Person
Onesimus
Useful, a slave who, after robbing his master Philemon (q.v.) at Colosse, fled to Rome, where he was converted by the apostle Paul, who sent him back to his master with the epistle which bears his name. In it he beseeches Philemon to receive his slave as a “faithful and beloved brother.” Paul offers to pay to Philemon anything his slave had taken, and to bear the wrong he had done him. He was accompanied on his return by Tychicus, the bearer of the Epistle to the Colossians (Philemon 1:16, 18).
The story of this fugitive Colossian slave is a remarkable evidence of the freedom of access to the prisoner which was granted to all, and “a beautiful illustration both of the character of St. Paul and the transfiguring power and righteous principles of the gospel.”
Family tree
Trace Onesimus's family through the generations, from their ancestors and relatives to the people connected to their life. Follow each branch as far back and forward as Scripture records it.
Relationship graph
Onesimus's place in the wider story of Scripture, connecting the people, places, families, and events tied to their life. See how these relationships overlap and form a single picture instead of separate lists.
