Philemon

This short, personal letter accompanies the letter to the Colossians. A runaway bondservant (debt slavery) had become a follower of Jesus and a "son in the faith" to Paul. In Colossians, Paul had urged submission of slaves to masters. But even as Paul sends Onesimus back to submit to his master, but he then calls upon Philemon to submit to something greater ... to love and reconciliation.

We cannot stop at mere moral rule following. Paul moves us toward a higher principle (v9). The highest moral obligation isn't to our rights, but to restoration and reconciliation with God and with each other. The law of love is greater than the law of the land.