November 23
The Continual Burnt Offering" I f then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account, I,
Paul, am writing with my own hand, I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides."
We have a lovely gospel medallion in this short letter to Philemon. A poor thieving runaway slave, Onesimus, who had been saved through contact with the apostle Paul in prison, was going back to his master and this letter was to be his passport to favor. Paul undertook to stand surety for all the wrong done, even as Jesus has made Himself responsible for our sins and iniquities. Then Paul requested that Philemon receive Onesimus as if he were the apostle himself. He was to be accepted according to his master’s estimate of Paul. In this we see how all believers, though once lost sinners, have now been accepted in the beloved and are treated by the Father according to His thoughts of His own Son.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.