He does not immediately at the commencement ask the favor, but having first admired the man, and having praised him for his good actions, and having shown no small proof of his love, that he always made mention of him in his prayers, and having said that many are refreshed by him, and that he is obedient and complying in all things; then he puts it last of all, by this particularly putting him to the blush. For if others obtain the things which they ask, much more Paul. If coming before others, he was worthy to obtain, much more when he comes after others, and asks a thing not pertaining to himself, but in behalf of another. Then, that he may not seem to have written on this account only, and that no one may say, "If it were not for Onesimus you would not have written," see how he assigns other causes also of his Epistle. In the first place manifesting his love, then also desiring that a lodging may be prepared for him.
"Hearing," he says, "of your love."
This is wonderful, and much greater than if being present he had seen it when he was present. For it is plain that from its being excessive it had become manifest, and had reached even to Paul. And yet the distance between Rome and Phrygia was not small. For he seems to have been there from the mention of Archippus. For the Colossians were of Phrygia, writing to whom he said, "When this Epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea." [Colossians 4:16] And this is a city of Phrygia.
I pray, he says, "that the communication of your faith may become effectual in the knowledge of every good thing which is in Christ Jesus." Do you see him first giving, before he receives, and before he asks a favor himself bestowing a much greater one of his own? "That the communication of your faith," he says, "may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus"; that is, that you may attain all virtue, that nothing may be deficient. For so faith becomes effectual, when it is accompanied with works. For "without works faith is dead." [James 2:26] And he has not said, "Your faith," but "the communication of your faith," connecting it with himself, and showing that it is one body, and by this particularly making him ashamed to refuse. If you are a partaker, he says, with respect to the faith, you ought to communicate also with respect to other things.
I always give thanks to my God, making mention of thee in my prayers, hearing of thy charity and faith which thou hast in the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints: that the communication of thy faith may be made evident in the acknowledgment of every good that is in you in Christ. "This, now not as Paul and Timothy, to Philemon and others; but as Paul alone, speaks only to Philemon: "I give thanks," he says, "always to my God, making mention of thee in my prayers." It is said ambiguously, whether he always gives thanks to his God, or whether he always mentions him in his prayers. And both can be understood. For whoever commands others to give thanks to God in all things, cannot be restricted by any difficulties to himself not to give thanks to God always. But if Paul always prayed for the saints and for the better ones (Philemon, who is indeed a saint, who also demonstrated such great faith and love that he was known not only by his reputation, but also by his works) and it is likely that he always prayed for Philemon, so that the faith and love he had in Christ, and in all his holy ones, through the communication of faith and the operation of knowledge, would be kept by the mercy of Christ in all goodness. And indeed the interpretation of the love that he had in Christ Jesus, and in all his holy ones, is not difficult: by which we are commanded to love God and our neighbors. Now the question is, how can someone have the same faith in Christ Jesus and in all his saints, since charity you have in the Lord Jesus and in all his holy ones resonates in common, and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and in all his holy ones. To illustrate this point from Exodus, let us take an example: "The people believed God and Moses, His servant" (Exod. 19). The same belief is attributed to Moses and to God so that the people who believed in the Lord may be said to have likewise believed in His servant. But this is not only true of Moses; it is true of all His saints, so that anyone who believes in God cannot really receive His faith save by believing also in His saints. For to love God perfectly and to have faith in Him, we must not hate or have infidelity toward His ministers. But what I say is this: someone believes in God as the creator: he cannot believe unless he first believes that what is written about his holy things is true: Adam was created by God, Eve was made from his rib, Enoch was translated, Noah alone was saved from the flood; Abraham was the first to be commanded to leave his homeland and his kin, he left behind for his posterity the circumcision which he had received as a sign of future generations; Isaac was offered up as a victim, and for him a ram was slain, crowned with briars, and prefigured the passion of the Lord; Moses and Aaron afflicted Egypt with ten plagues; at the voice and prayers of Jesus, the son of Naue, the sun stood still at Gabaon, and the moon in the vale of Ajalon. It is long to go through all the deeds of the Judges: and to draw the whole story of Samson, to the true sun (for his name indeed means this) is to bring sacrament. I will come to the books of Kings ("or" The Books of Kings) when, during the harvest time, at Samuel's entreaty, rains fell from heaven, and rivers suddenly overflowed: David was anointed king: and Nathan and Gad prophesied mysteries; when Elijah was carried up in a fiery chariot, and Elisha, dead with twofold spirit, raised the dead. These and other things which are written about the saints, unless someone believes them all, he will not be able to believe in the God of the saints, nor will he be brought to faith in the Old Testament, unless he approves whatever is narrated in history about the patriarchs, and prophets, and other notable men, so that, through faith in the Law, he may come to faith in the Gospel, and the justice of God may reveal in him through faith to faith, as it is written: “but the just man liveth by faith” (Habakkuk 2). It is commanded in another place: "Be holy, for I am holy, says the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:2). Likewise, holiness is owed to both servants and the Lord: all are sanctified from one. Let us not consider Philemon's preaching lightly, if he has the same faith in the saints as in God. Whoever believes that God is holy does not err. But if anyone believes that a man who is not holy is holy, and joins him to the