Philemon to forgive because of Christ’s work

The slave has no case to make in his own defense. He is plainly guilty. But he has Paul to plead for him, to intercede, in this case with Philemon. Paul has the right to claim his forgiveness, that is his benefit. Well, dare I say it is impossible for Christians to read the way that Paul intercedes for Onesimus and his forgiveness, and fail to see that he is working out a parallel of the saving ministry of the Lord Jesus for all his people. Paul says in one place: imitate me as I imitate Christ. He is imitating Christ. He is taking the way that he has been forgiven by Christ, and he is applying that to the forgiveness of Onesimus. He sees a parallel with Jesus. Onesimus stands guilty before Philemon. Although the master holds in his hand a letter from the apostle who claims his right to be forgiven, Onesimus is not to be forgiven for what he has deserved, but for what Paul has done in intercession.

My friends, do we realize that we all likewise stand before God's holy justice for countless violations of his law? And that we stand mute under condemnation, that there is nothing we can say? And if we think we can, when the final judgment comes, we will be mute then. Thousands of violations, hard-heartedly offending the Creator of the world and his law, we have no valid plea for why we should be forgiven. But Jesus, God's own Son, came into the world in order to intercede, to make the case for our forgiveness. His intercession was God's own will: for God so loved the world. It was God who loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

Well just as there are three things that Paul argues for in his intercession for Onesimus to be forgiven by Philemon, Jesus has already fulfilled the same arguments: first of all, that he has come into our world to identify himself with sinners, that he might make intercession for us: He was numbered with the transgressors so that he makes intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12). I think one of the places we most clearly see the Lord Jesus identifying himself, up-taking cause with us, is when he was baptized at the Jordan River by John the Baptist. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He was saying to the Jewish people, you need to say I come as a sinner to God, so I am confessing my sins as a first step in my redemption. And so Jesus of Nazareth shows up, and John the Baptist says that the only person who does not need this baptism is you (Matthew 3:1–17). And Jesus said, let it be so, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). Why was Jesus Christ taking on the emblems of repentance? Because He had come to identify Himself with sinners. He was beginning a ministry designed to provide what we lacked, but what we need. When Jesus spoke of how all righteousness must be fulfilled, he was talking about the righteousness he would perform, in order to transfer it to us for our justification. If you doubt that Jesus has identified with those who believe in him, think of the words of Matthew 25:40, where he says, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me. Here then is the marvel of the grace of Christ for sinners: that though you and I stand utterly shamed and condemned in the guilt of our sins, Jesus stands as it were, between us and God's law. He speaks to God for each believer in the very language that Paul writes in about Onesimus: receive him as you would receive me (Philemon 1:17). And so the Father no longer looks and sees our sin but he sees Christ in his spotless righteousness. By this means we are able to be forgiven our sins: that Christ has identified with us; he has taken up our cause, asking his Father to receive that sinner as you would receive me, not for the merits and the privileges and the rights he or she has, but those that I have gained, for them.

The second way in which Paul’s intercession imitates Christ concerns the debt of sin that still has to be paid. Paul said, I know those debts, it has to be paid and I will pay them. Well, how are we ever going to pay to God the debt of a lifetime of sin against him and his holy law? The answer is that just as Paul takes the paper from the secretary and writes in his own hand, charge that to my account; I will repay it— in just that manner our Savior Jesus took our sin to the cross that he might pay the debt of our sin. How can a sinner be forgiven, we ask? And the answer is that there is a debt of sin, there is a debt to God's justice, there is a penalty that must be borne, and that debt to justice is paid by Jesus, paying with his own blood the price of our sin. You say, how can he do so? He had no sin of his own. Nobody else can intercede for you because they have their own sin to be punished. Jesus had no sin of his own. But how can one person die for so many people? What if that person is the Son of God? His life is of such infinite value that he can atone for the sin of all those who believe he can pay the debt of all our sins. The theological term for this is atonement, to atone. Atonement means that our sin is covered. It was pictured in the Old Testament rituals in which the blood of sacrificed animals would be sprinkled to cover the sin (Leviticus 14:1–57; Leviticus 16:1–34). Jesus is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His atonement is such that he covers our sin - when the cover is lifted back, the sins have been removed: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). In fact, the atonement is a penal, substitutionary atonement: He is our substitute. We are guilty; he is not. He says, receive them as you would receive Me, let me pay their debt. I will take their place under your wrath— and he does so to relieve us of a penal debt. He takes the penalty we deserve. He suffers that death on our behalf. In this way he makes a full and final atonement for our sin.

In fact, the imagery of Paul taking the paper for the letter saying, let me write this in my own hand, is certainly suggestive. Because even now, the Lord Jesus on your behalf stands at the right hand of God and he shows his hands, and there are the wounds he suffered as he was nailed to the cross for you. The penalty has been paid. Jesus says, to my account; I will repay the debt of justice their sin deserves. Philip Bliss wrote,

"bearing shame and scoffing rude,
in my place condemned He stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Guilty, vile and helpless we,
sinless, spotless Lamb of God was He,
full atonement, can it be?
Hallelujah, what a Savior”!

|The final way that Paul imitates Christ in his intercession is that as Paul was able to claim regarding Onesimus— yes brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord— the Lord Jesus Christ is able to stand before the Father and make a claim that must be accepted. In fact, this is the whole point of the eternal covenant made with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In eternity past, the Father established how Jesus could get a legal claim by which he could demand the forgiveness of all the elect, of all those who belong to him - John 17:1–26. In many places the Bible talks about the Father giving a people to the Son. And what will the Son do for them? He will die on the cross for their sins; it is the blood of the eternal covenant. And that allows Jesus to come before the Father by the Father's own arrangement and say, I claim what is my right; that this sinner would be forgiven in my name through faith. Isaiah puts it this way: He shall see his offspring, [the children given to him by the Father] out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied, he will make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:10b, Isaiah 53:11). The good news of the Lord Jesus. There is a wave of sinners to be forgiven. We can be forgiven and we can escape the eternal judgment we deserve, and that is to come to Jesus Christ, answering his call. He calls to you to be saved, and you answer it by confessing your sins and trusting in him. I hope that you have done that. The great issue of life, until we have come to Jesus, is that we bring our sins to the cross. Jesus offers to be one with you, that he would pay your debt to his account, and He would secure your forgiveness by his blood.¹

Richard D. Phillips