Philemon 1:18 If he has wronged you, or owes you ought, put that on my account; The form only is hypothetical. The case is put as one which is absolutely unquestionable. No doubt Onesimus robbed his master when he ran away. The consequence of this is a debt at present unpaid. He wronged Philemon once for all, and consequently is in debt. Flight and theft were instinctively associated in the minds of Romans as the kindred offences of slaves. It will be observed that St Paul's teaching was not socialistic. Not private property, but the abstraction of it, was theft in his estimation. (Bp. W. Alexander.) Parallel Verses KJV: If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;WEB: But if he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put that to my account. |
    |