The New Testament’s Letter to Philemon is addressed to Philemon and concerns Onesimus. It is one of Paul’s shortest letters and is directed to an individual rather than primarily to a whole church.
Paul writes from imprisonment and asks Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer merely as a slave but as a beloved brother. The letter’s wording has made it important in discussions of slavery, Christian fellowship, personal reconciliation, and the relationship between ancient social structures and Christian teaching. Paul also offers to repay any debt Onesimus may owe.
The letter does not explicitly describe every detail of Onesimus’s situation, so interpreters debate whether he fled, incurred a debt, or was sent to Paul. Its compact form nevertheless gives unusually direct access to a personal relationship in the early Christian world. Philemon is traditionally grouped among the Pauline Epistles and is usually placed near the end of that collection.