus is Paul’s “very heart,” though this is an awkward expression especially because of τουτ᾿ ἔστιν ( tout ’ estin , “this is, who is”) in the middle cluttering the construction. Nowhere else in the NT is σπλάγχνα ( splancna , here translated “heart”) used in apposition to people. It is thus natural that scribes would want to fill out the text here, and they did so apparently with a verb that was ready at hand (borrowed from v. 17 ). With the verb the sentence is converted into an object-complement construction: “I have sent him back to you; accept him, that is, as my very heart.” But both the fact that some important witnesses ( א * A F G 33 pc ) lack the verb, and that its location floats in the various constructions that have it, suggest that the original text did not have προσλαβοῦ . tn Grk “whom I have sent.” The Greek sentence was broken up in the English translation for the sake of clarity. Although the tense of the Greek verb here is past (an aorist tense) the reader should understand that Onesimus may well have been standing in the very presence of Paul as he wrote this letter.


text: That is, “who means a great deal to me”; Grk “whom I have sent to you, him, this one is my heart.”


text: This is one of the clearest texts in the NT in which ὑπέρ is used for substitution. Cf. ExSyn 387.


text: Grk “in my imprisonment.” Paul seems to expect release from his imprisonment after some time (cf. v. 22 ), but in the meantime the assistance that Onesimus could provide would be valuable to the apostle.


text: Grk “in the chains of the gospel.” On the translation “imprisonment for the sake of the gospel,” cf. BDAG 219 s.v. δεσμός 1.a where it says: “Oft. simply in ref. to the locale where bonds or fetters are worn imprisonment , prison (Diod. S. 14, 103, 3; Lucian, Tox. 29; Jos., Ant. 13, 294; 302, Vi. 241; Just., A I, 67, 6 al.) Phil 1:7, 13 f, 17; Col 4:18 ; Phlm 10 . μέχρι δεσμῶν 2 Ti 2:9 . ἐν τοῖς δ . τοῦ εὐαγγελίου in imprisonment for the gospel Phlm 13 ; cf. ISm 11:1; Pol 1:1.”


text: Though the Greek text does not read the term “however,” it is clearly implied and thus supplied in the English translation to accent the contrastive nature of Paul’s statement.


text: Although the Greek word δοῦλος ( doulos ) is sometimes translated “servant” here (so KJV), the word “slave” is a much more candid and realistic picture of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus. In the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century the slave was considered a “living tool” of the master. The slave was “property” in every sense of the word. This understanding heightens the tense scenario that is in view here. It is likely that Onesimus may have even feared for his life upon returning to Colossae. Undoubtedly Paul has asked this runaway slave to return to what could amount to a potentially severe and life-endangering situation.


text: Grk “in the flesh.”


text: Grk “charge it to me.”


text: Grk “I wrote” Here ἔγραψα ( egraya ) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.


text: The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to clarify the meaning.


text: Grk “that you would even go beyond.”


text: Grk “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with your spirit.” The elided verb, normally an optative, has been rendered as “be.”


text: 6 33 81 1739* 1881 sa) lack the ἀμήν , rendering the omission the preferred reading.