The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the biblical text. Authors are sensitive to the rich treasury of language, imagery, and themes found throughout Scripture, including such dialectics as Law and Gospel, sin and grace, death and new life, folly and wisdom, demon, possession and the arrival of the kingdom of God in Christ. Careful attention is given to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Further light is shed on the text from archaeology, history, and extrabiblical literature. Finally, Scripture's message is applied to the ongoing life of the church in terms of ministry, worship, proclamation of the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, confession of the faith--all in joyful anticipation of the life of the world to come. This commentary expounds Philemon in light of its setting in the Greco-Roman world and its theological purpose. It probes the specific circumstances under which Paul wrote the letter, and who Philemon was and his position within the Christian community. In this Epistle, the apostle addresses a crisis in the church. He speaks to the relationship between a congregation and its pastor through all the problems, sorrows, adventures and joys that attend pastoral ministry.
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