Philemon 1:14

“This passage, too,” says he, “is quoted by them: ‘It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.’” And he observes that the answer to be given to them is derived from the same apostle’s words in another passage: “Let him do what he will.” And he adds another passage from the Epistle to Philemon, where, speaking of Onesimus, [St. Paul says]: “‘Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.’ Likewise, in Deuteronomy: ‘Life and death hath He set before thee, and good and evil: . . …

What is the import of the fact that in so many passages God requires all His commandments to be kept and fulfilled? How does He make this requisition, if there is no free will? What means “the happy man,” of whom the Psalmist says that “his will has been the law of the Lord”? Does he not clearly enough show that a man by his own will takes his stand in the law of God? Then again, there are so many commandments which in some way are expressly adapted to the human will; for instance, there is, “Be not overcome of evil,” and others of similar import, such as, “Be not like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding;” and, “Reject not the counsels of thy mother;” and, “Be not wise in thine own conceit;” and, “Despise not the chastening of the Lord;” and, “Forget not my law;” and, “Forbear not to do good to the poor;” and, “Devise not evil against thy friend;” and, “Give no heed to a worth …

18. Moreover also the blessed Paul not only welcomes Onesimus the unprofitable runaway thief, because he was converted, but also asks his master to treat him who had repented, on equal terms of honour with his teacher, thus saying: “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds, who was aforetime unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me, whom I have sent back to thee; thou therefore receive him, that is my very heart, whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the Gospel; but without thy mind I would do nothing that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will. …

Onesimus is the one about whom, writing to Philemon, he said, “Whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the Gospel: but without thy mind I would do nothing.” ( Philem. 13, 14 .) And he adds too the praise of their city, that they might not only not be ashamed, but even pride themselves on him. “Who is one of you,” he saith. “They shall make known unto you all things that are done here.”

Ver. 14 . “But without thy mind,” he says, “would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly.” This particularly flatters the person asked, when the thing being profitable in itself, it is brought out with his concurrence. For two good effects are produced thence, the one person gains, and the other is rendered more secure. And he has not said, That it should not be of necessity, but “as it were of necessity.” For I knew, he says, that not having learnt it, but coming to know it at once, thou wouldest not have been angry, but nevertheless out of an excess of consideration, that it should “not be as it were of necessity.”