Command

How does it feel to know God risks trusting you?

Philemon 8b, 14

... though I am more than bold enough in Christ to command you to do the right thing … I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.

Paul writes this to Philemon, asking him to - free his slave Onesimus, who had run away and joined Paul as a voluntary servant. Roman law supported punishing escaped slaves severely, permitting even their murder at the slaveowner’s hands, and this must have been weighing heavily on Onesimus’ mind.

Paul could have kept Onesimus hidden, or he could have commanded Philemon to free Onesimus, but Paul does neither. Instead he asks Philemon’s permission to legally release Onesimus and free him into Paul’s service.

And the one who delivered the letter? Onesimus himself.

OMG the amount of trust going on in this story. Paul trusts Philemon not to punish Onesimus for running away and to release him as he asks. Paul trusts Onesimus to take the letter to his former master and not to skip town. Onesimus trusts Paul that he’ll survive his encounter with Philemon. And they both trust God.

We know their trust was not misplaced because the letter was preserved.

Are you expecting commands from God? What if God preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your good deeds might be voluntary and not something forced? How does it feel to know God risks trusting you?

—Kate Davoli