Dual Panel1PAUL, A prisoner [for the sake] of Christ Jesus (the Messiah), and our brother Timothy, to Philemon our dearly beloved sharer with us in our work,
2And to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier [in the Christian warfare], and to the church [assembly that meets] in your house:
3Grace (spiritual blessing and favor) be to all of you and [heart] peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
4I give thanks to my God for you always when I mention you in my prayers,
5Because I continue to hear of your love and of your loyal faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and [which you show] toward all the saints (God's consecrated people).
6[And I pray] that the participation in {and} sharing of your faith may produce {and} promote full recognition {and} appreciation {and} understanding {and} precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ {Jesus} [and unto His glory].
7For I have derived great joy and comfort {and} encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints [who are your fellow Christians] have been cheered {and} refreshed through you, [my] brother.
8Therefore, though I have abundant boldness in Christ to charge you to do what is fitting {and} required {and} your duty to do,
9Yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you just for what I am--I, Paul, an ambassador [of Christ Jesus] {and} an old man and now a prisoner for His sake also--
10I appeal to you for my [own spiritual] child, Onesimus [meaning profitable], whom I have begotten [in the faith] while a captive in these chains.
11Once he was unprofitable to you, but now he is indeed profitable to you as well as to me.
12I am sending him back to you in his own person, [and it is like sending] my very heart.
13I would have chosen to keep him with me, in order that he might minister to my needs in your stead during my imprisonment for the Gospel's sake.
14But it has been my wish to do nothing about it without first consulting you {and} getting your consent, in order that your benevolence might not seem to be the result of compulsion {or} of pressure but might be voluntary [on your part].
15Perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated [from you] for a while, that you might have him back as yours forever,
16Not as a slave any longer but as [something] more than a slave, as a brother [Christian], especially dear to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh [as a servant] and in the Lord [as a fellow believer].
17If then you consider me a partner {and} a comrade in fellowship, welcome {and} receive him as you would [welcome and receive] me.
18And if he has done you any wrong in any way or owes anything [to you], charge that to my account.
19I, Paul, write it with my own hand, I promise to repay it [in full]--and that is to say nothing [of the fact] that you owe me your very self!
20Yes, brother, let me have some profit from you in the Lord. Cheer {and} refresh my heart in Christ.
21I write to you [perfectly] confident of your obedient compliance, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
22At the same time prepare a guest room [in expectation of extending your hospitality] to me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be granted [the gracious privilege of coming] to you.
23Greetings to you from Epaphras, my fellow prisoner here in [the cause of] Christ Jesus (the Messiah),
24And [from] Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25The grace (blessing and favor) of the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with your spirit. {Amen (so be it).}