In America, the two words slave and royalty bring thoughts that are totally opposite to one another. When the word slave is mentioned, our minds revert to a time in history when black men, women, and children were bought and sold as personal property. Let me make it very clear before I go any further, that slavery is wrong on every front. We are all created equal, by God, in His image. The word royalty takes our minds in the opposite direction. Royalty takes us to another country where Kings and Queens rule. Where there is a royal family, and then, the rest of the country. A slave has nothing and is completely at the mercy of his or her master, but royalty has everything. A slave acts at the bidding of his or her master, but royalty rules and others follow.
If you go to a dictionary to define these two words, you will find a slave is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. Royalty refers to someone born into the family of a King.
In Philemon 1:10 –16, we find the story of a runaway slave becoming a brother and part of a royal family. Onesimus was a slave belonging to Philemon. They lived in Colossae, and Onesimus had fled the bonds of slavery. We don’t know anything about their relationship before he left, but we do know that upon his return things changed.
Philemon 1:10-16 “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: Whom I have sent again: thou, therefore, receive him, that is, mine own bowels: Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel: But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he, therefore, departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever; Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?”
Sometime after Onesimus had fled the home of Philemon, Onesimus met Paul. Onesimus received Christ and was now a brother in the faith. Apparently, he had fled to Rome, hoping he could blend in with the crowd and no one would know his past. But while in Rome, the providential hand of God put him in contact with a prisoner named Paul. We don’t know how they came in contact because Paul was in prison, but we do know Paul led Onesimus to the Lord, and now Paul was writing back to Philemon, asking him to not only forgive Onesimus but to receive him as a brother in Christ.
Colossians 4:9 “With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.”
Onesimus’s life changed drastically. He would not only be free from slavery he had now become the child of the King! Not just any King, but the Most High God. Becoming royalty happened the instant he asked Christ to forgive him and come into his heart.
Philemon was a godly man who lived in a culture where owning slaves was the norm. Before Christ came to set men free of their sins, the common thread was to separate people groups and place value on their heritage. Paul makes it very clear in Colossians 3:11, that in Christ there is no difference in people.
Colossians 3:11 “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
The account of Onesimus is a picture of all of us. Before coming to Christ, we are all bound as a slave to our sins. It controls us more than we control it. We serve our passions and desires just as a slave serves their master. However, when Christ comes into our hearts, we are freed!
In John 8:31-38, Jesus makes it very clear to the proud Jews that those who live a lifestyle of sin, those who have never surrendered their life to Him as Lord and Master, are the servants of sin. It was only through the Son of God that they could be free.
John 8:31-38 “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your Father.”
Paul sends Onesimus back to his master, but instead of receiving him as a slave, he is to be welcomed as a brother. What a beautiful picture of how God views us after we accept His dear Son as our Savior. We are no longer a slave to His enemy, we are welcomed as a child. We have a new family, a new beginning with no end! From slavery to sin, to a child in the royal family.
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