“And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:”
To Philemon our beloved fellow worker, and Apphia our sister, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house — Philemon is identified as agapētos (beloved) and synergos (fellow worker), establishing him as Paul's partner in gospel labor. Apphia (likely his wife) is synadelphē (sister in Christ), incorporating women explicitly. Archippus is synstratiōtēs (fellow soldier), using military metaphor for spiritual combat. The house church (ekklēsia kata ton oikon sou) grounds early Christianity in domestic space, the locus of apostolic authority and communal identity.
Church Fathers on Philemon 1:2
These things are said to a master in behalf of a servant. Immediately at the outset, he has pulled down his spirit, and not suffered him to be ashamed, he has quenched his anger; calling himself a prisoner, he strikes him with compunction, and makes him collect himself, and makes it appear that present things are nothing. For if a chain for Christ's sake is not a shame but a boast, much more is slavery not to be considered a reproach. And this he says, not exalting himself,…
Read all 2 entries in the readerNicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!