Timothy to Hebrews - The Preterist Archive

268 Philemon, 17-19.
Meyer explains too p;enerally, " as man and as Christian." lup^
cannot denote humanity as such, nor tv aapKi the relation of Onesimus
to Philemon as a man ; but only the human, natural relation
in which he is to be to Philemon a dear brother.
Ver. 17 resumes, after the interruption of vers. 13-16, the av 61
avrbVj rovr^ tart to. t'jtia o-Xdyxva. Paul has there styled Onesimus
" his heart ;" in immediate connexion with this therefore, he proceeds
;
" if then thou boldest me a partner, receive him as if thou
wert receiving me (not, as thou receivest me); he is one with the
apostle. If Paul is his /loa-wvdf he must allow the same ])lace to
Onesimus ; for they are both one. Philemon, in refusing to receive
him, would renounce the fellowship of the apostle. Koivom'jg applies
to Christian fellowship in its entire extent. IlpoaXaf3ov not merely
a receiving, but a kind one ; comp. Rom. xiv. 1, 3 ; Acts xxviii. 2.
Ver. 18.—Et Jt- rt 7)diKr]ai oe ?/ ucpeiXec— cSe not simply continuative
= not to leave this point unmentioned ; it marks the attempt
to set aside what might perhaps interfere with such a reception.
The construction with el marks the Attic urbanity. 'USiKTjoe refers
generally to every wrong of neglect in service or othei-wise for which
he deserved punishment ; dtpi-iXei points more definitely to a debt due
from Onesimus to his master, from breach of trust. De Wette and
Meyer, however, understand dcpetXec as merely a more definite limitation
of ifilKriae. In no case is it admissible to refer the words
merely to the offence of running away. " Place to my account."
ToOro, sc. whether punishment or debt. On t'AAoya, in sense =:
iXXoyei (Rom. v. 13), which Tischendorf has received, comp. Meyer.
Ver. 19.—In a playful turn (lepide sane luiic prufort, Theoj)!!}--
lact), which expresses the confidence of love, Paul now jjlaces with
his own hand an acknowledgment of the debt "
: I Paul have written
with my own hand, I will repay." 'X-otm (only here), general,
"to make good, make restitution, expiate." It is better, perhaps,
to suppose that Paul wrote the entire e2)istle, than that he took the
pen to add these words.— "Not to say to thee," continues the apostle.
The expiositors take aoi with At) w, and take h'a as expressing the design
of typaxha— d-orioo). The sense of the whole is then "
: not to say
to thee that thou owest to me not merely that which I have now declared
my readiness to pay, but thine own self also." But what, under
this construction, is the force of aoi ? So also the kul and -pofhave
no relation in the context, as Paul has not said that Philemon
owes to him that which ho himself is going to pay. "Ira also stands
but harshly with typaxpa and dnoriaijj ; this bund stands much more
fittingly as an independent document. It is thus perhaps better to
connect iva with ruvro tpol tXXoya
;
put this to my charge, that is
to say, to thine ; since not barely this (sc. what I have declared
myself willing to pay), but even thyself thou owest to me. Thus