This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philemon” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 28, 1999.

Tonight we are reading from Philemon, beginning there, and we will be reading verses 4-7 this evening. Philemon 4-7. This is the word of God. I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers. because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.

And I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brethren.

Oh Lord, we pray for your servants throughout the world who in truth proclaim your word, and because of your graciousness to them, they have now been bound by that word and are endeavoring, even striving, to present it faithfully. O Lord, we would ask for the pulpits in the world, and those preaching stations, and those outposts where your word is declared, that today there might be power evident as not only your own are strengthened, but the unregenerate are granted, according to your mercy, life from death. We pray to our God that the ministry of your word would be a comfort, not, Lord, that we would seek in it then something that would be comparable to a magic elixir, some sort of magic potion? Instead, O Lord, may we receive from you your word concerning the grand and glorious plan which you have placed in motion and set, Lord, within the fabric of this world and all of its operations. And Lord, may we take comfort that not only are you the creator, but you are the sustainer, and that you provide for your people, and that you graciously have granted to them redemption, and your intention, of course, is to bring them to glory, where they shall behold you forever.

Hasten that day, O God, and be pleased to use the messages from those pulpits throughout the world in the interests of your great plan and for the furthering of your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. I hope you brought your Bible with you tonight.

This is going to be one of those torturous messages. So I’m going to apologize for it at the beginning and get that apology out of the way. And then, of course, I’ll jump into the message and act as if I’ve never given an apology at all, expecting you, of course, to keep up with what I’m saying.

It might be said that we are about to enter an exegete’s nightmare. or at least we are about to deal with a portion of scripture in which a biblical interpreter must prove his worth. I have in mind Philemon 5 and 6, these two verses, but also possibly one more, verse The possible inclusion of verse 7 with verses 5 and 6 is, in fact, part of the nightmare. We may well throw our hands into the air as we consider that seventh verse’s place. Does it belong to verse 8, as we previously divided and outlined this letter? Can I still stand by what I said to you earlier? Or does it belong more properly to verses 5 and 6?

There are compelling reasons to say that the 7th verse belongs with the 8th verse, particularly because of the way in which verses 7 and 8 match up so beautifully with verses 20 and 21. In what we identified in an earlier message as the letter’s deliberate chiastic pattern, Now I won’t go through all of that with you again and do my little choreography up here, but I hope you remember it and possibly even took notes with regard to it. But you will recall that we said that there are many elements in verses 7 and 8 that match up wonderfully with elements that we find repeated in verses 20 and 21. And you may recall the chiastic pattern as you make progress through the epistle, but the end of the epistle matches the verses that you find at the beginning as you come to the epistle’s center, and we identified the epistle’s center as verse 14. But having said that, and still wanting to stand by it, At the same time, there are compelling reasons to place verse 7 very closely to verses 5 and 6, so that in looking at verses 5 and 6, we are compelled at the same time to look at verse 7 also.

Verse 7 seems to be an extension of Paul’s report to Philemon about the content of his prayer for Philemon. You will notice that verse 5 contains a description of the immediate motivation for Paul to pray thankfully for Philemon, building off of verse 4. The overarching motivation, of course, is the fact that Paul understands Philemon and himself as belonging to the same eternal world, the same world of glory in which they mutually will forever give thanks for one another. Thus, the significance of the always in relationship to Paul’s prayer and intercession. But here in verse 5, Paul speaks about the more immediate motivation, that motivation rising out of the most immediate situation. and expressly what Paul has heard about Philemon’s love and faith. Not that the overarching, far-reaching motivation for Paul’s thanksgiving on behalf of Philemon isn’t dynamically interrelated with this immediate, seemingly more obvious motivation. expressed here in verse 5, as we will see before the end of tonight’s message.

However, it is the tone of this more immediate motivation, expressed here in verse 5, which Paul sounds again in verse 7. As if clearing out the effects which that report about Philemon had had upon them, Paul now speaks about the joy and comfort, verse 7, that had come to him personally because of the refreshment ministered by Philemon to the saints. So we have this reason for joining verse 7 with what has gone previously. But there is another reason to join verse 7 to these earlier verses, verses 5 and 6, and to treat verses 5 through 7 together, to treat them as Part of that unit in Paul’s thought as he describes his prayer for Philemon, rising from that fourth verse.

