Christianity Is Not Lived In A Vacuum! Philemon

Philemon 1:23-24 (ESV)

Final Greetings

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

Fellow workers are an important and essential part of the spread of the Gospel.  Throughout the New Testament we have lists of names, like the short one, above.   They give us insight how those known in the faith (like Paul) actually built the church and spread the Gospel.  We forget sometimes that in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, there were about 3,000 people saved.  We don’t have the names of these original charter members of the church, but we do know the Apostles needed all of them to accomplish the task Christ gave them.  The Apostles immediately began to feed these 3,000 Biblical truth:

Acts 2:42 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That is where the above names come in.  These same five names are also listed in Paul’s letter to the Colossian believers.   Although Tychicus was listed in Colossians, he is not listed here because he is delivering the letter for Paul to Philemon.   A brief note about these brothers:

1. Epaphras was probably the founding elder of the church at Colossae.  He was probably converted under Paul’s ministry.   He is known to Philemon. 

2. Mark is the John Mark, nephew of Barnabas, whom Paul did not want to take on the second missionary trip. This caused tension between Barnabas and Paul and split their ministry (Acts 15:36-39).   Paul now saw value in Mark (2 Timothy 4:11).  He is known to Philemon. 

3. Aristarchus was with Paul when Paul was attacked in Ephesus, during the riot (Acts 19:25).  He was also with Paul when the ship they were in was wrecked (Acts 27:4).   Tradition tells us he was martyred for his faith in Rome. He is known to Philemon.

4. Delmas has the worst of the reputations of these five.  Read here as being part of the group in faith, Paul later mentions his departure from the faith (2 Timothy 4:10).   But, he is known to Philemon.

5.  Luke is the Gospel writer and the writer of the Book of Acts of the Apostles.   He is the stalwart of the five.  He is mentioned last, but is not the least of them.   He is known to Philemon.

Since Paul was writing to Philemon to take back a run-a-way slave who had stolen from him, he uses the names of men Philemon would have known.  His persuasion is based upon camaraderie and fellowship in the faith.  Paul is calling upon Philemon to forgive and he uses these names of men Philemon would not only know, but respect and trust.  And they were men who would hold Philemon accountable.   They would also be there to support him.   The ministry is not lived in a vacuum.   A Body of believers are needed for us to thrive and survive in this world.   Whatever the names, all in the faith, are called upon to support others in the faith.