PIIILEMON, EPISTLE TO. That this epistle was written by the Apostle Paul is the constant tradition of the ancient church. Ignatius probably alludes to ver. 20 (ad Ephes. 2; ad 12; ad Polycarp. 6) ; it is ascribed to St. Paul in the Muratori Canon ; it is expressly cited as his by Origen (Noma. xix. in Yerein., torn. i. p. 185, ed. Hurt.) ; it is referred to as his by Tertullian (Adv. Marc. v. 21) ; and both Eusehius (Hist. Eccles. iii. 25) and Jerome (Proem. in Ep. ad Philent. torn. iv. p. 442) attest its universal recep tion as such in the Christian world. The latter, indeed, informs us that some in his day deemed it unworthy of a place in the canon, in consequence of its being occupied with subjects which, in their estimation, it did not become an apostle to write about, save as a mere private individual ; but this he, at the same time, shows to be a mistake, and repudiates the legitimacy of such a standard for estimating the genuineness or authority of any book. It was also admitted as canonical by Marcion (Hieronym. 1. c.; Tertullian, 1. c.; Epiph., Hires, xlii. 9). That this epistle should not have been quoted by several of the Fathers, who have quoted largely from the other Pauline epistles (e.g., Irenxus, Clement of Alexandria, and Cyprian), may be ac counted for partly by the brevity of the epistle, and partly by their not having occasion to refer to the subjects of which it treats. Paley has adduced the undesigned coincidences between this epistle and that to the Colossians with great force, as evincing the authenticity of both Paulina., c. 14) ; and Eichhorn has ingeniously shown how a person attempting, with the Epistle to the Colossians before him, to forge such an epistle as this in the name of Paul, would have been naturally led to a very different arrangement of the historical circum stances and persons from what we find in the epistle which is extant (Einleil. ins N. T., iii. 302).
The epistle is inscribed to Philemon ; and with him are joined Apphia (probably his wife), Ar chippus (his son or brother), and the church which is in their house, though throughout the epistle it is Philemon alone who is addressed. Philemon was a personal friend and apparently a convert of the apostle (r3, r9) ; one who had exerted himself for the cause of the gospel and the comfort of those who had embraced it (2-7). His residence
was probably at Colosse (comp. Col. iv. 9, 17); but whether he held any office in the church there remains uncertain. In the Apostolical Constitu tions (vii. 46), he is said to have been ordained bishop of the church, but this is not sustained by any other testimony, and is expressly denied by the author of the commentary on St. Paul's epistles ascribed to Hilary.
Wieseler is of opinion that Philemon was a Lao dicean ; and that this epistle is that mentioned (Col. iv. 16) as sent by the apostle to the church in Laodicea. His ground for this is that the epistle is addressed to Archippus as well as Philemon, and he assumes that Archippus was bishop of the church at Laodicea ; partly on the authority of Theodoret, who says he resided at Laodicea ; partly on that of the Apostolical Constitutions (vii. 46), which say he was bishop of the church there ; and partly on the connection in which the reference to him in Col. iv. 17 stands with the reference to the church at Laodicea, and the injunction given to the Colossians to convey a message to him con cerning fidelity to his office, which it is argued would have been sent to himself had he been at Colosse. But the authorities cited have no weight in a matter of this sort ; nor can the mere juxta position of the reference to Archippus with the reference to the church at Laodicea prove any thing as to the residence of the former ; and as for the injunction to counsel Archippus, it is more likely that it would be given by the apostle in a letter to the church to which he belonged than to another church. On the other hand, supposing Philemon to have been at Laodicea, it is not credible that the apostle would have requested the Colossians to send to Laodicea for a letter addressed so exclusively to him personally, and relating to matters in which they had no immediate interest, without at least giving Philemon some hint that he intended the letter to be so used. The letter to the church at Laodicea was doubtless one of more general character and interest than this.