If you will look once more at verse five, you will notice in this verse the prominence of both life and faith. I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.” That’s the New American Standard reading of the text. But now I want you to look at verse 6.

Paul in this verse reports to Philemon the core substance of his intercession on Philemon’s behalf. Here is the substance of Paul’s intercession in verse 6. Now, this sixth verse, to be sure, admittedly, is an extremely involved statement by Paul, and we won’t delay tonight’s message to consider it, or we’ll be here till midnight. It’s said to say that in this verse, Paul focuses now upon Philemon’s faith. According to the New American Standard Version, Paul prays that the fellowship of Philemon’s faith may become effective, etc., to the conclusion of the verse.

But now remembering verse 5’s mention of both Philemon’s love and faith, and seeing in verse 6 a concentration upon Philemon’s faith, would you be too surprised to discover in verse 7 an emphasis upon Philemon’s love? This is exactly what you do find. For Philemon’s love stands central to verse 7. As Paul says, he derives much joy and comfort from Philemon’s love, even as the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by that love.

Do you now see the pattern working itself out in the progression of the verses? It seems, then, unmistakably, that verses five through seven do belong together. in a unit introduced by that introductory fourth verse. In reporting to Philemon on his prayer for him, Paul first gives thanks in verse 5 because of Philemon’s love and faith, but then fills out his reflection on his prayer by speaking successively about faith and love in the next two verses. In fact, we have here, dare I say it, one more time, a scholastic configuration as we move from verse 5 through verse 7. Love and faith mentioned together in verse 5. Then faith, verse 6, and finally love, in verse 7. A, B, D, A. The chiastic structure. It seems, therefore, hard to deny the integral connectedness belonging to these verses.

We must, then, in some sense, treat them as a unit. But does this then mean, consequently, that we are compelled to surrender our overall outline to the letter? The outline that we went through earlier, in which we matched verses 7 and 8 as a unit with verses 20 and 21. Do we surrender the one outline in the interests of the other outline? My suggestion to you is not at all, and that is why, of course, the whole matter of biblical interpretation can become an exegete’s nightmare. We are not compelled to surrender what we earlier said.

However, what we earlier said does mean that we are compelled to admit to a marvelously intricate and complex structure to this letter, one which we will find to be quite fluid one that we will find to be even multi-layered, one in which we will find patterns even interweaving, developing in a complex, organic manner, as if this were a living document, so complex and intricate is it that it comes across as a living document?

Now, we’ve made this point before with regard to other texts in the scriptures. You might recall our exposition of 1 Samuel, the opening chapters, and how we saw interlacing patterns as we moved through those early chapters. You also might have heard me comment and the overall pattern of Matthew’s gospel. You might remember some sermons that Danny Olinger preached on Matthew’s gospel, in which we discovered that there are multiple outlines at work simultaneously in the one book.

Now, to be sure, many may conclude that such and involved ordering of things. Such a complex development and interweaving of outlines only muffles and confuses things, only creates the exegete’s nightmare, multiplying opportunities for speculation. not rock-solid conclusions, making the text more obscure. But my contention has been for you, as we’ve worked through many portions of the Bible, not just here but elsewhere, that this rich texturing, belonging to the Scriptures, is actually intended in itself to draw you more deeply into this word, and into the greater possibilities laid within this word as this word is opened up for you. And yes, even to lead you into a more certain confidence about the word’s meaning. For as you observe the various patterns at work, and even the various outlines working seemingly, crisscrossing through a particular biblical volume, a book or a letter, you have been provided by God an amazing check and balance system internal to the text itself. whereby you might then begin to measure meaning and come to accurate conclusions concerning the intention of the Holy Spirit.

And in this I do not for a minute intend to remove the matter of scripture interpretation into the arena of the experts, but may God bless his church with men who see the complexities, and who can set those complexities before the people of God, that they might grow up into the full stature of Christ, even through the complexities that are laid deliberately within the world.

We do not need any more kindergarten Christianity. We do not need any more preachers and teachers who are nothing more than glorified deacons. We have enough of those, thank you. We need great exegetes. We need great interpreters. who are not afraid of the complexities that they see in the text and are willing to address those complexities for the benefit of the people of God.

