Tag: Philemon

Why did Paul send Onesimus back? Was he encouraging slavery?

How do we read the New Testament on these issues when we hold to different views of what is right?

Let’s not fool ourselves: forgiveness always costs something. Always did, always will.

Relationships will occasionally rupture. Forgiveness is the way they can be repaired.

How do we do this?

Faith in Jesus means nothing if you don’t love Jesus’ friends.

And love means nothing if it isn’t accompanied by action.

It’s what we do, not what we say.

This church lived at a time when everyone knew their place. Rank mattered and brought privileges. If you were at the top of the pile you could order people around.

Paul modelled a different way. He chose to appeal rather than to order.

He demonstrated how we subvert the natural hierarchies.

As we learn one another’s names and enter one another’s stories, we are given the opportunity to grow more than we might ever have imagined…