Phm 1:10-12
"I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart."
The wordplay: Onesimus means 'useful' in Greek. 'Formerly useless, now useful' — conversion transformed the runaway slave. Paul sends Onesimus back not as a slave, but as a beloved brother.
Phm 1:15-18
"For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother... Receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account."
The theology of providence: 'for this perhaps' — God used Onesimus’s flight for his conversion. The social transformation of the Gospel: from slave to beloved brother. Paul offers himself as surety — 'charge that to my account' (emoi ellogas) — an image of imputation and Christ’s intercession.