A Farewell Full of Hope. Philemon 22-25.
At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit.
Dear Family,
As Paul says goodbye, it is with a ring of hope.
Guest Room (v. 22). Paul expects that the prayers of Philemon for his release from prison will be answered and he will be released. He is so confident of this that he asks Philemon to make ready for his visit and prepare a guest room for him. Whether Paul just had a hunch, or the Lord had communicated this to him, we do not know. What we do know from church tradition is that he was released from prison subsequent to this.
Greetings (vv. 23-24). Epaphras is evidently from Colossae and had served the church there as a teacher (Colossians 1:7; 4:12). We do not know what specific occurrence led to his imprisonment, but Paul’s reference to him as a “fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus” implies that he was in prison for his faith. Mark is a testimony to the statement “never write anyone off.” Having been rejected earlier by Paul for abandoning Paul and Barnabas in the middle of a mission trip (Acts 13:13; 15:36-40), he is now referred to as one of Paul’s “fellow workers.” Credit goes to Barnabas and to the grace of God.
Aristarchus had been a companion of Paul (Acts 19:29) and was obviously still with him, having experienced trouble for the gospel before. Demas’s story did not end so well. He abandoned Paul for the world (2 Timothy 4:10). It is important to finish well. We must always be alert to things that distract from the focus of the gospel. Luke is the one who wrote Paul’s story in the book of Acts and seems to have been with him throughout his journeys and both imprisonments in Rome. Some people just won’t quit!
Grace (v. 25). Paul ends with grace, as he does all his letters. It is important to understand that without the enabling of God, none of us will get anywhere. We are saved by grace and kept by the same grace. Paul is not just employing formality. He is reiterating our absolute need for God’s enabling if we are to live lives worthy of the one who called us.
Your Loving Pastor Chris.