So it is, there is divine design in the complex structure of Scripture, and I trust that in the right hands, the exegete’s nightmare is dispelled, leaving believers in the sweetest of dreams. But this is not to say that having made now our preliminary structural observations and even adjustments, that we have chased all the nightmarish features out of these verses, not at all.

For verse 5 in itself will test our mettle around these lines. I say this because verse 5 is strangely, oddly constructed. It ain’t normal. In the first place, we meet in this verse a reversal of Paul’s ordinary arrangement of things. You see, Paul ordinarily talks about faith and then love.

For instance, in Ephesians 1.15, a verse thought to parallel Philemon 5, In Ephesians 1.15, Paul says, I heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints. You see here, first faith and then love.

But look as well at Colossians 1.4. Again, in this instance, we have a verse that is thought to parallel Philemon 5. Paul here says, we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints. The ordinary pattern, first faith and then love, and this arrangement of things faith, then love, appears many places throughout Paul’s writings. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians, it appears in a number of instances.

1 Thessalonians 1.3, 3.6, 5.8, again in 2 Thessalonians 1.3.

There is an expansive version of this arrangement in 2 Corinthians 8.7, and of course, We have that glorious, triad form of faith and love, in which hope situates itself in between. I have in mind the grand text 1 Corinthians 13, 13, now abide, faith, hope, love, these three, but the order is still the same.

The faith precedes the love. The reason for the standard arrangement of things, the standard arrangement of faith before love in Paul, should be no mystery to us Protestants, who take the Reformation seriously, since we confess with Paul that we are justified by faith, not by love. Our love, made visible in our works, is the fruit of our faith, in keeping with, tried and true, Pauline theology. Our faith being the foundation for our love, the fountain from which our love flows. Paul, therefore, does not tell the Philippian jailer love the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Rather, he tells that sinner, in search of eternal life, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And although looking at a verse now that takes us outside of Paul’s writings proper, we nevertheless hear clearly in it the echo of Paul’s commitment to the priority of faith.

Hebrews 11.6 tells us, without faith it is impossible to please God. It doesn’t say without love it is impossible to please God. Not that he would diminish love, but faith has the priority, as we know and as we have insisted. Paul, therefore, reinforces the priority of faith by setting faith before love in the passages that we’ve read together this evening from Ephesians and Colossians, and also we find it in those references. that we listed for you earlier. However, here in Philemon 5, love comes before faith, and the execute’s nightmare begins. But even in noticing this and making reference to it, are we through with the unsettling, nightmarish features to verse 10?

Maybe you caught it as we read Ephesians 1.15 and Colossians 1.4. For in both of those verses, we have very close parallels to Philemon Far. In fact, so close that these verses, by some, are believed to be near-perfect parallels.

In both the Ephesian and the Colossians texts, faith, notice, is bound to Jesus. Paul gives thanks for the Ephesians and the Colossians’ faith in Jesus, and the love of which he speaks in these two contexts is directed specifically toward dissents. Paul gives thanks for the love which the Colossians and the Ephesians have for all believers.

Faith belonging to his relationship to Christ, love belonging to his relationship to all believers. But here in Ephesians, rather here in Philemon 5, things don’t work out so neatly. Not only does Paul reverse the order of faith and love, so that now it’s love before faith, But love and faith are detached from their usual objects. No longer is it faith in Christ and love for the saints.

Now, as you look at the text, it is love and faith toward the Lord Jesus and toward all of the saints. Here, the King James rendering, the New American Standard rendering, and most renderings of this verse from the Greek. In other words, it seems that both love and faith here are directed to both the Lord Jesus and to the saints. That’s how the verse reads.

But the question now comes up, in what sense could faith Could our faith be directed toward the saints? Do we believe in the saints? This would be a very strange way to speak to begin with, but adding to the confusion is the fact that in the natural reading of the verse, is being directed toward the saints in the same way that it’s being directed toward Jesus Christ. That as we believe in Christ, we also believe in the saints, the consequence being that we are left with a theological monstrosity.

