Philemon 11 ... "(Onesimus) formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me."
Onesimus was a slave who belonged to Philemon, a Christian in the church at Colossae in Asia Minor. Deserting his master, he escaped and made his way the considerable distance to Rome. There, in some way, he became acquainted with the apostle Paul who taught him the gospel and converted him to Christ. It then became Paul's duty to return the runaway slave to his owner, even as it also became the duty of Onesimus, now that he had committed himself to the way of righteousness, to return willingly to Philemon. Only now he would return not just as a slave, inferior according to the human institution of servitude, but rather much more as a "beloved brother ... in the Lord," (v.16).
The name Onesimus came from the Greek word meaning profitable. Paul picks up on this and uses it to persuade the master not to deal harshly with his returning slave. Before this he had failed to live up to his name, having fled his owner after perhaps being rebellious, resentful, and irresponsible. But now he is returning as a Christian, ready to serve Philemon according to the letter and spirit of Col. 3:22-25, a passage which Philemon had doubtless read.
This story of conversion and reconciliation shows us that the gospel is able to turn anyone from a worthless sinner into a profitable worker in the kingdom of God. In another passage that Philemon had surely read or heard, Col. 1:21-22, Paul emphasized this transforming power of the gospel: "Although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He (Christ) has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him (God) holy and blameless and beyond reproach." In the beginning, the Colossians had been living "engaged in evil deeds," the common state of unregenerate human activity, which is unprofitable to God and also ultimately unprofitable to the people themselves. But having been exposed to the teaching of the gospel, which they had believed and obeyed, they were reconciled to God by virtue of Jesus' death for their sins, and they also were regenerated to become God's own possession. In this new condition of Christian sanctity they were profitable to God as members of His holy family. This conversion from the useless and unprofitable to the useful and worthy is the great benefit of the Christian gospel that comes to all who will accept it in faith and subject themselves to its instruction.
Peter expressed it in his First Epistle in these words: "You have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ," (2:3-5). During His earthly experience Jesus was rejected by men as worthless and cast aside, but God then made Him to be the chief cornerstone in His eternal spiritual house. The same God can take men and women who are indeed worthless in their sins and make them to be "living stones" in the further erection of this great "spiritual house" when they respond to His call to them through the gospel. Those who formerly were of no use to Him are then not only vital parts of His house, but also even priests who "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." It is a very encouraging and exciting revelation that God has given us this wonderful opportunity to be changed from worthless parasites, who feed by our sin upon the vitality of society, into profitable workers whose lives uplift, support, and nurture the general community of mankind.
