Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
Ver. 16. Both in the flesh] Perhaps Onesimus was Philemon's kinsman.
And in the Lord] Sanctior est copula cordis quam corporis. "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," 1 Corinthians 6:17 .