"If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account." [Phm 1:18]
When the slave to Philemon, named Onesimus, ran away, just as it was Ruth’s “’hap’…to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz,” [Ruth 2:3] so too it was Onesimus’ “happenstance” to meet the apostle Paul. Of course, we can intuitively look at these events and confidently say that it was not mere accident, but divine providence at work; for as it is written, “[God] worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” [Eph 1:11] And so when Onesimus ran away from Philemon, The Holy Spirit saw fit to guide him to Paul, who receiving him, led him to salvation in Christ. And this letter, the letter to Philemon, written by Paul and sent by the hand of Onesimus, has contained within it, pleas from Paul to Philemon to forgive and restore and be reconciled to Onesimus, who is now “above a servant, a brother beloved.” [Phm 1:16] One such plea from Paul to Philemon is found in our verse for today: “if he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account.” [Phm 1:18]
This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done for us. For just as Onesimus was led to Jesus through Paul, and Paul was that mediator that reconciled Onesimus to Philemon, so too in our lives we have been led to Christ and it is Christ Jesus who has reconciled us back to The Father. And what Paul says to Philemon, Jesus might easily say, yea, and has said, to The Father: “if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account.” The entirety of our debt to The Father, whatever wrong we have done against Him, all of it without exception has been put on and laid upon Jesus, imputed to Him and not to us. And Jesus has taken all our debt and wrongdoing and paid for it in full, even as Christ uttered gloriously from the cross, “it is finished.” [Jn 19:30] Just as in the parable where “the lord…was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt [of ten thousand talents],” [f.f., Mt 18:27] so too for the sake of Jesus Christ and His great mercy, The Father has forgiven us and released us from all our debt, laying it all upon Jesus, who “[was] made…sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” [2 Cor 5:21] Praise to God; for our sins are cleansed and washed away. As David wrote, “blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom The Lord will not impute sin.” [Rom 4:7-8]
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