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I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart, Philemon 1:12  NASB

In person – What an odd thing for Paul to write?  How else could Onesimus return to Philemon?  There wasn’t any internet.  No video conference.  Not even a telephone call.  Paul has only two choices: send a messenger (or message) or send the person.  But to say, “I have sent him back to you in person” is really strange.  It smacks of a mafia message like, “I have sent him back to you in pieces.”  The duplication must have been intentional.  But why?

The subsequent explanatory phrase tells us why.  Onesimus is not simply arriving.  He is arriving as a symbolic embodiment of Paul’s own heart.  He doesn’t show up as a returning slave.  He shows up as a manifestation of Paul’s intimate concern.  To mistreat him now is the equivalent of abusing Paul.  The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Let’s examine the verb and the pronoun.  There’s nothing unusual about the pronoun, autŏs.  It means “him.”  “I have sent him back” is the way we would read this.  But the verb changes things.  The verb is anapĕmpō, not the usual verb for sending.  Here the root has an attached prefix, ana.  As such it has three different uses: 1) to send up from a lower position to a higher position, 2) to send on to someone in authority, and 3) to send back to a previous location.  Philemon would recognize the intensity of this verb.  Paul’s emphasis is that Onesimus isn’t returning because of duty.  He is returning because Paul sends him as a personal expression of love.  Of course, the translators add “in person” in order to capture the intensity of this verb.  Perhaps it helps.  Certainly “I have sent him back to you” doesn’t have the same voltage.  In this case, translation requires something more, and that “something more” connects us to Philemon’s response.

Imagine that you are Philemon.  The letter arrives with the runaway slave.  Perhaps your first reaction of seeing Onesimus is punishment.  Yes, there may be some relief in getting back your property, but you want to ensure this doesn’t happen again.  Then you read these words; words from a dear and trusted friend, and they ask for a completely different reaction. They ask you to set aside all the usual responses and treat this man as a brother.  Imagine the shock, the challenge.  Perhaps we’ve had such an encounter ourselves.  Someone we believed was nothing but a disobedient rebel shows up carrying a message from the Lord.  At first we’re inclined to follow the impulse of stern correction.  We’ve felt the injury, the damage to reputation.  We want this person to suffer (if only a bit).  But the message confronts our typical human reaction.  Will we respond with forgiveness?  Will we step beyond the expected reprisal and see God’s greater purpose?

Topical Index:  anapĕmpō, send back, in person, Philemon 1:12