✉️WEB · Philemon 1:11
What does Philemon 1:11 mean?
"who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me."
— Philemon 1:11 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate,
yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus,
who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.
I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart,
whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News.
But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
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