Philemon "A Prisoner of Jesus Christ"
The greetings/introductions to each of the New Testament books reveal who Jesus is, His leaders are, and who the church is individually-collective, and this blog series is to help us understand how that allows God’s people to receive revelation into a deeper relational existence than they had prior to knowing this amazing map of our journey that He has given to us.
The greeting of the letter titled Philemon is, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer, And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul introduces, “a prisoner of Jesus Christ” as a phrase in one of the Bible greetings in Philemon. Before this letter, Paul had referred to himself as a servant, but now he is a prisoner. A prisoner has even less rights than a servant and had to do something to deserve the imprisonment. God forgives and cleanses every one of His people through Jesus Christ, and has their resting place of imprisonment under His oversight and care giving. He is the best warden and loves His inmates more than humanly imaginable.
God still manifests the Word to His elect in due time today and every day in the future to whom He wills and as they need to receive it. This is a great mystery to all of His people until He reveals it to them personally, and they can rest knowing that He has it exactly as it needs to be every step of their journeys.
Tomorrow’s blog is Hebrews which states, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,” Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,”