Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Philemon 1:21

"Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say." — Philemon 1:21 (ASV)

Paul has avoided giving any commands to Philemon (cf. v.8), but he nonetheless expects “obedience” (GK 5633). To what? Perhaps the love of Christ (cf. Ephesians 6:9). “Even more than I ask” may be an intimation that Paul would like Onesimus set free from enslavement. He has hinted that Onesimus be loaned to him (cf. v.13); only emancipation could be beyond that. Paul never directly assaults the social and economic institutions of his day. Yet he clearly perceives in Christianity an ethic that reaches beyond human social institutions.