Now, I trust that you will agree with me against the commentator who suggested that Paul here had his thoughts run on too fast for his words, so that in stating the reason for Philemon’s love, namely, mixed in line his faith in the Lord Jesus, he failed inadvertently to mention the object of that love, namely the saints, and had to pick up on it before he ended the sentence.

In order to resolve this complexity, this exegete, this interpreter, is forced, yes, believe it or not, He suggests love at the beginning, in verse 5 there, which actually belongs with the saints at the conclusion of the verse, with faith in the middle belonging expressly and exclusively to the relationship sustained with the Lord Jesus Christ in the middle. I think this is one chiasm that you can throw away. But some commentators have gone so far to propose a reordering of the actual text, and that seemingly on their own authority. So that they judge that Paul is actually saying here, I thank my God always for you, Philemon, because I hear of your love toward all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. You see, matching love with the saints and faith with Jesus. Now, if you happen to have a New International Version in front of you this evening, if that’s the text that you brought with you, You will notice that they have taken the liberty to reorganize the Greek text and to put it in this form. They do speak of the faith first and the love second, however, in their arrangement, if you happen to be looking at it.

But let me tell you, We don’t have to go in this direction in order to resolve the difficulty. For truly, all we need do here, strange as it may seem, is take Paul at his word. Paul is being deliberate in the first order of things. He is being deliberate. in reversing the usual order of faith and love, and setting love first. For here in Philemon’s case, he is not concerned with the love that flows from faith as a testimony to the genuineness of Philemon’s faith, Instead, Paul is interested in the faith, or if you will, the faithfulness that flows forth from Philemon’s love as a testimony to that love’s genuineness. There is an inversion with respect to Paul’s usual and ordinary concerns. He is not here concerned with the love that flows forth from faith, but rather with the faith or the faithfulness that flows forth from love.

And seeing the love and faith this way means, of course, that both love and faith can be equally directed toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, simultaneously. But now, sealing the case for this interpretation, sealing the case is Paul’s use of the prepositions within the verse. the preposition that he uses before the words, the word Jesus, and the preposition that he uses before the words, all the saints. Now, you wouldn’t know that there are actually different prepositions used here by Paul by looking at most English translations, including the New American Standard Version.

But once you’ve been made aware of the difference, the text then begins to open up for you. It begins to clear up for you in the most marvelous way. Not to keep you in suspense any longer, let me give you the sense of the thing with an amplified translation of verse 5.

Building off of that fourth verse, Paul says, in effect, I thank my God always for you, Father Lumen, because I hear of your love and of the faithfulness that you have. As your love and faithfulness move toward their full, perfect expression, in the Lord Jesus. And as well, I thank my God always for you because I hear of your love and of the faithfulness which you have as your love and faithfulness enter into and are measured by the boundaries of the community of all the things.

That is what the apostle is driving at. That is what he is expressing as the most immediate motivation for his thanksgiving for Philemon. I will repeat that for you. I know you may be weary by this time, I know I am, but I will repeat that for you, even though my voice is wearing out, because I think it will be worth it.

If in fact you can catch the sense of it, And what I want you to perceive behind what the Apostle is driving at is the atmospheric aspects, the topological aspects of what he has in mind, the place specifics of what he has in mind as he speaks about his prayer on behalf of Philemon. I thank my God always for you, Philemon. because I hear of your love and of the faithfulness which you have.” As your love and faithfulness move toward, you see, the spatial, the atmospheric, the topological, the place-specific, move toward their full perfect expression in the Lord Jesus. And in addition to that, I thank my God always for you, Philemon, because I hear of your love and the faithfulness which you have as your love and faithfulness enter into, that’s the force of the preposition here, enter into and are measured boundaries of the community of all the saints.

These are grand and high matters informing the Apostle’s thanksgiving. These are no trivial concerns on his part. The Apostle lives at the highest level, even in his thanksgiving and in his intercessions. And by his example in prayer, he is calling you to similar heights. Will you not share the heights with him? Will you not join him as he sees such glorious things? and is encouraging you, even as he encouraged Philemon, to see those glorious things as well. You should now be able to see the exegete’s nightmare beginning to recede, and that in a conclusive way. I can’t tell you how much I’ve labored over these verses that I’ve set before you this You might not be amused by now, by my delay tactics, stringing out these messages interminably.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.