Greetings to The One Who Kisses

Philemon 1:1-3

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, 2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:  3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon means "one who kisses,” an appropriate name for one loved by Paul.  He lived in Colossae and was apparently a convert of Paul, who was a prisoner in Rome for the gospel of Jesus Christ while writing to Philemon (with Timothy alongside) and indirectly to the church of the Colossians.  Paul addresses Philemon as a loved friend and a co-laborer in the gospel, but also speaks to Apphia and Archippus.  Some believe Apphia was Philemon’s wife, and Archippus may have been an elder of the Colossian church (Col. 4:17).  But Paul also included greetings to the church there in Philemon’s house as part of the Colossians assemblies.  This makes this letter personal and corporate, as many of these epistles are, showing that they are applicable to all the church then and now, even as he wrote on specific issues on a personal level.  Therefore we also are greeted with the grace of God the Father in Jesus Christ by the Spirit in all who are His throughout time, and can learn much by exhortation and example from this short letter of love.