“Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.”
Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ — the term onainēn (benefit/joy) puns on Onesimus's name (onē = benefit/profit), yet invokes spiritual benefit rather than material gain. Refresh (anapaisis) my heart (splanchnoi) reverses the refreshment Philemon has given to saints (verse 7); now Paul's soul depends on Philemon's compassion toward Onesimus. The phrase in the Lord/in Christ grounds the appeal in Christological reality: reconciliation is not sentimental but soteriological.
Church Fathers on Philemon 1:20
What is, “Yea, brother”? Receive him, he says. For this we must understand though unexpressed. For dismissing all pleasantry, he again pursues his former considerations, that is, serious ones. And yet even these are serious. For the things that proceed from Saints are of themselves serious, even when they are pleasantry. That is, you grant the favor to the Lord, not to me. “My heart,” that is, toward yourself.
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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