WHO WE ARE: Placed in a New Family

Paul’s short letter to Philemon is saturated with highly relational language. In it, every person he mentions is described by a word or phrase reflecting his close relationship with them.

– Timothy: our brother

– Philemon: our beloved fellow worker; my brother

– Apphia: our sister

– Archippus: our fellow soldier

– Onesimus: my child, whose father I became; beloved brother

– Epaphras: my fellow prisoner

– Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke: my fellow workers

This is because Paul understood that Jesus’ death and resurrection did more than reconcile him with God. It also reconciled him with others—especially other Jesus-followers. He believed that those who put their faith in Jesus become a new family, members of the same household. (Ephesians 2:19; Galatians 6:10)

Paul didn’t just make this idea up. He got it from Jesus himself, who re-oriented his disciples’ concept of family when he suggested that the biological family was not the fundamental unit to which one belonged. When Mary and his brothers came looking for him, Jesus no doubt surprised everyone by pointing to his disciples and saying, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35)

In Philemon, Paul’s use of affectionate and familial language to refer to other believers reveals his commitment to and connection with them. They are his new and primary family, just as Jesus said.

If you identify as a follower of Jesus, you’ve been placed in a new family! Does that scare you? Encourage you? Affect your life in any practical way?