“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.
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