The Hurtful Made Profitable by Conversion
W. Attersoll. Philemon 1:11 Which in time past was to you unprofitable, but now profitable to you and to me: Philemon might object, "I have found him hurtful; why, then, should I receive into my house as a member of my family that servant which will cause more harm than bring profit? I have had experience of the damage that he hath done me; what homage he will do me I know not." To this the apostle maketh a double answer — first, by granting, then by correcting that which he hath granted, and both ways by comparing the time past with the time present — the time before he embraced religion with the time of his conversion; as if he should say: "True it is, and I grant he was once unprofitable to thee, for while he was unfaithful to God he could do no faithful service unto thee; but why dost thou urge the time of his ignorance? And why dost thou consider so much what he bath been? For now he has become a new man; he has tasted of the true religion; he hath learned to know God, to know himself, to know thee, and to know me — to know God, his merciful Creator; to know himself, a wretched sinner; to know thee, his loving master; to know me, his spiritual father; whereas in former times he was ignorant of all these. As he regarded not to know God, so he could not regard thy good, but now thou shalt receive a new Onesimus, a new servant, a new man, the same in substance, but renewed in quality, and altered from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. He was not before so profitable, but now thou shalt find him as profitable unto thee as I have found him both diligent and dutiful unto me in my bonds and imprisonment." (W. Attersoll.) Parallel Verses KJV: Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: WEB: who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me.