Philemon 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹  a prisoner of Christ Jesus, ²  and Timothy our ³  brother, to Philemon, our dear friend ⁴  and colaborer,

Philemon 1:9

1:9 I would rather appeal ⁵  to you on the basis of love – I, Paul, an old man ⁶  and even now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus ⁷  –

---

¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

² sn The phrase a prisoner of Christ Jesus implies that Paul was being held prisoner because of his testimony for Christ Jesus. Paul’s imprisonment was due to his service to Christ, in the same manner as John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos because of his testimony (Rev 1:9).

³ tn “our” is not present in the Greek text, but was supplied to bring out the sense in English.

⁴ tn Grk “dear.” The adjective is functioning as a substantive; i.e., “dear one” or “dear friend.”

⁵ tn Or “encourage.”

⁶ tn Or perhaps “an ambassador” (so RSV, TEV), reading πρεσβευτής for πρεσβύτης (a conjecture proposed by Bentley, cf. BDAG 863 s.v. πρεσβύτης). NRSV reads “old man” and places “ambassador” in a note.

⁷ tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”