Epistle To Philemon, a canonical epistle of the New Testament, written, according to its own inscription and the constant tradition of the ancient church, by the apostle Paul. Eu-sebius and Jerome attest its universal reception as a Pauline epistle in the Christian world. In modern times the authenticity of the epistle has been questioned by Baur (Paulus der Apostel Jesu Christi, 1845), but it is defended even by a majority of the theologians of the Tubingen school. The Epistle to Philemon is one of the shortest portions of the Bible, containing only one chapter. It was written about A. D. 63, during Paul's confinement at Rome, or according to some at Csesarea. Philemon, according to ancient tradition, was a rich and influential citizen of Colossas, and had been converted to Christianity under the preaching of Paul. The apostle writes to him about Onesi-mus, a slave of Philemon, who had run away from his master, had been converted by Paul at Rome, and was sent back by him to his master, who is entreated to receive him "not now as a servant, but as a brother beloved." Many writers have remarked the high courtesy and dignity with which the apostle asks for Onesi-mus the kind treatment which he might have commanded. Of the life of Philemon nothing else is known.

According to a tradition he was bishop of Colossae, where, it is said, his house was pointed out in the 5th century. The Roman Catholic church commemorates him as a saint on Nov. 22. Special commentaries on the epistle have been written by Ha-genbach (1829), Koch (1846), F. Kuhne (1856), H. B. Hackett (New York, 1860), J. J. Van Oosterzee in Lange's Bibelwerh (1862), and Bleek (1865).