Philemon 22 22At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously restored to you.
Paul’s optimism is clearly seen in this verse. His request to prepare a guest room for him indicates that he expected to be released from prison soon and visit Philemon again. In that time, inns were not plentiful or always safe places to stay. Christians opened their homes to traveling missionaries like Paul and his ministry companions. Hospitality was an important quality in the early church.
One important instrument of Paul’s release could be Philemon’s prayers. Philemon could intercede and ask God for a miracle in Paul’s behalf. The verb graciously restored (charisthēsomai) has as its root the word “grace” (charis). It has the sense of giving a gift, favor, or restoring. Paul is essentially asking God’s favor in this situation and so that he could be freed and visit the work in Colossae and see the results of this letter.
This verse also raises some challenging historical questions. If Paul was imprisoned in Rome, this was along ways to Colossae for a visit. One theory is that Paul was indeed released and made one more missionary journey, was re-arrested, and then returned to Rome. There is no strong historical basis for this second Roman imprisonment theory, and it is unlikely that he was ever released from his Roman imprisonment recorded in Acts 28. The other major idea is that he was imprisoned in Ephesus when this letter was written. So, after being released, his journey to Colossae would not have been difficult or long. A more likely scenario is that this was simply a hopeful statement tacked on at the end of the letter but never came to fruition.
Not all of our prayers are answered in ways we hope. Paul may have prayed for release but he never got out of prison. He was eventually tried for treason before Nero and executed in Rome. But we see a powerful lesson on how the asking for others to intercede for us can still be important and can result in a closer bond of fellowship even across great distances. Paul’s journey in prison and Philemon’s journey in Colossae were linked; neither of these brothers were alone in their trials.
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