Philemon Week 1 Study Guide: A Debt Too Big to Pay

Community Group Study Guide — Philemon 1: A Debt too Big to Pay
Philemon

Study Information:
Forgiveness is a challenge that we face on a day to day basis. Jesus taught his disciples in the Lord’s Prayer to pray “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” This would be an area of our spiritual lives we’d need to pray about daily. To be in relationship with other humans means that we are opened up to real harms, sin and wrong done to one another. There will be many times when we feel unable to forgive others or that the cost of forgiveness is too much for us to bear. There is a short New Testament letter called Philemon which illustrates the need for forgiveness and reconciliation in the Christian life. Over the next three study guides we will explore the challenge of forgiveness and how we can connect the forgiveness we’ve received in Jesus to our ability to forgive others. The first things we learn is that forgiveness absorbs the cost. 

Philemon’s Debt to Paul
Verses 1-2, 4-6, 17-19
This letter was written to a person named Philemon, members of his household and the church that met in his house. It addressed a specific situation that was so substantial that Paul wanted the whole church to know about it. Based on the content of the letter it appears that Philemon had a runaway slave named Onesimus who fled from this household, potentially stealing something to help fund his escape (v18). Along the way Onesimus ran into Paul and became a Christian and was sent back by Paul to seek forgiveness and reconciliation with Philemon. Onesimus must risk potential imprisonment or even execution for his actions but Paul implored Philemon to receive him back as a brother (more on that in the next study guide). It is likely that Onesimus stood before Philemon with this letter in hand, not knowing what would happen next. 

Paul began this letter with praise for Philemon for his faith, love and generosity. Philemon was a person of wealth and standing in the church and the city he lived in and was known for his faithfulness to others. 

This makes us wonder how someone like this could own slaves and be a Christian. We will explore that more in the next study guide, but know that letters like this one and the challenge to receive Onesimus as a brother are some of what God used to undo slavery in the Roman world. 

Philemon was praised for his spiritual growth and salvation in Christ and how that led him to be a leader in the church. But where did that come from? It came from Paul’s investment and influence. Paul highlighted this in verse 19 when he wrote that Philemon owed him his very self. We do not get the full backstory, but Paul wanted Philemon to consider his own debt to the love and grace of others and his own spiritual debt to God that was forgiven in Christ. 

Paul brought this up to Philemon because it is so easy to forget our own indebtedness to God and others. Paul desired for Philemon to keep that in mind as he considered the debt Onesimus had to him. 

Onesimus’s Debt to Philemon
Verses 8-10, 19
Onesimus’s debt to Philemon is a bit more obvious to see. He’d have financial debt in terms of financial loss Philemon had from Onesimus’s absence and if he did steal something from Philemon he’d have that debt hanging over him. Onesimsus also had relational debt with betrayal and break of trust. Finally this debt would be too big for him to ever pay back. There’d be no pathway forward for him to earn back his place or to make up for this kind of loss. That is why Paul told Philemon “if he has wronged you or owes you anything, charge it to my account (v18).” 

Every act of forgiveness involves absorbing the cost of a debt. The debt did not just disappear, it would be paid by someone. Paul offered to pay this cost for Onesimsus but really he wanted Philemon to extend forgiveness and not hold it against Onesimsus anymore so that he can be received back as more than a slave, as a beloved brother.

Our Debt to God
One of the reasons the New Testament writers talked about our sin with debt language towards God was so that we’d have a measure of humility and grace towards others who have wronged us. The weight of having an outstanding debt can be crushing and we get the idea of having financial obligation. Jesus told a parable of a servant who owed his master an immeasurable amount of money, Jesus may as well said “a bazillion-zillion dollars” in his story because the number he used was astronomically high. Amazingly, this master forgave the servant when he asked for mercy. As the story went on, the forgiven servant ran into someone who owed him a large amount of money, 100 days wages, but it was nowhere near the amount he had owed his master. Instead of forgiving this servant’s substantial but smaller debt, he had him locked up in a debtors prison until it could be paid back. Jesus wanted to shock his disciples by the injustice of this and challenged his hearers “so also will my heavenly Father do to each of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:35).” The question for Philemon was, which servant are you? Are you the one who is forgiven much and can therefore forgive others or are you forgiven much and withhold forgiveness to people like Onesimus? We too can be like the unforgiving servant and not allow the forgiveness of God to flow through us towards others. Our sin nature demands debt to be paid or we can make excuses for why someone does not deserve kindness and grace from us? Rather we should consider how much we’ve been forgiven as we approach each relational debt we have. Forgiveness is not easy but it is essential to the Christian life. 

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:
Read Philemon

Describe the life change that happened to Onesimus. What took place and why did he go back to Philemon? Does Onesimus becoming a Christian change the way that Philemon should relate to him?

How does Paul talk about Philemon and Onesimus’s debt in the letter? Why do you think this letter would be public and circulated among the churches?

Why would Jesus use financial terms to talk about forgiveness in places like the Lords Prayer and the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 6:9-15, Matthew 18:35)?

What are some of the questions you wrestle with when it comes to forgiveness? What barrier is the biggest one for you to face?