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Scripture Reading
for Sunday
Philemon 1:10-20
I entreat you on
behalf of my own child whose father I have become
while in my chains--I mean Onesimus.
Formerly he was
useless to you, but now--true to his name--he is of
great use to you and to me.
I am sending him
back to you, though in so doing I send part of
myself.
It was my wish to
keep him at my side for him to attend to my wants,
as your representative, during my imprisonment for
the Good News.
Only I wished to do
nothing without your consent, so that his kind
action of yours might not be done under pressure,
but might be a voluntary one.
For perhaps it was
for this reason he was parted from you for a time,
that you might receive him back wholly and for ever
yours;
No longer as a
slave, but as something better than a slave--a
brother peculiarly dear to me, and even dearer to
you, both as a servant and as a fellow Christian.
If therefore you
regard me as a comrade, receive him as if he were I
myself.
And if he was ever
dishonest or is in your debt, debit me with the
amount.
I Paul write this
with my own hand--I will pay you in full. (I say
nothing of the fact that you owe me even your own
self.)
Yes, brother, do me
this favour for the Lord's sake. Refresh my heart in
Christ.
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