“I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.”
I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it — I say nothing of your owing me even your own self — the autograph (idiai cheiri — own hand) authenticates the promise with solemnity; this is Paul's personal bond. The assertion I will repay (apotisō) commits Paul's resources to settle the debt. The parenthetical reminder that Philemon owes Paul his very self (kai seauton) reverses the debtor-creditor dynamic: Philemon was spiritually bankrupt until Paul's ministry restored him; Paul's assumption of Onesimus's debt is repayment of an unpayable debt.
Church Fathers on Philemon 1:19
No procedure is so apt to gain a hearing, as not to ask for everything at once. For see after how many praises, after how much preparation he has introduced this great matter. After having said that he is “my son,” that he is a partaker of the Gospel, that he is “my bowels,” that you receive him back “as a brother,” and “hold him as a brother,” then he has added “as myself.” And Paul was not ashamed to do this. For he who was not ashamed to be called the servant of the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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