Charles Ellicott Commentary Philemon 1:19

"I Paul write it with mine own hand, I will repay it: that I say not unto thee that thou owest to me even thine own self besides." — Philemon 1:19 (ASV)

I Paul have written it with my own hand.—St. Paul actually introduces here a regular bond couched in legal form, written (as, perhaps, the whole Letter was written) with his own hand. By doing so, he still continues the idea of the preceding verse; but the following words show that, though willing to stand by his bond, he knew Philemon too well to suppose that he would accept it.

It is clear from this passage that the Apostle had money which he could rightly call his own. At Ephesus, where he probably first knew Philemon, it was probably earned through his work with Aquila and Priscilla, as at Corinth, and it is possible that some of it might still remain. In Rome now, it could hardly be from any other source than the offerings from the Church at Philippi. They were given to him freely; he might fairly spend them on his own “son in the faith.”

Although I do not say to you . . .—Literally, not to say to you. Here St. Paul escapes from the business-like promise of the last verse to the freer atmosphere of spiritual relations. He knew that it was right for him to offer this promise, but wrong for Philemon to accept. Philemon owed his own self—his new self in Christ—to the Apostle. That was a debt which he could not repay, but would rejoice to acknowledge even in this smaller matter.