I heard a preacher say one time that Onesimus ended up becoming an elder of the church.\u00a0 Is that not speculation and conjecture?<\/p>\n\t
Ignatius, a Christian who wrote at the beginning of the second century, to the church in Ephesus said, “Seeing, then, that we have become acquainted with your multitude in the name of God, by Onesimus, who is your bishop, in love which is unutterable, whom I pray that ye love in Jesus Christ our Lord, and that all of you imitate his example, for blessed is He who has given you such a bishop, even as ye deserve [to have].” Ignatius also wrote, “The bishops, Onesimus, Bitus, Damas, Polybius, and all they of Philippi (whence also I have written to thee), salute thee in Christ. Salute the presbytery worthy of God: salute my holy fellow-deacons.”<\/p>\n
Since Onesimus came from Colosse and was a slave to Philemon in Laodicea, it is sometimes assumed that this is the same gentleman since Ephesus is not that far from the other two cities. Catholic writers are the ones who promote the idea the most. However, it is not a necessary assumption because names are not unique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I heard a preacher say one time that Onesimus ended up becoming an elder of the church.\u00a0 Is that not speculation and conjecture? Answer: Ignatius, a Christian who wrote at the beginning of the second century, to the church in Ephesus said, “Seeing, then, that we have become acquainted with your multitude in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[279,137],"class_list":["post-3149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-history","tag-onesimus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3136,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-say-for-sure-that-onesimus-stole-from-his-master\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":0},"title":"Can we say for sure that Onesimus stole from his master?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to Philemon 18, can we say for sure that Onesimus stole from his master? Answer: Paul tells us in the book of Philemon that Onesimus was a slave (Philemon 16) who became a Christian after meeting Paul while Paul was in prison in Rome (Philemon 10). Paul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12940,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-prison-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":1},"title":"The Prison Letters","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Colossians 4:7-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Near the end of Paul\u2019s third journey, he visited churches to gather funds to relieve the famine stricken brethren in Judea. - I Corinthians 16:1-9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several of the churches sent representatives to travel with Paul - II Corinthians 8:16-24 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several of these men are named in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-the-letter-to-laodicea-mentioned-in-colossians-416\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":2},"title":"What happened to the letter to Laodicea mentioned in Colossians 4:16?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happened to the letter to Laodicea mentioned in\u00a0Colossians 4:16? Answer: Near the end of Paul's third journey, Paul visited churches and gathered funds for the relief of brethren in Judea suffering from a famine (I Corinthians 16:1-9). Several of the churches sent representatives to travel with Paul, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/Asia-Minor-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":93225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-christians-grow-confused-about-ice-borders-and-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":3},"title":"When Christians Grow Confused About ICE, Borders, and the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brad Harrub, Ph.D. Few issues today generate more emotional confusion among Christians than immigration and the role of ICE. Social media has a way of reducing complex biblical questions into shallow slogans: \"Jesus would tear down the walls,\" or \"Borders are unloving.\" Those statements may sound compassionate, but they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":609,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-term-brother-indicate-saul-was-saved-prior-to-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":4},"title":"Does the term “brother” indicate Saul was saved prior to baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since Ananias calls Saul \"Brother\" prior to Saul's baptism, doesn't this prove that Saul was saved before he was baptized? Answer: The verse in\u00a0question is\u00a0Acts 22:13\u00a0which reads, \"and he\u00a0[Ananias]\u00a0stood and said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' And at that same hour I looked up at him.\" As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-mark-peters-son\/","url_meta":{"origin":3149,"position":5},"title":"Was Mark Peter’s son?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Peter 5:13 Peter said, \"The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus, my son.\" Since Peter was married, could Marcus be his son? Answer: It wasn't unusual for preachers who worked closely with younger men, who would eventually succeed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}