"'Yet see how beautifully the spirit of Christ works itself into the
relation of master and slave, and into Paul's views and feelings with
regard to it. In his letter to our Church, he expressly names Onesimus
as one of the bearers of the epistle. He speaks of him as "one of you,"
a resident with us; and he calls this slave "a faithful and beloved
brother." He speaks to Philemon about him as "my son Onesimus whom I
have begotten in my bonds;" "thou therefore receive him, that is, mine
own bowels." "Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother
beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the
flesh and in the Lord." "If thou count me, therefore, a partner, receive
him as myself."
"'What a comment is this on the words: "In Christ Jesus there is neither
bond nor free." Not that there shall be "no bond," according to the
brother's interpretation; for then it would be equally right to
interpret the other part of the passage literally,--there is no Jew, no
Greek, and none free! How perfectly does the relation become absorbed by
that state of heart which makes it proper for Paul to say: "Art thou
called being a servant, care not for it; but if thou mayest be made
free, use it rather.
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