#091 Welcome to Episode #091 of Way of the Bible podcast. This is our third of eight episodes in our twelfth mini-series entitled, Shepherding the Sheep | 1 Timothy to Hebrews. On this episode, A Common Faith, we’re going to overview the books of Titus and Philemon. These are the last two of thirteen epistles written by Paul in the New Testament.
Titus is the third of Paul’s three pastor letters; the first two being 1 & 2 Timothy. Titus is a short book of only three chapters.
Paul wrote to Titus who was his apostolic representative left on the Island of Crete to organize and supervise churches Paul had planted. Paul had been briefly ship wrecked on Crete during his voyage to Rome (Acts 27:7-13) and was likely not able to plant a church at that time. Scholars believe Paul returned to Create with Titus to plant churches after his release from his first Roman imprisonment. It is believed Paul wrote Titus around 63 AD.
Paul provides instructions and encouragement in this letter for Titus to organize and supervise the churches under his oversight. Titus was to appoint elders and set things in order. The overall goal was to protect and practice sound doctrine in a setting where opposition on several fronts was constantly a battle.
Philemon is the fourth of Paul’s four prison epistles written while Paul was under house arrest in his first Rome imprisonment. The other three epistles being Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.
This book is a letter to Philemon who was a resident of Colosse. Philemon likely became a Christian at the preaching of Paul during his third missionary journey while Paul was in Ephesus. Philemon’s house became a meeting place for the church in Colosse and his son Archippus was one of the church leaders.
One of Philemon’s slaves, Omesimus, ran away with some stuff and escaped to Rome where he somehow he came into contact with Paul who was under house arrest. Omesimus became a Christian and began to look after Paul’s needs.
Paul was sending Tychicus with the letter to the church at Colosse and decided to send Omesimus back as well with this letter to Philemon. What is interesting is that Paul in doing so was in direct violation of Deuteronomy 23:15 – You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.
I think you’ll hear in this letter Paul’s reasoning for sending him back, and the price Paul was willing to pay if Philemon had a problem. Remember we all at one time were held in slavery to the devil. But through the grace of God and faith in Christ, Jesus freed us for freedoms sake. Paul was not returning a slave to Philemon but a brother in Christ who was useful and desiring to do good works.
With that as a brief introduction, let’s get into the text.
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