Philemon 1:9

1:9 I would rather appeal ¹  to you on the basis of love – I, Paul, an old man ²  and even now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus ³  –

Philemon 1:23

Concluding Greetings

1:23 Epaphras, ⁴  my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you.

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¹ tn Or “encourage.”

² 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.

³ tn Grk “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”

⁴ sn Epaphras is probably a shortened form of the name Epaphroditus. This is probably the same individual whom Paul spoke of as “my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier” in Phil 2:25 (see also Phil 4:18). He is also mentioned in Col 1:7 and 4:12, where he is a founder of the church in Colossae (BDAG 360 s.v. ᾿Επαφρᾶς).