to kill him. Once he arrived in Rome Paul spent two years there as a guest of the Roman government until his trial. Church legend says that none of the Jews bothered to send a delegation to Rome for his trial so, unaccused, Paul was released. During this first imprisonment Paul and Onesimus met.
Paul was confident of release during this first imprisonment. During his second he was cold and would have despaired but for his confidence in God. In his second imprisonment he knew death was imminent, whereas during this first imprisonment he tells Philemon "But at the same time prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you." This more confident Paul indulged in some wordplay. "Onesimus," ?v?s?¦o?, means "profitable or useful" and was a common name for slaves . (It is derived from "oninemi" ov(v?¦(, which means "to gratify, i.e., to derive pleasure from. and is a prolonged form of an apparently primary verb ("onomai", ovo¦a(, to slur), for which another prolonged form ("onao," ov?() is used as an alternate in some tenses.") It can mean "to have joy," so when Paul says "For we have great joy and consolation in thy love," he is preparing Philemon for the intriguing news four verses later, that Onesimus is "Who in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me." Onesimus was finally living up to his name.
In the body of the letter Paul lays out his request to Philemon as gently as he can while still getting to the point, knowing that Onesimus the runaway slave will probably be standing there while Philemon reads it. Thus, after the standard greeting and thanks, Paul commends Philemon on his love for the saints. Then he adds a strange idea:
Wherefore, though I might be very bold in Chr
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