fellowship of God, he violates Christ, of whose body we are all members. "Whoever says," he says, "that the just are unjust, and the unjust just, is abominable to God" (Proverbs 17:15); similarly, whoever says that someone who is not holy is holy, or vice versa, is saying that the holy is abominable to God. According to the Apostle, all believers become the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 6). Whoever wanders and falls in the body of Christ, asserting that a member of his is either holy when it is not, or not holy when it is, sees what kind of crime he becomes subject to: 'Woe,' Isaiah says, 'to those who call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet: who put darkness for light, and light for darkness' (Isaiah 5:20). Sweet, I think, is holiness: bitter, that which is contrary to holiness; light can be understood in the same way as holiness, darkness as its opposite. Do you think that a crafty moneychanger, experienced in testing our coins, will not err in judging the saints? One who has equal charity and faith toward God or His saints, ought also to have an equal share in the communication of His faith, so that as he believes and loves, he may also consummate his love and faith by his works. He says, "Let it become clear in knowing all good"; or as is better had in Greek, "effective"; for it can be properly translated "effective" or "operative"; so that we may not only believe that faith and charity towards God and His saints are sufficient for us, but also that what we believe is accomplished by action. However, it may happen that someone has faith and consumes it by actions: truly and simply, however, not having knowledge or understanding of it, according to that of the Apostle: "I bear witness that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" (Rom. 10:2). Today, most of the simple practice works of justice, and they do not have knowledge of what they are working on. Hence, it was added: "That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledgment of every good thing." To what degrees and with what leaps, does the apostle strive towards higher things in his speech? Someone may have charity and faith in God and his saints: but perhaps he may not communicate it equally in all directions. Perhaps he may communicate it to all, but he may not fulfill it in action: someone may fulfill it with willingness and action, but he cannot have a perfect understanding of his deeds. There is such a person who has both skill and knowledge, but not every understanding of good; for he is unequal to his own virtues in some part, though doing many things justly, gently and studiously. Isn't Philemon such a person? He indeed has a participation in the working faith and knowledge of all good things. And although it is in the apostles, we should not consider it perfect just because it is in them, but rather that it is full in Christ, since Christ is the source from which all the good in Philemon is praised and taken from the example of the apostles. Therefore, it is good, because it is derived from the source of Christ.
If the question is asked—“How can we have the same faith in Christ Jesus and toward all the saints?”—the answer is that you have love in Christ Jesus and toward the saints, and you have the same faith in Christ Jesus and toward the saints by a shared property.… It is because the same holiness is shared by the Lord and by his servants, as Old Testament usage shows. As long as we believe in the holiness of God, we shall see it in his true servants as well.
Stating the matter of his giving thanks and of his prayer, he shows what he asks when he prays for them. The matter of this was the needs and goods of Philemon, namely, both charity and faith. For without charity nothing avails and through it all things are had. 1 Corinthians 13:1: ‘If I should speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.’ Again, without faith no one can love God, because he does not truly know God. He makes no mention of hope, because it is midway between and is understood in the others. But in whom should they have faith and charity? in our Lord Jesus. 1 Corinthians 16:22: ‘If any man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.’ This is necessary, because from Christ more sweetly comes love for the members; because he who does not love the members, does not love the head. 1 John 4.20: ‘For how can he who does not love his brother, whom he sees, love God, whom he does not see?’
And towards all the saints... Faith is based on doctrine insofar as it is manifested through Christ, ‘because no one has seen God’, John 31.18; and, ‘You believe in God, believe also in me,’ John 14.1. We have Christ, therefore, through faith. Towards all the saints can be understood in two ways. In one way, because from the faith they have in Christ proceed the prayers made for the saints. Or, faith consists principally in the divinity as it is announced by Christ, and not only by Christ, but also by the saints. Matthew 28:19: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...’ Therefore we ought to believe not only what was said by Christ but also what was said by the saints. Hebrews 2:3: ‘For it was first announced by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by those who heard him.’
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Philemon 1:4-6
"Hearing," he says, "of your love."
This is wonderful, and much greater than if being present he had seen it when he was present. For it is plain that from its being excessive it had become manifest, and had reached even to Paul. And yet the distance between Rome and Phrygia was not small. For he seems to have been there from the mention of Archippus. For the Colossians were of Phrygia, writing to whom he said, "When this Epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea." [Colossians 4:16] And this is a city of Phrygia.
I pray, he says, "that the communication of your faith may become effectual in the knowledge of every good thing which is in Christ Jesus." Do you see him first giving, before he receives, and before he asks a favor himself bestowing a much greater one of his own? "That the communication of your faith," he says, "may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus"; that is, that you may attain all virtue, that nothing may be deficient. For so faith becomes effectual, when it is accompanied with works. For "without works faith is dead." [James 2:26] And he has not said, "Your faith," but "the communication of your faith," connecting it with himself, and showing that it is one body, and by this particularly making him ashamed to refuse. If you are a partaker, he says, with respect to the faith, you ought to communicate also with respect to other things.