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? Not now as a servant? - Do not receive him merely as thy slave, nor treat him according to that condition; but as a brother - as a genuine Christian, and particularly dear to me.
Both in the flesh and in the Lord? - There is no reason to believe that Onesimus was of the kindred of Philemon; and we must take the term flesh, here, as referring to the right which Philemon had in him. He was a part of his property and of his family; as a slave, this was his condition; but he now stood in a twofold relation to Philemon:
1. According to the flesh, as above explained, he was one of his family.
2. In the Lord; he was now also a member of the heavenly family, and of the Church at Philemon's house. Philemon's interest in him was now doubled, in consequence of his conversion to Christianity.